Agrigento….Valle dei Templi (Valley of the Temples)
Categories France/Italy/France 2022..... another Mega RoadtripNovember 8th to 10th
Time to move on as we are heading to Agrigento about 220 km or 3 1/2 hours west of Syracusa.
Easy departure from the city and we are traveling on a mix of autostrada and secondary roads. It is another beautiful day and we enjoy a rather carefree drive with very limited traffic…the only negative is the presence of garbage …literally bags of household garbage, old tires, beds you name it under almost overpass, turnout what have you. It is sad because the countryside for the most part is very scenic and enjoyable to drive through. The few people I have asked about this either don’t know the root causes or don’t wish to say…the internet provides some clues: budget constraints or diversion, dumping problems, and mafia interference. It is not that we don’t have some garbage issues but not of this magnitude…
Once again we are staying at an AIRBNB on via Garibaldi close to the Centro Storico…
… the young man meeting us speaks good English and is clearly proud of the effort made in modernizing this unit …actually 3 floors served by a super narrow spiral staircase, the added benefit is a “reserved” parking spot in front > due to the door being a “garage door”…
Since we got into town and the apartment earlier than expected we head off to do a bit of a walkabout in this town which looks a tad rough our street is on the periphery of the Centro Storica and certainly has a number of candidates for the “1 Euro house purchase program “, that many towns in Italy have been marketing…
but the town does possess a nice and vibrant Centro Storica…
Supper tonite is chez nous as we will have a busy day tomorrow and in any event, many of the restos are either closed today or opening a bit late for us tonite…click on image to enlarge and the back arrow to exit…
November 9th
Today we are headed to the Valle dei Templi which is located on a ridge several kilometers outside the town of Agrigento, as such the term “valley” is somewhat of a misnomer. So what is this all about? Various coastal areas of southern Italy were once colonies of the city-states of ancient Greece; collectively, these were known as Magna Graecia (Great Greece). Culturally and linguistically, they were shaped and reflected the Greeks. In Sicily, the city of Akragas (now Agrigento) was founded as a colony in the 6th century BC and developed to become a prosperous and pivotal status as the third-largest city within Magana Graecia, according to UNESCO which granted this site Heritage status. The remains of the light honey-colored once Akragas.
Not only are the temples tangible testaments to the golden age of the Greeks in Sicily, but they are some of the finest, best-preserved examples of the style outside of Greece itself. According to some, the complex of eight temples comes second only to Athens’ Acropolis.
It is a sunny day with temperatures expected to rise to about 20C ideal conditions to explore the site which covers an area of 130,000 acres. Our focus will be the main temple sites which should be about a 4 hours walkabout…as usual, we are one of the first cars in the lot. Since there is no queue we are whisked through the ticket office and security in record time and they wish us a good day visiting the park as we head off down the path toward the first of the exhibits.
The Temple of the Dioscuri > Castor and Pollux, the legendary twins born from the union of the queen of Sparta with Jupiter, were worshiped in ancient Greece and Rome. According to Greek mythology, they took part in the Argonaut’s expedition, and after their death, Zeus (Jupiter) placed them in the sky as a constellation of Twins. The temple now has only four columns and has become the symbol of the city of Agrigento.
The Temple of Heracles (Hercules) is the oldest. It housed a bronze statue of the hero Hercules himself, who was particularly venerated by the Akragantines. The temple, destroyed by war and probably by an earthquake, today retains only eight columns of the original 38.
The Temple of Olympian Zeus (Jupiter) was built to thank the god Zeus for the 480 BC victory of the Agrigentines over the Carthaginians. The temple was eventually toppled by earthquakes and in the 18th century was quarried extensively to provide building materials for the modern towns of Agrigento and nearby Porto Empedocle. Today it survives only as a broad stone platform heaped with tumbled blocks of stone and telamones (Roman term) or atlases (European term) gigantic supports (columns) sculpted in the form of a man…
Moving on we pass by some pens housing a number of goats. The breed is called Capra Girgentana, after the Sicilian name for Agrigento, Girgenti, and they are found nowhere else. Once numbering some 30,000 there remain fewer than 500, as such the authorities are trying to grow their number and find economic outlets for their high-quality milk. They do look unlike any goats we have ever seen…you gotta love this guy,I think they should be selling stuffies!!
