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Papyrus processing is an ancient form of typical craftsmanship in Syracuse. The production of papyrus paper dates back to the Greco-Roman period and in the 13th book of Pliny's Naturalis Historia the various processing phases are described.
Today the papyrus paper in Syracuse is obtained according to the ancient technique described by Pliny : the sheet, also known by the term “plagula”, is made starting from the softest part of the stem deprived of the external peel and cut into very thin strips called “schide”. These strips are arranged orthogonally to each other, twenty at a time, twice in a row, passed under a wooden or stone cylinder. The sheet is then air dried and smoothed with an elephant tooth.