Pantalica, about 40 km from Syracuse, is one of the most important archaeological sites in Sicily. It was founded by indigenous populations, fleeing from the Sicilians, around the second half of the thirteenth century BC. Of its history, we know little, but it probably was destroyed by Syracuse, after being at the head of a small kingdom under the name of Hybla.

Among the buildings of the city still remain the palace of the prince (the Anaktoron) and its terracing. The palace is a building made of large blocks that form rectangular rooms, recalling from the Mycenaean buildings. Of particular interest are the 5 Necropolises, consisted of about five thousand funerary works carved into the rock. The site was inaccessible and protected by deep gorges.

For a long time it remained uninhabited, but had a second settlement in the Byzantine era when many to escape from the Arab invasions, found refuge there. Of this period is the rock village of San Micidiario, in the center of which there is the church by the same name, once adorned with Byzantine paintings.