Discover Sicily: Agrigento and surroundings

Agrigento , Giurgenti in Sicilian, will be " Capital of Culture 2025 ", a renowned recognition for all the marvelous historical, cultural and natural beauties of the Sicilian capital. But let's try to understand each other better and discover Sicily together starting from Agrigento and its surroundings!

1. The "Italian Capital of Culture" project
The initiative " Italian capital of culture " was established in 2014, with the decree-law 31 May 2014, n. 83, converted with amendments by Law 29 July 2014, n. 106 (article 7, paragraph 3quater), following the proposal of the Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism .
The objective of this initiative was to promote and enhance the Italian artistic and cultural heritage, through a form of comparison and competition between the different territorial realities, thus encouraging the growth of tourism and related investments.
The title of "Italian Capital of Culture" is awarded annually on the basis of a selection procedure defined in 2016 by the then Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism in agreement with the Unified Conference, and updated in 2019.
The winning city, thanks also to the contribution of one million euros up for grabs, will be able to showcase, for a period of one year, its original characteristics and the factors that determine its cultural development, intended as a growth engine for the whole community.

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2. The Italian capital for 2025
In the coming years the scepter will return to Sicily and will see Agrigento and its surroundings as the protagonist.
For those who are not from the area and do not know the beauty of the places it will be difficult to understand why a small town in the Sicilian hinterland has received this enormous recognition.
Well, in this article we will try to make you understand why.
Let's start right from Agrigento.

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3. Agrigento: historical and cultural roots
Of Greek origins, the city has had a great development in later times: it is a small open-air museum, where the footprints of the various civilizations mix together and you can savor the air of history, cultures and beauties.
Most of the monuments, such as the churches and the Cathedral date back to the Middle Ages, bearing witness to the historical and artistic development of the area.
But there are also more modern influences: a typical example is the statue of Andrea Camilleri , an Italian writer originally from the area, who helped to crystallize it over time and make it famous and immortal.

3.1. Pietro Griffo Regional Historical Museum
Among the beauties that the city offers, I was able to personally visit the Regional Archaeological Museum of Agrigento, named in memory of Pietro Griffo, archaeologist and Superintendent of Agrigento from 1941 to 1968.
The museum building partially incorporates the remains of a Cistercian monastery, annexed to the church of San Nicola and dating back to the 14th century.

Inside, more than 5,000 finds are displayed, which come in part from the funds of the Civic Museum, from acquisitions of private collections, from the archaeological museums of Palermo and Syracuse and for the most part from archaeological investigations conducted up to the end of the 1980s. last century by the Superintendence of Agrigento, whose territorial powers also extended to the provinces of Caltanissetta and Enna.

The staging is articulated along 17 rooms according to a topographical and chronological criterion.
At the time of my visit there were two different exhibition itineraries: one dedicated to the ancient city of Akragas/Agrigentum; the other to some significant contexts of central-southern Sicily.

In each room, bilingual explanatory panels (Italian and English) guide visitors and provide information on the materials displayed in the showcases.
An audio guide is also available in different languages ​​that can be easily downloaded via your smartphone, which traces the two educational paths and illustrates, for each path, the most important works and their characteristics.

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4. The Valley of the Temples
Taking a step back in time has never been easier: as soon as you enter the Valley of the Temples you will forget that you are living in the 21st century!
Inside, almost completely intact are the Temple of Juno in the highest part of the acropolis; the Temple of Concordia; the Temple of Asclepius; the Time of Hercules; the Temple of Zeus; the Temple of Vulcanio; the various necropolises; the Tomb of Theron.

In the Valley of the Temples (the choice of the name was not accidental) there are the remains of eleven temples in the Doric order, three sanctuaries, a large concentration of necropolises (Montelusa; Moses; Pezzino; Roman necropolis and tomb of Terone; early Christian; Acrosoli); hydraulic works (Kolymbetra garden and the Hypogea); fortifications; part of a Roman Hellenistic quarter built on a Greek plan; two important meeting places: the lower Agora (not far from the remains of the temple of Olympian Zeus) and the upper Agora (located within the museum complex); an Olympeion and a Bouleuterion (council chamber) from the Roman era on a Greek plan.
Since 1998 it has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

4.1. Information for visits
The Archaeological Park is divided into two parts, east and west. The temples in the east area are the best preserved and, therefore, the most visually spectacular.
In any case it is possible to pass from one area to another thanks to an elevated walkway.
Tickets can be purchased online or directly at the ticket offices of the archaeological park. Opening hours vary according to the season, so I suggest you call the ticket office directly or consult the website.
It is also possible to buy the ticket for the Valley of the Temples only, for the archaeological museum only or for the Kolymbethra garden, or buy the package with two or more sites that can be visited.

