Valle dei Templi

The Valle dei Templi lies just south of modern Agrigento on a limestone ridge overlooking the Mediterranean, preserving the remains of Akragas, a Greek colonial city founded around 580 BCE by settlers from Rhodes and Crete. Seven Doric temples line the ridge, including the Temple of Concordia — one of the best-preserved Greek temples anywhere in the world, its columns and entablature standing largely intact after 25 centuries. At its height Akragas was among the wealthiest cities of the ancient world, home to the philosopher Empedocles and, according to ancient sources, the tyrant Phalaris, infamous for roasting enemies alive inside a bronze bull. The entire site is protected as a UNESCO World Heritage zone; visitors follow a marked path through almond and olive groves, and the view from the Concordia temple at dusk traces the outline of what were once vast city walls stretching toward the sea.