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Sicily · 2016

Day 14 - Agrigent

Weathered limestone blocks and a rock-cut tomb carved with an arched niche stand among olive trees beside a dirt path in Sicily
Ancient stone blocks carved with rounded arched tomb niches glow in golden light among olive trees on the island of Sicily Large fallen limestone blocks, one bearing a carved arched niche, lie stacked beside a dirt path under olive trees in Sicily Huge weathered boulders and fallen ancient stones line a dirt path through the archaeological park amid trees in Sicily A modern hillside town with apartment blocks and a viaduct rises above green fields and a stone house in Sicily Four fluted Doric columns of the Temple of the Dioscuri stand on the Valley of the Temples site in Agrigento, Sicily, with tourists nearby Huge fallen column drums and carved stone blocks of a ruined Greek temple lie scattered on the Valley of the Temples site in Sicily Broken column drums and weathered stone blocks of a ruined temple lie scattered across the ground in warm evening light in Sicily Four fluted Doric columns of the Temple of the Dioscuri rise above fallen stone blocks, with the hilltop town of Agrigento behind Several ancient olive trees stand on a dirt path overlooking a green valley, their shadow cast by low sunlight in Sicily Fallen column drums fill the foreground as the four columns of the Temple of the Dioscuri and hilltop town rise beyond in Agrigento, Sicily Four fluted Doric columns topped by entablature of the Temple of the Dioscuri stand above scattered stone blocks with the town behind Broken column drums and stone blocks spread across a wide field with a green hillside and distant town in warm evening light in Sicily Four ancient Greek temple columns support a stone entablature in the Valley of the Temples, a town on the hill behind under a clear sky. Close view of weathered ancient Greek temple columns and the stone entablature and pediment above them, seen against a clear blue sky. Ancient Greek temple columns rise on a ridge, with a town on the hill in the background and a few visitors walking by. Weathered stone foundations of ancient buildings lie on the ground in an archaeological park, with trees and a town on a hill in the background. Four surviving columns of an ancient Greek temple support an entablature, with scattered stone blocks and visitors in the archaeological park around it. A detail of the weathered stone architrave and corner of an ancient Greek temple, showing carved stonework against a clear blue sky. A clear imprint of a scallop shell fossil is embedded in a rough, earthy stone surface, showing its radiating ridges. A row of ancient Greek temple columns stands on a ridge against a pale sky, with shrubs and vegetation at the base. The carved opening of a rock-cut chamber reveals rough stone walls and an inner passage, lit by a warm light. Inside a rock-cut cave, a metal walkway with railings circles a wooden table displaying small clay pots under warm lighting. A narrow carved passage passes through rough rock walls, creating a tunnel with uneven stone surfaces on all sides. Inside a rock-cut chamber, a carved stone shelf and recessed niches are hollowed out of the weathered golden-brown rock walls. Inside a rock-cut cave, a metal walkway with railings passes a wooden table with clay pots, beneath a large archway opening. A metal walkway with railings runs through a carved stone tunnel lit by warm lamps, with an arched opening ahead. Rough-hewn golden sandstone walls enclose an open chamber with a round carved opening, lit by warm artificial light. A metal grating walkway runs along a dark stone corridor with a rough ceiling, lit by a warm floor lamp. A sprawling hillside town with pale buildings stands above a broad green valley under a clear blue sky. A cream rural house sits among olive groves and green meadows, with a hillside town in the far distance. A well-preserved Greek Doric temple with columns and a triangular pediment stands on a hillside, with visitors walking nearby. People walk beside the long colonnade of a Greek temple, following a path along the temple side above the countryside. A distant Greek temple stands on a ridge above the valley, with visitors exploring terraces and green countryside below. People rest and stroll on a rocky archaeological ridge with a valley, distant hills and a bridge beneath a blue sky. Rows of Doric columns support the walls of a Greek temple, with arched openings behind the colonnade under a blue sky. Tall Doric columns of a Greek temple stand on a low stone wall, their entablature stretching across against a blue sky. The front of a Greek temple with a triangular pediment and Doric columns is framed by fencing, set on a rocky rise. From a viewpoint with fallen stone columns and visitors in the foreground, a town stretches across a ridge above a valley. View across green rolling hills and fields, a road winding through the valley to a distant hilltop town beneath a blue sky with white clouds. View over coastal fields and low buildings toward the calm sea, where the sun reflects on the water in a bright silver band. Ancient Greek temple with columns and pediment standing on the site, viewed past a gnarled old olive tree in the Valley of the Temples. A weathered headless marble statue of a draped figure standing on a low pedestal, before rough rock-cut stone walls at an ancient archaeological site. Arched niches carved into a weathered sandstone rock face, part of an ancient burial complex where tombs were cut into the rock. The dark silhouette of a leafless tree and a ruined stone wall against a bright sun shining over the distant sea and a grassy ridge. Ancient arched niches carved into a large block of sandstone, forming rock-cut chambers in a necropolis at an archaeological site in Sicily. Close-up of massive fluted Doric columns of an ancient Greek temple glowing in warm golden light, seen from below against a clear blue sky. A person walks a dirt path lined with olive trees and scattered stones, past the columns of an ancient Greek temple at an archaeological site. A valley of olive groves and rolling hills framed by trees, with a road and small buildings on a distant hillside in