Archaeological sights in Sicily
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A
Valley of the Temples
One of Sicily's premier attractions, the Unesco World Heritage-listed Valley of the Temples, is a complex of temples and old city walls that remain from the ancient city of Akragas and are reason enough to visit the Mediterranean coast of the island. The five Doric temples actually stand along a ridge, not a valley, designed to be visible from all around and a beacon for homecoming sailors.
In varying states of ruin, the temples give a tantalising glimpse of what must truly have been one of the most luxurious cities in Magna Graecia. After visiting the area, Goethe waxed lyrical: 'We shall never in our lives be able to rejoice again, after seeing such a stupendous view in…
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Teatro Greco
For the classicist, the highlight of the Neapolis is the lustrous white Teatro Greco, hewn out of the rocky hillside. A masterpiece of classical architecture, the ancient theatre could seat 16,000 people and saw the work of Sophocles, Euripides and the last tragedies of Aeschylus, including The Persians, Prometheus Bound and Prometheus Unbound, which were first performed here in his presence.
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Temple of Olympian Zeus
Across Via dei Panoramica Templi is the entrance to the western zone, the main feature of which is the crumbled remains of the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Covering an area measuring 112m x 56m, with columns 20m high, it would have been the largest Doric temple ever built had its construction not been interrupted by the Carthaginian sack of Akragas. Ironically, the foundations for the temple had been laid by Carthaginian prisoners captured after the Battle of Himera nearly 100 years previously.
The incomplete temple was later destroyed by an earthquake. Lying flat on his back amid the rubble is a telamon, a sculpted figure of a man with arms raised, intended to support the te…
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D
Hellenistic-Roman Quarter
To the east of the Museo Archeologico is the Hellenistic-Roman Quarter, featuring a well-preserved street layout which was part of urban Akragas (and later, under the Romans, Agrigentum). The regular grid is made up of main streets (plateiai) intersected at right angles by secondary streets (stenopoi), all of which were laid out towards the end of the 4th century BC.
The Romans didn't alter the layout but added their own embellishments, including mosaic floors and stuccowork. They were also responsible for adding water and heating pipes, and introduced drainage facilities for rainwater and sewage.
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E
Temple of Concord
The Temple of Concord (Tempio della Concordia) is the only temple to survive the unforgiving hands of time and history relatively intact. It was built around 430 BC and was converted into a Christian basilica in the 6th century; thankfully, the new tenants reinforced the main structure, giving it a better chance of surviving an earthquake. In 1748 the temple was restored to its original form.
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Chiesa di San Nicola
In the grounds of the Museo Archeologico is the 13th-century Cistercian Chiesa di San Nicola, with a fine Gothic doorway. Inside, in the second chapel on the right, you'll find a Roman sarcophagus, which bears a wonderful relief of the myth of Phaedra. Alongside it is the Oratory of Phalaris (Oratorio di Falaride), a temple dating from the 1st century BC that was converted into an oratory during the Middle Ages.
On the church's esplanade stands an ancient Odeon called the Ekklesiasterion, built in the 3rd century BC for public meetings.
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Eastern Temples
The Eastern Temples are the most stunning of all Selinunte's ruins, crowned by the majestic Temple E. Built in the 5th century BC and reconstructed in 1958, it stands out due to its completeness. It is the first of the three temples close to the ticket office. Temple G, the northernmost temple, was built in the 6th century BC and, although never completed, was one of the largest temples in the Greek world. Today it is a massive pile of impressive rubble.
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G
Roman Amphitheatre
The 2nd-century-AD Roman amphitheatre is the third-largest in Italy after the Colosseum in Rome and the amphitheatre in Verona. It was used for gladiator fights and horse races. Roman punters used to park their chariots in the area between the amphitheatre and Viale Paolo Orsi. The Spaniards, little interested in archaeology, destroyed the site in the 16th century, using it as a quarry to build the city walls at Ortygia.
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Temple of Hercules
The temples that stand unfettered and unenclosed in the eastern zone are the most spectacular of all. The first of these is the Temple of Hercules (Tempio di Ercole), immediately inside the entrance and to the right. Its origin is uncertain but it is believed to be the oldest of the lot, dating from the end of 6 BC. Eight of its 38 columns have been raised and you can wander around the remains of the rest.
