TO STEP INTO A WONDERFUL WAY BACK MACHINE, head over a bridge in Syracuse to the island of Ortygia, one of Sicily’s most intriguing and beautiful places. According to Homer, the sea nymph Calypso lured Odysseus here, and now amidst its remains of ancient civilizations and baroque architecture are treasures that pay homage to females, from nymphs to saints.

In Ortygia’s main square, Piazza Archimede, is the baroque Fontana di Diana, that tells the story of the Greek Myth of Arethusa, a nymph dedicated to Artemis (Diana to the Romans), the Virgin Goddess of the Hunt.

Like Artemis, Arethusa loved frolicking about in nature. One fateful day she decided to take a dip in a lovely river, which just happened to be the god Alpheus’s river. Trouble ensued, as he fell hopelessly in love with Arethusa, and went after her in hot pursuit. Desperate to keep her virginity, Arethusa begged Artemis for help, so the goddess swept in, lead Arethusa underground from Greece to Sicily’s Ortygia island, and turned Arethusa into a spring.

Today the Fonte Arethusa spring at the Ortygia waterfront is a pretty papyrus-filled spot. As for the rest of the Greek legend, Arethusa never did completely shake off her stalker, Alpheus. He remained connected to her through his river where she swam in Greece. When sacrifices were made there for the Olympics, the Fonte Arethusa here in Sicily would turn red. Even today it’s believed that if you drop a cup into the Greek Alpheus River it’ll turn up at this Ortygia spring.

The island’s Duomo is built around the remains of a Greek Temple that honored the Goddess Athena, patron of Wisdom, Craftsmanship and Heroic Endeavors, who became Minerva to the Romans. Sprung from the head of Zeus, Athena was a real career goddess who did such great things as guide Odysseus home, think up the Trojan horse, and give Greece the olive tree.

The Duomo’s Baroque and Norman designs blend around the massive Doric columns of Athena’s temple. Once a sculpture of her graced the rooftop, where she stood with her golden shield, serving as a beacon to sailors. Now you’ll see it’s been replaced with a statue of the Virgin Mary.

Inside the Duomo, there’s a chapel dedicated to the most celebrated saint in town—Saint Lucy, Patron of Syracuse and Eyes.

Lucy was born in the third century to a noble Syracuse family and early on decided to live for God and remain a virgin. This didn’t sit well with her parents who wanted to marry her off, but Lucy managed to turn things around. She took her sick mother to pray at the tomb of Saint Agatha in Catania, and when her mother was miraculously healed, she took Lucy’s side and stopped hounding her about finding a man. Thus Lucy could go about her saintly work, which was bringing food to Christians who were hiding out in underground tunnels. In order to guide her way through those dark tunnels, she wore a wreath of candles on her head, which is where the Swedes got the idea to always represent her with that wreath.

Despite herself, beautiful Lucy had many Syracuse admirers. One of them couldn’t stop telling her how much he loved her eyes, so she plucked them out and handed them over to him on a plate, hoping he’d leave her in peace. But the guy was so insulted about being rebuffed, he turned Lucy over to the authorities for being a Christian. The governor’s idea for a punishment was to drag Lucy to a whorehouse, but even with a team of oxen pulling her, Lucy miraculously could not be budged. When burning her at the stake didn’t work, she was finally beheaded at a place on the Syracuse mainland where a church, Santa Lucia al Sepolcro, now stands.

If you’re in Syracuse for Lucy’s Feast Day (December 13), there’ll be torch-lit processions and you’ll be eating cuccia, wheat soaked in milk and sugar. The wheat commemorates a sixteenth-century Syracuse event, where the locals prayed to Saint Lucy to end a famine, and miraculously a ship sailed into the Ortygia harbor loaded with grain.

Finally, you shouldn’t miss the Church of Santa Lucia alla Badia (in the same piazza) to see Caravaggio’s dark and intense masterpiece, the Burial of Saint Lucy. It was painted just a few months before Caravaggio died, when he was exiled to Syracuse, having been accused of murder in Rome. It’s a powerfully haunting work, showing Lucy with her throat slashed, surrounded by mourners and gravediggers.

Duomo: Piazza del Duomo, daily 9-6.

Church of Santa Lucia alla Badia: Via Santa Lucia alla Badia, daily 11-4, closed Monday.

Golden Day: Explore the sights of Ortygia, including the vibrant daily fish market, and eat at the extraordinary Ristorante L’Ancora (Via G. Perno 7, 0931 462 369, closed Monday, www.ristoranteancora.com) for fantastic seafood and lemon cake dessert. Stay at Antico Hotel Roma 1880, (www.algila.it), a charming spot, right around the corner from the Duomo, with a great restaurant and gelateria.