06.01.2021

Orecchio di Dionisio (II.)

The limestone cave, situated in the Sicilian town of Syracuse, 65 meters deep and laid out in ancient times, has exceptional acoustics: A person standing in the cave's entrance can hear every word whispered deep down inside it. The painter Michelangelo da Caravaggio gave it its name by dubbing it The Ear of Dionysius in 1608.

 

Orecchio di Dionisio, Syracusa Italy, 2018

 

The cave indeed resembles an ear and - according to Caravaggio - had a specific function: The tyrant Dionysius I. imprisoned his political prisoners in the cave in order to extensively spy on them.