On Sicily's south coast, Greek settlers founded the city of Akragas around 580 BC, which Pindar called the most beautiful city of mortals. On a ridge facing the sea they raised a row of Doric temples, and one of them still stands almost intact after twenty-four centuries. Twelve stops between the temple that bears the scars of the Carthaginian fire, the tombs cut into the city wall, the temple saved by becoming a church, the Hercules that Verres tried to steal, the temple of Zeus held up by giants, the four columns that became a symbol, the garden born from an ancient pool, the museum of the telamons, the quarter of mosaic-floored houses, the monastery of sweets, the Norman cathedral and the white cliff of the Scala dei Turchi. Approximate audio duration: 24 minutes.
▸ Ver en español
Agrigento: la ciudad griega más rica de Sicilia y sus templos todavía en pie
En la costa sur de Sicilia, colonos griegos fundaron hacia el 580 a.C. la ciudad de Akragas, que Píndaro llamó la más bella de los mortales. Sobre una cresta frente al mar levantaron una hilera de templos dóricos, y uno de ellos sigue casi entero después de dos mil cuatrocientos años. Doce paradas entre el templo que guarda las marcas del incendio cartaginés, las tumbas cavadas en la muralla, el templo que se salvó por volverse iglesia, el Hércules que Verres quiso robar, el templo de Zeus sostenido por gigantes, las cuatro columnas que se volvieron símbolo, el jardín nacido de una piscina antigua, el museo de los telamones, el barrio de las casas con mosaicos, el monasterio de los dulces, la catedral normanda y el acantilado blanco de la Scala dei Turchi. Duración aproximada de audio: 24 minutos.
Tour stops
12 stops · ~24 min of audio · 19.23 km on foot (~4 h 50 min walking) · about 5 h 15 min in total
You are at the highest point of the ridge's eastern end. In front of you stands a Doric temple with honey-coloured columns, the sea in the distance and the modern town of Agrigento clinging to the hill behind you.
Around 580 BC, Greek settlers from Gela, another Sicilian city founded by people from Rhodes and Crete, founded a new city here. They called it Akragas, after the river that runs below. In less than a hundred years it became one of the richest cities in the Mediterranean.
This temple went up around the middle of the fifth century BC. It is called the Temple of Juno, or of Hera Laci…
2
The Tombs Cut into the Wall
You are now walking alongside a rock face on your left, on the sea side. It is what remains of the wall of Akragas. Look closely: it is pierced by dozens of arch-shaped niches.
The Greek city was ringed by walls about twelve kilometres long. In many stretches there was no need to build: it was enough to carve the natural ridge of rock and reinforce it. That is why the temples stand right here, on the edge, like guardians of the city.
Those niches are tombs, but not Greek ones. They are much later. Between the end of the Roman period and the Byzantine era, when the city was Christian and had …
3
The Temple Saved by Becoming a Church
Stop here. In front of you is the Temple of Concordia, with its thirty-four columns standing, both triangular pediments and its structure almost complete. It is one of the best-preserved Doric temples in the world.
It was built around 440 or 430 BC, in the same years the Parthenon was rising in Athens. Six columns across the front, thirteen down the sides: the classical proportion. Together with the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens, it is one of the very few Greek temples to survive with its full silhouette.
The name is not Greek. In the sixteenth century the Sicilian historian Tommaso Fazello…
4
The Hercules That Verres Tried to Steal
You are facing a row of eight standing columns, isolated among fallen blocks. This is the Temple of Heracles, the oldest of the great temples on the ridge, dating from the late sixth century BC.
Notice the difference from the Concordia. This temple is longer and narrower, with sturdier columns. It is the building style of the previous generation, when Akragas was still ruled by tyrants.
Heracles was deeply revered here. In Roman times the sanctuary held a bronze statue of the hero that the people of the city were especially fond of. Cicero tells how Verres, the Roman governor who plundered S…
5
The Temple of Zeus Held Up by Giants
Look at this field of enormous blocks, scattered as if an earthquake had dropped them. Here stood the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the largest Doric temple ever attempted in the Greek world.
It measured about one hundred and twelve metres long by fifty-six wide. To give you an idea, the Parthenon covers less than half that area. Find one of the fallen capitals and stand next to it: you will feel very small.
The temple was born of a victory. In 480 BC the armies of Akragas and Syracuse defeated the Carthaginians at Himera, on Sicily's north coast. According to the historian Diodorus, thousands of…
6
Four Columns Put Together Like a Puzzle
In front of you are four columns holding up a corner of roof, with a stretch of cornice still decorated. It is the most famous image of Agrigento: you will see it on postcards, logos and tourist posters all over Sicily.
It is known as the Temple of the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, the twin sons of Zeus. But, as with the other temples on the ridge, that attribution is modern and unproven.