Sicily. Wide panoramic view over a green valley of olive groves and a winding road, with buildings on a distant hill and blue sky above. A row of weathered orange Doric columns of an ancient Greek temple standing against a clear blue sky, with visitors walking among the ruins. Tall, heavily weathered and fluted Doric columns of an ancient Greek temple rise against a deep blue sky, their stone worn by time. Close-up of the weathered top of an ancient stone column with its capital, viewed against a clear blue sky at an archaeological site in Sicily. A hiker with a backpack stands among massive fallen stone blocks and a fluted column drum fragment at an ancient temple ruins site in Sicily. A line of fluted Doric columns rises from a ruined ancient Greek temple base, surrounded by fallen stone blocks under a clear sky in Sicily. View along the stone foundation of a ruined ancient temple, with scattered blocks and one surviving column standing against a blue sky in Sicily. Tumbled blocks of weathered stone lie on the ground of an ancient archaeological site, with a lone column visible under a clear sky in Sicily. A single tall stone column rises from a pile of fallen blocks, with trees and shrubs beside the ruins under a blue sky in Sicily. A long masonry wall of a ruined ancient temple, topped with scattered stone blocks and bordered by trees, under a clear sky in Sicily. A tall, weathered ancient stone column stands alone against a clear blue sky, with dark trees on the right and fallen blocks below in Sicily. A green landscape with olive trees, a rustic stone tower in a field, a distant hillside town and the sea on the horizon in Sicily. An excavated ancient stone foundation with a set of steps, metal railings, and trees and grass around it at an archaeological site in Sicily. A grassy slope scattered with enormous fallen stones and a colossal fluted column drum, with a modern town visible in the background in Sicily. Scattered stone blocks and low ancient ruins spread across green vegetation, with a hillside town in the background under a clear sky in Sicily. Ancient column drums lie on the ground in a gravel area, with visitors walking among them and a hillside town in the background in Sicily. A mound of large weathered stone blocks covered in green vegetation behind a wire fence under a clear blue sky. People standing on weathered ancient stone walls with a modern town on a ridge under a clear blue sky. Ancient stone block ruins lit by warm low sunlight, with green trees behind and long deep shadows. A grassy archaeological park with scattered stones and plants, and a row of ancient Greek columns on the hill beyond. A green valley with scattered stone ruins and trees, and a town on a ridge in the distance under a clear sky. A close-up view of a weathered ancient Greek temple column capital supporting stone blocks against a blue sky. A weathered ancient Greek temple entablature and fluted column capitals lit by warm golden light against a deep blue sky. A row of ancient Greek temple columns backlit by the sun, creating a bright glow against a clear blue sky. Weathered ancient stone blocks and broken columns in warm light, with a large squared pillar on the right. A line of tall weathered fluted Greek temple columns against a blue sky, with a tree on the right. A hilltop town on a ridge seen over green trees and fields, under a clear blue sky with a lamp post on the right. A Greek temple with a surviving colonnade and entablature on a stone platform, viewed under a clear blue sky with the sea beyond. A ruined ancient stone wall beside a dirt path, overlooking green hills and vineyards under a blue sky with clouds. Row of weathered Doric columns standing on a stone platform beneath a clear blue sky, with a town visible on the hills behind the ruins. A grassy hill topped by a small pale building rises above rolling green hills and scattered houses beneath a blue sky with light clouds. A row of fluted Doric columns runs diagonally across the frame against a bright blue sky, beside an olive tree at the right. Wide view over a landscape of olive groves with a Greek temple on a rocky ridge to the left and a distant town and bridge. Several tall fluted Doric columns rise close-up against a deep blue sky with a single white cloud, resting on a rough stone base. A low-angle view of tall fluted Doric columns rising from a stepped stone base against a clear blue sky. A sloping green field with olive trees stretches toward the horizon where the blue sea is visible under a bright sky. A wide dirt path winds through the archaeological park, lined with olive trees and low stone ruins, with a few visitors walking. Silhouetted rocks and olive branches frame a bright view of the coastal plain and blue sea in the distance below. A large ruined stone structure with arched niches stands on the right, while a temple colonnade is visible on the hill behind olive trees. Massive weathered boulders and green shrubs fill the foreground, with trees and a town on the hill visible in the distance. A ruined ancient stone structure with arched vaults and openings stands on grass beneath a bright blue sky. A large ancient Greek temple with a colonnade and pediment is silhouetted against a bright backlighting sun on a stone platform. A large Doric Greek temple with columns and pediment stands on a hill at the Valley of the Temples, Agrigento, Sicily, under a blue sky. A Greek temple stands on a rocky hilltop while visitors walk along paths, surrounded by dry ground, trees and a clear blue sky in Sicily. A stone plaque in several languages announces the archaeological site of the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento as a UNESCO World Heritage site. A wooden bridge crosses a deep rock-cut trench at an archaeological site in Sicily, with agave plants nearby and visitors standing on top. Prickly pear cactus and olive trees line a stone path on a Sicilian hillside, looking toward a building and parked car below. A stone building with columns sits behind a green fence on a plateau in Sicily, framed by pine trees and agave under a blue sky. Curved rock-cut trenches and stone foundations lie at an archaeological site in Sicily, with agave plants, pine trees and a green fence.
Journal Notes