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Parco Archeologico Contrada Diana
The only worthwhile sight outside the citadel is the Parco Archeologico Contrada Diana, which has revealed part of the original Greek walls (5th and 4th centuries BC) and Roman houses. At the southwestern end of the park is the necropolis, where the tombstones are still visible in the overgrown grass. The park, alas, is rarely open but all of the important finds are in the museum.
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Monastero di Santo Spirito
On Via Santo Spirito, at the top of a set of winding steps north off Via Atenea, is the Cistercian Monastero di Santo Spirito (Monastery of the Holy Spirit), founded around 1290. A handsome Gothic portal leads inside, where you can see some fine stuccowork by Giacomo Serpotta plus a statue of the Madonna Incoronata (Virgin Enthroned) by Domenico Gagini.
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Temple of the Dioscuri
The Temple of the Dioscuri is also known as the Temple of Castor and Pollux. It was built towards the end of the 5th century but was destroyed by the Carthaginians, later restored in Hellenistic style and then destroyed again by an earthquake. What you see today dates from 1832, when it was rebuilt using materials from other temples.
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Ancient City
Occupying the hill of Manuzza, to the north of the acropolis, the Ancient City, where most of Selinunte's inhabitants lived, is the least excavated of all the sites. Exploration of the area has only begun in recent years, and evidence suggests that survivors of the destruction of 409 BC may have used the city as a necropolis.
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Ginnasio Romano
Along Via Elorina is a sight well worth visiting (though few ever seem to): the ruins of the Ginnasio Romano, built in the 1st century. Despite the name, this was actually a small theatre at the heart of a building that also contained a large atrium and another theatre directly behind the stage.
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Archaeological Dig
Around the Cattedrale di San Bartolomeo are a couple of other ruined baroque churches, but the real area of interest is the archaeological dig where finds from the Neolithic period to the Roman era have been unearthed. You won't make much sense of what's here without visiting the museum.
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Bar/Restaurant
There are public toilets and a convenient bar/restaurant in the archeological park amid the usual souvenir stands. Fittingly, this rugby-scrum of a piazza used to be the ancient agora. A better entrance is on Via Panoramica near the Temple of Hera where there is also a ticket office.
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Temple of Hera
The Temple of Hera (Tempio di Hera) was partially destroyed by an earthquake in the Middle Ages. Just behind the eastern end is a long altar originally used for sacrifices. The traces of red are the result of fire damage, most likely during the Carthaginian invasion of 406 BC.
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Temple of Asclepios
At the crossroads just inside the entrance to the temples, the path south leads to the Temple of Asclepios (Tempio di Esculapio), off the second fork to the left. The smallest of all the temples, it is distinguished by having solid walls instead of a colonnade.
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Tomb of Theron
A little temple set on a high base is known as the Tomb of Theron (Tomba di Therone), the Greek tyrant of Agrigento, but in fact the structure dates from around 75 BC, during the Roman occupation, nearly 500 years after the tyrant's death.
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Sanctuary of the Chthonic Deities
Just behind the Temple of the Dioscuri is a complex of altars and small buildings believed to be part of the Santuario di Demetra e Kore. The Sanctuary of the Chthonic Deities, as it is known, dates from the early 6th century BC.
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Castello di Venere
The Norman Castello di Venere was built in the 12th and 13th centuries over the Temple of Venus where all that debauchery was taking place. The castle now houses the town’s most exclusive hotel, Torri Pepoli.
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Il Castello
Apart from a few loose rocks there is nothing left of the Il Castello, a Norman castle that once crowned the rock's peak, or the Arab citadel.
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Cathedral
Built in AD 1000, it has been restructured many times, and is dedicated to the Norman San Gerlando.
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Villa Imperiale
Situated 35km southeast of Enna and 5km southwest of Piazza Armerina is the Villa Imperiale, a stunning 3rd-century Roman villa and one of the few remaining sites of Roman Sicily. This sumptuous hunting lodge is thought to have belonged to Diocletian’s co-emperor Marcus Aurelius Maximianus. Buried under mud in a 12th-century flood, it remained hidden for 700 years before its magnificent floor mosaics were discovered in the 1950s. It is worth arriving out of season or early in the day to avoid the hordes of tourists.
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