Day 01
Walking Tour of the Valley of the Temples
- The guided tour of the oldest and most characteristic area of Agrigento, known as the Valley of the Temples, will take you back in time among the Doric temples of the Hellenic period, as you visit one of the largest and most spectacular archaeological areas in the world.
- We begin with the Temple of Hera Lacinia, or Juno, built in 450 BC at an elevation of 120 metres on the hill of Rupe Atenea, with its striking Doric columns. The temple is dedicated to Juno because it once housed a painting that probably depicted the goddess, protector of women and fertility, and it was here that weddings were celebrated.
- A few steps away stands one of the symbols of Agrigento, the majestic Temple of Concordia, the second best-preserved temple in the world after the Parthenon in Athens.
- Dating back to 430 BC, it remains in an excellent state of conservation thanks to its later transformation into a Christian church.
- In front of the temple, you can admire the evocative bronze statue of Icarus, donated by the famous Polish sculptor Igor Mitoraj. It represents the fall of Icarus, who disobeyed his father and flew too close to the sun, burning his wax wings before falling into the Mediterranean.
- The guided tour continues with the oldest of Agrigento's Doric temples, the Temple of Hercules, or Heracles for the Greeks, which owes its name to a bronze statue of Hercules, the strongest and most valiant of the gods, once kept inside the temple.
- During the visit, you will also see prickly pear trees and breathtaking panoramic views over the valley. We then arrive at the Temple of Jupiter, or Zeus, originally one of the largest temples of classical antiquity. Over time, it was damaged by earthquakes and later used as a quarry for the construction of the Porto Empedocle pier.
- Among the temple's ruins, we will see the reconstruction of one of the Telamons, over 7 metres high - a giant stone sculpture placed outside the temple to protect the divinity - whose majesty still gives an idea of the original beauty of the monument.
- After a short walk, the guided tour continues to the Temple of the Dioscuri, of which only one corner with four columns remains. Despite the few remains that have survived to the present day, it has become one of the most representative monuments of Agrigento.
- The guided tour ends with an outside view of the Kolymbetra Garden, an extensive citrus grove of orange and lemon trees, where nature and silence create a heavenly place in total harmony with the temples that surround it.