General

The last day of the journey goes to the south coast, to Agrigento and the archaeological site that lies below it. Agrigento is a city of 55,227 people as of 2025, the largest in its province, the tenth largest in Sicily and the 115th in Italy, and it stands on a ridge above a long coastal plain. The Valley of the Temples, the Valle dei Templi, lies outside the modern town, and the site is the reason for the journey: it is one of the most outstanding examples of ancient Greek art and architecture of Magna Graecia and one of the principal attractions of the island.

The name of the site is a misnomer, since it stands on a ridge rather than in a valley, but the view explains the mistake: the temples occupy a long limestone backbone above the plain, and the ground falls away on both sides, so that from a distance the ruins appear to sit in a hollow. Since 1997 the entire area has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, and the archaeological and landscape park covers 1,300 hectares, which makes it the largest archaeological park in Europe and the Mediterranean basin.

The physical setting is part of the experience. The ridge runs for more than a kilometre, planted with olive trees and almond trees between the ruins, and at intervals the ground opens into a view of the coastal plain, the sea in the distance and the modern town on the hill behind. The visitor walks the whole length of it on dirt paths and modern walkways, past fallen column drums, blocks and foundations as well as the standing temples, and the effect is of a landscape in which archaeology and agriculture occupy the same ground.

The day of these pictures is a winter day, with low sun, long shadows and clear air. The stone of the site is warm in colour at that season, the almond trees are bare, the grass between them is green, and the number of visitors is small; walking from the eastern end of the park to the western one takes several hours with stops, and in February it can be done without either heat or crowds, which is the best way to see it.

The park is a landscape as much as a site. The ridge is planted with olive and almond trees between the ruins, the ground is worked where it can be, and the paths run between archaeology and agriculture without a clear boundary; the almond blossom, which comes in February, turns the same ground pink, and the olives are harvested from trees that stand among the fallen drums of temples. It is one of the few large archaeological sites in Europe where the surrounding land is still farmed in the traditional way.

