Agrigento

The city of Agrigento rests on the top (about 230m above sea level) of two hills -the hill of Girgenti to the west and the Rupe Atenea to the east -once separated by a depression formed artificially by the philosopher Empedocles to allow healthy air to circulate in the city below afflicted by malaria. The filling work, which began in 1860, created an irregular esplanade surrounded by public and government buildings dating back to the end of the 19th century and early 20th century.

The archaeological area known as the Valle dei Templi in Agrigento, Sicily, is one of the most important archeological sites in the world and a Unesco world heritage site since 1998. Along a long rocky scarp, chosen as the southern limit of the town, are still sited the great temples of ancient Akragas: the Temple of Hera (Juno) Lacinia, Concordia, Heracles (Hercules), Olympian Zeus (Jupiter), Castor and Pollux (Dioscuri) and Hephaistos (Vulcan). Further down, on the bank of the Akragas river, near a medical spring, stood the Temple dedicated to Asklepius (Eusculapius), the god of medicine. At the mouth of the river there was the harbour and emporion (trading-post) of the ancient city.

Ancient Akragas, in its hey-day, was a flourishing cultural centre: it gave the world Empedocles, the pre-socratic philosopher, whose concept of matter as divided into four elements- Earth, Air, Fire and Water- was the foundation of science for many centuries to come. The city attracted poets like Simonides and Pyndar who described it as "the most beautiful of mortal cities". In Roman times, Agrigento was visited by Cicero in search of evidence of proconsul Verres' abuse of power and later described by Virgil in the Eneid. From the Middle Ages up to modern times, its remains, landscapes, flora, colors and the echo of lost civilizations have inspired poets, writers and painters: Ludovico Ariosto, Wolfgang Goethe, Guy de Maupassant, Alexander Dumas, Anatole France, Murilo Mendes, Lawrence Durrell, E.M.Forster, Francesco Lojacono, Nicolas de Stael, Salvatore Quasimodo, Luigi Pirandello.