Ortigia Sound System

Ortigia Sound System is the electronic weekend on the island of Ortigia, in Syracuse. In 2025 the name in circulation is Ortigia Music. WU, on 17 July 2025, leaves it born in 2014, with a change of ownership and artistic direction by Rosalie De Meyer, a Belgian curator and producer. Clash, Joe Hale, on 7 August 2025, calls it year 14 and says it changed hands over the years. 2014 and year 14 stay together. The site ortigiasoundsystem.com, read on 28 September 2026, answers 404. The address is kept.

The walked weekend is 31 July to 3 August 2025. WU counts four days. Hale writes three. The two stay together. WU puts the all-night pass at 175 euros, on Dice, and two boat parties a day. The day opens at the Lido, with the Italian scene and Malamore Records. The night goes to Epipoli, from dusk until dawn. Sunday closes with a Locked Groove boat in a disco version and a party at Varco 23, Claudio B and Steffi paired with Virginia, until midnight. National Traveller splits the bill, not the night. On Thursday the 31st, Max Cooper opens the Antico Mercato. On Friday 1 August, from 23:00 to 7:00 at Epipoli, DJ Python, Bambounou, Elkka and Cristian Croce. On Saturday the 2nd, one boat with BIJOUX, a trio from Antwerp, beside Lo Straqen, and another with Tatyana Jane, from Paris. That night at Epipoli: Modeselektor in a DJ format, DJ Stingray 313, Nite Fleit and Tatyana Jane again. On Sunday the 3rd, Locked Groove stretches the disco on the boat and Varco 23 runs until midnight. The Modeselektor photo in WU carries a credit to Birgit Kaulfuss.

Hale opens at the Antico Mercato, a daytime market turned into a hall. Max Cooper plays an audiovisual live set. It starts in ambient and reaches drum and bass passages. He leaves no title. The roof is open. The stars show, and the palm trees above the pillars. The Lido sits outside the wall, on a cliff, looking at the Ionian. Jah Sazzah plays dub at 100 beats a minute. Forte Vigliena slots in Overmono rollers, with no loose title. Funky Therapy closes with disco edits and house, also with no title.

At night, Epipoli: a walk of palm trees and a garden, with a wall of scaffolding and lights. Hale writes Elkkka. The Suono Siracusa bill writes Elkka. The two spellings stay together. The set moves from vocal house to a harder edge. DJ Python follows with electronic cuts and reggaeton. Bambounou closes in jungle and breaks, and the sun comes up. The next day, in the same garden, Modeselektor brings glitchy bass, electro and leftfield techno. DJ Stingray 313 follows with mechanical, distorted electro. No loose titles.

In the market, the oyster bar Ostricando, piazza Cesare Battisti 3, 96100 Syracuse, takes vinyl from midday into the afternoon. Cristian Croce, of Suono Records, builds it. Entry, on the Suono card, is free. Hale hears him say, and the quotation writes Oritiga, that it is good to show the talent of the island. Pumpy Flex, on the bill PUMPY FLEX, plays vinyl only among the fishmongers. He says that outside a club he digs into another part of the collection. DJ Sinus, on the card SIINUS, says that in Oritiga people want strange B-sides, old disco and dusty jazz. The misspelling stays in the quotation. The Suono card gives midday hours, not the night. On Thursday the 31st, from 11:00 to 12:30, TOMASSSSO, born in Sicily and based in Barcelona, co-founder of Los Niños Perdidos. From 12:30 to 15:00, SIINUS, from Copenhagen. On Friday the 1st, from 12:00 to 15:00, Gabriele, from Milan, tied to the compilation Italian Dancefloor Outsiders on Sound Metaphors, and to Sunny Crypt and Serendeepity. On Saturday the 2nd, from 12:00 to 15:00, Pumpy Flex, from Florence, with the collectives Dissidanza and Sub. Hale speaks with the Ostricando owner and with his mother. They say Ortigia is in a phase of development, that the neighbourhood helps itself, and that there is culture and history. The fish is local. The lemons are the Sicilian ones. On the boat there is a bar, a restaurant and shaded seats. Hale compares it to a party in a house. Pumpy Flex adds that Sicily was a passing point for Arabs, Spaniards and Mediterranean cultures. At the Lido, between mixes, people get into the water. Hale notes Aperol Spritz on the table.

The boat on the third day is the closed piece. Hale writes Lo Straken. The bill writes Lo Straqen. The two stay together. He opens with melodic techno and acid house, with no further titles, and closes with It's Only Real, by Denis Sulta, at the golden hour. Tatyana Jane closes that boat at 140 beats, with rolling bass and baile funk edits. Hale puts Murder on the Dancefloor in parentheses. People jump into the sea between tracks. In the distance, Etna. National Traveller splits the boats another way: on Friday Modeselektor with Andrea Normano, and Elkka with Salvo Miceli. Suono writes Andrea Normanno and Salvo Micieli. The two surnames stay together. That guide is a bill, not Hale's night.