the history of agrigento

It all started when…

grigento is one of the main cities in Sicily and capital of the province with the same name. While the city itself does not have the fame of others like Catani, Palermo and Siracusa, Agrigento is extremely famous and a must visit sight due to the so called "Valle dei Templi", the valley of temples, hosting the biggest archeological sight in the world and UN world heritage sight.

The city has been developed on three main hills, surrounded by two rivers and by a steep slope in the north, making it a place very hard to attack.

For this reason, already in the VI century before Christ the Greeks, coming from the city of Gela (slightly east of Agrigento) occupied this territory and founded the city called Akragai. During their almost 400 years of rule, the Greeks managed to create what many have considered one of the greatest city in the Greek history, managing to have up to 300.000 inhabitants and a territory reaching even the northern coast of Sicily.

Today we can still see very clearly the Greek past of the city, thanks to the 12 temples present in the valley of temples, still incredibly well preserved, like the temple of Concordia (preserved also thanks to the fact that had been converted into a early Christian church in the year 600 after christ). The sight also hosts the temple of Zeus, which was the biggest temple of the Greek world and that showcased giant statues 7 meters tall (one of which still visible in the sight, and one preserved in a museum). The temple of Zeus was never completed and today only its ruins can be seen. Among the other sights from the Greek time, notable is the so called Colimbetra, a giant artificial lake created also thanks to subterranean tunnels bring water from the rivers and that can still be visited. Today the Colimbetra is a big garden where most of the typical Sicilian trees and plants (especially citruses) can be seen.

The Greeks of Akragai have been involved into many wars against their neighbours (Selinunte) and the people from North Aftica who occupied Sicily during that time. Eventually the Romans came down to Sicily, during the II century before christ and conquered Akragai, changing its name into Agrigentum, The city, even during the Roman time, remained the most important in the southern area of Sicily, having the others (like Selinunte and Gela) lost their importance.

When the romans fade out, the Arabs took over, changing again the name into Kerkent, The Normans then changed the name into Girgenti and only during the Italian fascist period, in the 1930s the city was again named Agrigento, from its Roman time.

The different people occupying and ruling the city had left a very deep and rich mark on it and today, even though the city itself is not in the typical tourist routes, it is packed with churches, noble palaces, libraries and museums