History

Agrigento was founded as a Greek colony and became one of the leading cities of the Greek world. Known in antiquity as Akragas, it flourished in the golden age of Ancient Greece and reached its height under the leadership of Theron in the fifth century BCE, a period marked by ambitious public works and the construction of the renowned temples whose remains are the reason for the site’s fame. The city was one of the largest in the Greek west, and its territory and its trade made it a power in the politics of the island.

The centuries that followed were more difficult. There were periods of dormancy during the Punic Wars, in which the city was besieged and sacked, and then a recovery: in the Republican era Agrigento emerged again as one of the largest cities of Sicily. During the Principate its port and a diverse economy based on sulphur mining, trade and agriculture sustained its importance through the high and late Empire, and economic prosperity persisted into the third century and beyond.

In the modern period the city changed its name and its shape more than once. In 1860, as in the rest of Sicily, the inhabitants supported the arrival of Giuseppe Garibaldi during the Expedition of the Thousand, which brought the island into the new Kingdom of Italy; in 1927, by decree law, the Italianised version of the Latin name was introduced, and following the suggestion of Andrea Camilleri, the Sicilian writer of Agrigentine origin, the historic city centre was renamed with the Sicilian name Girgenti in 2016. The Viaduct Akragas, opened in 1970, is the modern addition to the skyline above the valley.

The temples themselves have had a second life as buildings of other kinds. The Temple of Concordia, like several others on the ridge, was converted into a Christian church in late antiquity, which is the main reason it survived: its cella was hollowed out for a chapel, the spaces between the columns were walled up, and the building continued in use while its neighbours were quarried for stone. The Christian alterations were removed during the restoration of 1785, and the temple was returned to its classical form. A weathered headless marble statue of a draped figure now stands among the ruins, and the site as a whole has been a destination for travellers since the eighteenth century, when the engraved views of Girgenti were part of the grand tour.

The city’s greatest period is dated by its buildings. Akragas flourished under Theron in the fifth century BCE, when the temples on the ridge were built, and it remained one of the largest cities of Sicily in the Republican era; during the Principate its port and an economy based on sulphur mining, trade and agriculture sustained it through the high and late Empire. The temples were later quarried and, in the case of the Temple of Concordia, converted into a church, which is why it survived while its neighbours were taken apart.

Geology

The site rests on a ridge of sedimentary rock, and the stone is part of the story. The temples were built of local limestone, a soft, warm coloured material full of fossils, which was quarried in the area, and the rock of the ridge itself shows the same shells and fragments where it has been cut or worn; one of the close views in this album is a clear imprint of a scallop shell embedded in the stone. The material is easy to work when freshly cut and hardens on exposure, which is why the temples could be built with such precision from local supplies.

The limestone also made the site possible in another way, because it is soft enough to be excavated. The ground beneath and beside the temples is cut by rock tombs, arched niches and chambers, and the necropolis of ancient Akragas extends along the ridges outside the city walls; the tomb niches carved into the rock in these pictures, glowing in low sunlight, are part of that necropolis. Subsidence and earthquakes have toppled many of the structures over the centuries, which is why the fallen drums and blocks are scattered across the ground as they are.

The landscape around the ridge is the coastal plain of southern Sicily, formed by the erosion of the hills inland and by marine processes at the shore. The plain is broad, gently sloping and mainly agricultural, planted with olives, almonds, vines and vegetables, and behind it the land rises into the limestone hills of the interior. The sea, which lies a few kilometres to the south, has cut a low coastline of small cliffs and beaches; from the belvederes of the park the fields run out to the water in a single view.

The materials of the temples also record where they came from. The columns and the entablatures are limestone, the ornamented details were finished with stucco that has mostly disappeared, and the colonnades stand on substantial platforms built to overcome the unevenness of the rocky terrain, which is why the temples have survived the settling of the ground better than the buildings beside them. In the wider region the same limestone supports the dry stone walls and terraces of the agricultural landscape, so that the geology of the site and the agriculture of the plain are made of the same material.

