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Agrigento
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The site upon which Agrigento was constructed has been inhabited since prehistoric times, but it was not until about 580 BC that a group of people from Gela, originally from Rhodes and Crete, decided to found Akragas, taking its name from one of the two rivers which confine the city.
The city reached its height under the tyrant Theron (488-472 BC):
With the fall of the Roman Empire, the city passed first to the Byzantines, then into Arab hands (9C). They built a new town centre higher up (at the heart of the modern town), calling it Girgenti – this lasted until 1927, when its Latin name was restored – which became the capital of the Berber kingdom. In 1087, the town was conquered by the Normans, prompting a new phase of prosperity and power which also enabled it to repel the frequent attacks of the Saracens.
It was during the reign of Roger the Norman that the churches of San Nicola, Santa Maria dei Greci and San Biagio were built.
To visit one of the greatest treasures of Greek Architecture – the Valley of the Temples (VII-VI BC), from 1997 a UNESCO world heritage site.
The outstanding archaeological site is worth noting for the manufacture and dimension of the temples; the temples of Concord (430 BC), Hera – Juno – Lacinia (450.BC.), Heracles – Hercules – (520 BC), Olympian Zeus – Jupiter – , Hephaistos – Vulcan – (430 BC), Castor and Pollux – Dioscuri – (450 BC), are all in Doric style and strike the visitors with their state of preservation. Then, further down, towards the sea, there are the Tomb of Theron (2nd century BC) and the Temple of Asklepius – Eusculapius – (400 BC).
Other finds to help to better understand the history of the city of Akragas can be found at the Regional Archaeological Museum of Agrigento. There you can admire archaeological finds of Mycenean, Greek and Roman art, you can visit the Zeus Room dominated by the giant Telamon (column in the shape of a human figure that supported the entablature under the roof of the temple). Adjoining the museum, interesting to see is the Norman church of Saint Nicolas.
Going uphill, away from the sea, you will reach the city of Agrigento of today with its amazing historic centre: a tangle of streets, lanes and stairways that will lead you to a patrimony of particular importance such as: the monastery and church of Santo Spirito – Holy Spirit – (1300); the church of Santa Maria dei Greci – Holy Mary of the Greeks (12th century), built on the foundations, still visible today, of a Greek temple dedicated to Athena; the Norman Cathedral of San Gerlando (11th century).
A few kilometres away from Agrigento, in locality Caos – Chaos –, there is the native home of the writer and playwright Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936). Today the house is a museum dedicated to the author.
See also:
Agrigento
I comuni della provincia
Routes
Events
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Val di Kam
Val di kam is a society engaged in the tourist promotion in the characteristic small village of Sant'Angelo Muxaro. 30 km far from Agrigento and the Valley of the Temples.
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