The Castle and the City. Challenges and opportunities for the Eurialo Castle area in Syracuse following the recent establishment of the Regional Archaeological Park

Eurialo castle area in Syracuse represents one of the most relevant archaeological sites of the city and its importance among the Magna Grecia’s fortresses, along with the Dionigi’s walls to which the castle belongs, is nowadays widely recognized. Nevertheless, the peripheral position of the castle (6 km far from the city centre) and the large Dionigi walls’ extension (almost 17 km in their original substance surrounding the city) have always made it difficult to achieve their appropriate promotion and preservation. Alongside, due to the Twentieth century’s out-of-control urban expansion, several in-depth analyses have been recently produced in order to suggest possible solutions to the fragile relationship between the ruins and the growing city, trying to consider this connection as a guide for the future urban development. The recent establishment of the Regional Archaeological Park (April, 2019) seems to be an important opportunity to involve the entire Dionigi’s defensive system into a new and positive management of the city’s archaeological sites: on one side, a threeyears program consisting in archaeological research, monuments restoration and road network implementation is expected; on the other side, the great natural interest of the Eurialo castle and the walls, as the lawmakers underline, suggests a fruition for a larger spectrum of users, leaded both to the cultural and the leisure activities. After illustrating the main subjects on the defensive system’s features and the particular urban dynamic occurred throughout city’s history, the paper aims to outline some design purposes mainly focusing on the castle, recognized as a strategical subject to provide both the valorisation of the defensive system and the complicated dialogue with the city within the new established Archaeological Park’s general objectives.