The park is also a geology lesson in a single rock. The limestone of the ridge contains fossil shells, and one of the close views in this album is a scallop shell imprinted in the stone; the same material, laid down on the floor of a warm sea and later lifted above it, was quarried on the spot for the temples and cut into tombs in the slopes outside the walls. Ancient building and modern agriculture here have used the same stone in different ways.

Things to See

The Temple of Concordia is the centrepiece and the best preserved building on the site. It is the largest and best preserved Doric temple in Sicily and one of the best preserved Greek temples of the Doric order anywhere, with a six by thirteen column peristasis standing on a platform of four steps, columns carved with twenty flutes and with the slight swelling in the middle and tapering at the top that the Greeks used to correct the appearance of the lines. Writers in recent years have called it, apart from the Parthenon, the best preserved Doric temple in the world, and it is constructed on a solid base designed to overcome the unevenness of the rocky ground beneath it.

The rest of the ridge is a sequence of different states of preservation. Four fluted Doric columns of the Temple of the Dioscuri stand on the site above fallen stone blocks, their broken drums lying scattered across the green field; the massive foundations and the collapsed elements of the Temple of Olympian Zeus lie where they fell; a row of columns stands on a ridge against a pale sky; and the columns of the Temple of Hera stand on their platform looking out over the plain. Walking the length of the park, the technique of Greek temple building can be read from the foundations up in every stage of decay.

The necropolis and the rock-cut chambers are the third part of the visit. Weathered limestone blocks and a tomb carved with an arched niche stand among the olive trees, ancient blocks carved with rounded arched tomb niches glow in golden light, and large fallen blocks bearing carved niches lie stacked beside a dirt path; further along, arched niches cut into a rock face form a burial complex, and a rock-cut chamber opens into an inner passage with a metal walkway running through it, lit warmly below ground. The tomb chambers inside the hill are one of the least crowded and most atmospheric parts of the site.

The landscape completes the day. A clear imprint of a scallop shell fossil in the stone, several ancient olive trees on a dirt path overlooking a green valley with long shadows on the ground, a cream rural house among olive groves and green meadows with a hillside town in the distance, and a view over coastal fields and low buildings towards the calm sea with the sun reflected on the water are the last pictures of the journey. Looking back from the far end of the ridge, the temples stand above the plain with the sea beyond them, and the site reads as what it was: a great Greek city placed between its farmland and its harbour.

The necropolis above the temples is the part most visitors miss. Arched niches and chambers are cut into the rock faces along the ridges outside the ancient city, and the tomb fronts, with their carved openings, glow in low sunlight; a metal walkway leads through the rock-cut chambers below the museum area, and the interiors, lit warmly, are a sharp contrast to the grey stone outside. Nothing here has been reconstructed, which is what makes the site legible as a whole.

References

  1. Nocilla, A. & others (2016). Influence of the soil-atmosphere interaction on the collapse of sand in the Valle dei Templi. Procedia Engineering 158, 130-135. doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2016.08.460
  2. Sciarratta, R. (2023). Agrigento: il Parco archeologico e paesaggistico della Valle dei Templi. Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. doi.org/10.2422/2464-9201.202202_17
  3. Wikipedia contributors (2026). Agrigento. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrigento
  4. Wikipedia contributors (2026). Doric order. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doric_order
  5. Wikipedia contributors (2026). Expedition of the Thousand. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expedition_of_the_Thousand
  6. Wikipedia contributors (2026). Giuseppe Garibaldi. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Garibaldi
  7. Wikipedia contributors (2026). History of Sicily. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sicily
  8. Wikipedia contributors (2026). Limestone. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limestone
  9. Wikipedia contributors (2026). Magna Graecia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Graecia
  10. Wikipedia contributors (2026). Sicily. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicily
  11. Wikipedia contributors (2026). Temple of Concordia, Agrigento. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Concordia,_Agrigento
  12. Wikipedia contributors (2026). Terracotta. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta
  13. Wikipedia contributors (2026). UNESCO. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNESCO
  14. Wikipedia contributors (2026). Valle dei Templi. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valle_dei_Templi