The Ciane and Anapo Rivers of Syracuse.

A single mouth connects two rivers, the Ciane (from a Greek word meaning "blue-green") and the Anapo. For some time it seemed that the first name was ironic, because of the risk that industrialization posed to the survival of these waterways. An excessive consumption of freshwater to meet the needs of industry had, in fact, caused them to refill with sea water, making the rivers brackish.

This can be particularly disastrous for the very element for which this river complex is famous: its papyrus vegetation, unique in all of Western Europe. According to recent study of DNA performed at Syracuse’s Papyrus Museum, this papyrus, a plant common to North Africa, was imported during the late Greek age, and now it represents the only place in Europe where it flourished as a wild plant.
This river plant was valuable because working its pith produced the ancient equivalent of paper, the very papyrus from which the word "paper" in many European languages (paper, papel, papier...) derives its name.

An erudite Syracusan managed, in the 18th century, to rediscover the secret of "papyrus" production, which has continued since then in Syracuse both for scholarship and for the production of souvenirs. The Syracusan practitioners reached such a level of competence that the Papyrus Museum of Syracuse is entrusted with the restoration of precious and fragile ancient Egyptian papyri.

In the 19th century, a visit to the papyrus plants was considered a must for every tourist, equivalent in importance to the Greek and Roman monuments, the Quarries, or the Duomo.  Tourists drifted in rowboats between plants as high as six meters, which rose, and continue to rise, directly from the water, enjoying "North African" nature within the Sicilian landscape.

All of this seriously threatened to disappear. First, during the reclamation of the late 19th century (during which they drained the "marshes" in which the double river tended to mire), they eliminated almost all reservoirs of slowly running water that the papyrus prefers, leaving in their place a faster moving stream in which river reeds thrive better. Then, especially after the war, the rise of salt water, as stated previously, seemed to provide the final blow.  The patches of papyrus were yellowing and emaciated and seemed destined to disappear.

Fortunately, the worst has been averted in extremis (also thanks to the citizens of Syracuse and the associations that long fought to save the area) both by the establishment in 1984 of the "Ciane River Nature Reserve - Saline di Siracusa" and because the excessive salinity of the water. This high salt content rendered the water unfit even for industries, so willingly or not,  they were forced to stop pumping it.
Today tourists can travel by boat along these rivers in which the papyrus plants have recovered splendidly, so much so that a section of the river appears as a “tunnel” of papyrus foliage, a truly unique setting to behold in Europe.

How to reach the Ciane and Anapo rivers from the Algilà Ortigia Charme Hotel and the Antico Hotel Roma 1880.    

To reach the Ciane and Anapo rivers one must cross the gulf that constitutes one side of the island of Ortigia. This can be done either by sea or by land.  

• By car or bike one needs to travel the Siracusa-Canicattini Bagni motorway, and then follow the signs.  
  
  In the vicinity of the intersection between the road and the river one finds the boarding area for the tourist boats that travel along the river; it is strongly recommended to book the trip in advance, especially during the high season, to avoid the risk of finding no small boats available.  It is possible to obtain at the reception desk of the Hotel the phone numbers of some of the companies engaged in this service.
  

Visitor Information 
Access to the area is free.