We carry on passing some interesting caves carved into rocks and see the Temple of Juno located on the rise above us…
The Temple of Juno is spectacularly located on the height of the ridge with the Ionian Sea in the background, in its time it housed the cult of the goddess of fertility. Its name, like that of the nearby Temple of Concord, is conventional, the result of a misinterpretation of a Latin inscription that confuses it with the Temple of Hera in Crotone. The traces of fire, still clearly visible on the walls of the cella, are a reminder of the terrible year 406 BC, when this magnificent temple, almost identical to that of Concordia, was also destroyed by the Carthaginians…
It is time for lunch and we are happy we brought some sandwiches and cold drinks to enjoy in this magical spot, interestingly you are permitted to sit on the giant blocks of stone which were once the altar where animals were slaughtered as offerings to the gods and now offer a great vantage point:
As we made our way down the hill we had some great panoramas of the temple of Concordia and the ridge where the various temples once were…
The Temple of Concordia, also built around the 5th century, is the best preserved. In the 6th century, it was transformed into a sacred building. The name Concordia comes from a Latin inscription found in the vicinity of the temple. In front of the temple, there is the Statue of Icarus, donated by the Polish sculptor Igor Mitoraj. The statue represents the fall of Icarus, who disobeyed his father Daedalus, flew too close to the sun, burnt his wax wings, and fell into the Mediterranean.
We then retraced our steps back to the parking lot stopping for a quick visit to the Villa Aurea (not open to the public) and its gardens which are. Between 1921 and 1932, Villa Aurea was the residence of Sir Alexander Hardcastle, a nobleman, and captain of the British army. He acquired the country estate, located between the Temple of Concordia and the Temple of Heracles, at the end of the nineteenth century. He then dedicated twelve years to extensive archaeological work, donating his wealth to fund numerous excavations in close collaboration with the archaeologist Pirro Marconi. Left destitute by the Wall Street Crash in 1929, the Englishman sold Villa Aurea to the Italian state and, was committed to the asylum in Agrigento for depression, dying in 1933.
It was pleasant to conclude our visit through the paths in this garden and admire the archaeological discoveries, characteristic trees and shrubs of the Mediterranean maquis, and exotic and rare species growing among the fragrant hedgerows of myrtle, rosemary, and lavender. An interesting man, amid a number of European personas who gravitated to Sicily.
On the way back to Agrigento we made an “on the fly” decision to drive to Porto Emedocle and see the Scala dei Turchi ( Stairs of the Turks) situated a little west of the port. Why are they so-called? The simple explanation is that they face the direction of North Africa. Looking at a map it is indeed not so far from Turkey….maybe next time. The bright white cliffs are a combination of limestone and marl cascading down to the sea. You used to be able to walk along the cliffs of La Scala dei Turchi, but it is no longer allowed in order to preserve the cliffs. Tell that to the folks in the second picture below.
The coastline here is stunning and the sea seems clean and quite beautiful furthermore there seemed to be an abundance of accommodations and eateries.
Well, it has been a super day with the visit to the Valle dei Tempe being one of the highlights of our trip….we should be celebrating the day in the Centro Storica but are a bit tired, instead, we opt for a local pizza joint …since it is cold, there are only 2 picnic tables inside we say fine and ask for a bottle of wine….pleasant service, 2 very good pizzas and one grappa for 25 euros, a little bit of kidding around when we pay…they were practicing English and me, Italian, haha!
Back to the AIRBNB some 75 meters away. Done for the night no posting tonite!