Rupestrian Village of San Nicolicchio in Pantalica
The Village of San Nicolicchio is one of the three villages of the Byzantine era located within the archaeological area of Pantalica. The other two villages are: the village of Cavetta and the village of San Micidario.
The village of San Nicolicchio, located under the Anaktoron, was built by enlarging the ancient rock tombs of the South necropolis , and has as its religious center the oratory of the cave of San Nicolicchio dating back to the 9th-8th century BC ..
The rupestrian room is configured as an oratory with a rather complex plan. It is composed of the unification of several rooms, probably excavated in different eras, which are secondary to the main room that extends towards the east, where it ends with a central apse and two small niches on either side of it. Unfortunately, a large part of the decorative apparatus has been lost, probably due to abrasions caused by the Arab invaders but, from the surviving traces, one can recognize the figures of Saint Helena and Saint Stephen and of an unidentified Saint. identifiable.
Regarding the dating of these frescoes, however, there are not a few problems of a historical and stylistic nature: the Lamb and the Messiah, precisely by analyzing a certain rigidity and dryness in the way of rendering the drapery, suggest recognizing these frescoes the oldest evidence of rock painting in Syracuse.
The village can be reached from the entrance on the Ferla side by a path that starts from the Sella di Filiporto car park.