Now for the detail almost nobody mentions. These columns were not found like this. In 1836 nineteenth-century architects assembled them from pieces lying on the ground, and they very probably mixed fragments…
7
The Garden Born from an Ancient Pool
You have gone down into a cool, green ravine, sheltered from the wind. Orange and lemon trees, ancient olives, almonds. After the sun on the ridge, this place feels like another world. It is the Kolymbetra Garden.
Kolymbetra means pool, or pond, in Greek. Diodorus tells that after the victory at Himera in 480 BC, Carthaginian prisoners dug a great pool here, fed by underground channels.
According to Diodorus, the engineer who directed the aqueducts was called Phaeax, and so the channels became known as phaeaces. Fish were raised in the pool and swans swam on it.
Over time the pool silted up…
8
The Stone Giant on His Feet
You are in the Pietro Griffo Regional Archaeological Museum, on the hill north of the temples. Go into the central hall and look up. There, standing against the wall, is one of the telamons from the Temple of Zeus.
It was reassembled from original blocks found among the ruins. It stands about seven and a half metres tall. Look at the pose: arms bent behind the head, carrying an impossible weight. There were dozens like him around the temple.
The museum opened in 1967 in a low, modern building designed not to compete with the landscape. It bears the name of Pietro Griffo, the archaeologist wh…
9
Feasting as if They Would Die Tomorrow
In front of you is an entire quarter of ruined houses, laid out in rectangular blocks. Straight streets crossing at right angles, low walls, stone thresholds and, on some floors, remains of mosaics.
This is the Hellenistic-Roman quarter. The houses you see were built from the late fourth century BC onwards and lived in for centuries, including under Rome, which conquered the city in 210 BC and called it Agrigentum.
But the city's reputation for wealth was older. In the fifth century BC the poet Pindar called it the most beautiful city of mortals. It sold oil and wine to Carthage and the whol…
10
The Nuns and Their Pistachio Sweets
You have climbed into the old town of Agrigento, on the hill where the Greeks had their acropolis. You are facing the monastery of Santo Spirito, with its Gothic doorway of pale stone.
It was founded in the late thirteenth century by Marchisia Prefoglio, of the Chiaramonte family, the great feudal lords of this part of Sicily. For centuries cloistered Cistercian nuns lived here.
To understand why the town is up here and not down by the temples, think of the centuries of insecurity. After the fall of Rome, people gathered on the hill, which was easier to defend. Below remained the ruins, the …
11
The Norman Cathedral on the Hill
You have reached the highest point of the old town. In front of you is a flight of steps and the cathedral of San Gerlando, with its massive, unfinished bell tower. From here, on a clear day, you can see the ridge of temples and the sea below.
The Normans conquered the town in the late eleventh century, when Count Roger took Sicily from the Arabs. To reorganise the Church he brought in Gerland, a cleric from Besançon, as bishop, and he had the first cathedral built.
The building you see was altered many times over the following centuries. From outside it looks like a fortress. Inside it keep…
12
The White Stairway of the Pirates
You are facing a dazzling white cliff that drops to the sea in soft, rippling steps. In the midday sun it is almost blinding. This is the Scala dei Turchi, the Stair of the Turks, in the municipality of Realmonte.
The rock is marl, a mix of clay and limestone formed on the seabed millions of years ago. It is soft: wind and waves carve and wear it constantly. That is why it has these rounded shapes, like melting snow.
The name comes from the centuries when corsairs from North Africa raided the Sicilian coast. On the island all those Muslim pirates were called Turks. Tradition says this cove, …
How long does the "Agrigento: Sicily's Richest Greek City and the Temples Still Standing" audio tour take?
It has about 24 minutes of audio across 12 stops and a 19.23 km walking route (~4 h 50 min on foot). Plan roughly 5 h 15 min in total, or split it up: you can pause and resume anytime.
Where does the tour start?
At stop 1, "The Temple That Still Bears the Scars of Fire" (coordinates 37.2887, 13.5993). The app guides you from stop to stop with a map.
Is it free?
Trevurs is a free app for iOS and Android. There is also an optional Premium version, from USD 1.99, with unlimited offline downloads, access to every tour and no ads. It also helps keep an independent app alive.
Why use an audio tour instead of a guided group tour?
No group to keep up with and no guide to wait for. Start at any time of day, on your own schedule. Go at your own pace: pause, rewind or skip any stop. No need to commit 2 or 3 hours to a single tour: do one stop or the whole route. Works offline once downloaded.
What languages is this audio guide available in?
This tour is available in Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian. Switch languages anytime from inside the app.
Do I need wifi to listen to this tour?
No. Download the tour over wifi before you go, then listen without any data connection.
How do I access this tour?
Download Trevurs on iPhone (App Store) or Android (Google Play), then open Agrigento and pick "Agrigento: Sicily's Richest Greek City and the Temples Still Standing". No account required to start.
Free app
No wifi needed · Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian
