Syracuse

From 1302 the city belonged to the queens of Sicily. King Frederick of Aragon made it the seat of the Queen's Chamber, a gift to his wife Eleanor of Anjou governed from the Castello Maniace, and for two centuries Syracuse lived as a state within a state, largely running its own affairs and owing obedience only to the wearer of the crown. The last queen to hold it was Germaine of Foix, wife of Ferdinand II of Aragon; after her the Spanish turned Syracuse into a fortress. Then the great earthquake of 1693 brought down much of Ortygia, the old island core, and the town rebuilt on its ruins gave the city its Baroque streets.