4.2. How to get there
The Valley of the Temples is located a few kilometers from the center of Agrigento and can be reached with some local buses or on foot.
If you are traveling by car, just follow the directions starting from the Giunone roundabout.
To visit the Valley of the Temples you can enter from two entrances: one in via Panoramica dei Templi, near the Temple of Giunone, and one in Contrada Sant'Anna near Porta V.

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5. Porto Empedocle
Small town a few steps from Agrigento, also known as " Vigata " in homage to the imaginary town of the literary character created by the local writer Andrea Camilleri (its illustrious citizen), Salvo Montalbano, to whom a statue was dedicated in via Roma in 2009.

However, the naming decision was reversed in 2009.
On a historical level, the town allows you to visit very few monuments.
In fact, the historic center is very small and quite recent as it was almost entirely rebuilt after the war experiences that involved Italy in the last century.
The city, in fact, was among the protagonists of the Second World War and for this reason it was heavily bombed, destroying much of the historical and cultural heritage of the previous periods.

In any case, I was able to personally visit the center of the town last summer and beyond many places also for families and pubs, I was able to notice how the city is trying to recover and rebuild its cultural and artistic identity.
For example, I was very struck by observing the numerous murals and particular paintings scattered throughout the streets of the centre, depicting the works and/or characters of the writer Camilleri.
Among other things, precisely in Via Roma, the city paid homage to Camilleri by creating a statue depicting one of his main characters: Inspector Montalbano, the work of the sculptor Giuseppe Agnello .

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6. Natural beauties
Agrigento is also rich in natural beauties to visit absolutely.
I am aware of the existence of a salt cave in Realmonte , a few kilometers from Agrigento. However, at the time of my visit in summer 2022 the Grotto was not open to visitors.
I hope if you #travellers can visit it because it will definitely be a crazy place.
Instead I was able to visit the famous " Scala dei Turchi " and the " Spiaggia del Caos ".

6.1. The “Scala dei Turchi”
So called because in the past the coast was the base for numerous piracy raids by the Saracens, Arabs and, by convention, Turks. Turkish pirates, in fact, used to land along this coast as it was less windswept and able to offer shelter even from prying eyes.
Its main characteristic is its pure white marl composition.

Furthermore, the cliff stands between two beaches of fine sand and has a wavy and irregular shape, with gentle and rounded lines.
To access it, proceed along the coast and climb the slope similar to a large natural limestone staircase. From the top it is possible to observe all the landscape of the Agrigento coast up to
Chief Rossello.

6.2. The Fame of the Scala dei Turchi
The Scala dei Turchi represents a world-famous natural site thanks to the contribution of Andrea Camilleri who, having been born in Porto Empedocle, knew these areas very well. And in fact, he sets one of the scenes of his book " The first investigation of Montalbano " in this place full of charm.

He writes:
“ Past a promontory, the Scala dei Turchi suddenly appeared to him. If you remembered it much more imposing, when you are nichi everything appears to us greater than reality. But even when scaled down, it retained its astonishing billowing. The profile of the highest part of the white marl hill was engraved against the blue of the clear sky, without a cloud, and was crowned by hedges of an intense green. In the lower part, the point formed by the last steps which plunged into the clear blue of the sea, caught in the full sun, was tinged, shimmering, with shades tending towards deep pink. Instead, the rearmost area of ​​the ridge rested entirely on the yellow of the rina "

consecrating the beauty and purity of these places to the fame and immortality of literature.

6.3. How to get there
The coast is easily reachable by car or motorbike or with any other vehicle along the Provincial road 68.

Along the way there are paid parking lots in the area (with honest and accessible prices). From the car park, the coast can be reached on foot (I advise against it especially if you have left your vehicle in the higher car parks) or via the characteristic pedestrian shuttles that leave you a few steps from the sea.

6.4. The "Beach of Chaos"
A few steps from the historic center of Porto Empedocle and about 9 km from Agrigento stands the "Spiaggia del Chaos" named in honor of Pirandello, Nobel Prize for literature on 8 November 1934.

Despite the name, this beach is a true paradise of nature and immersed in a very particular context.

It stands out with its fine sand under a limestone ridge, assuming a U shape. The clean blue water reflects the sandy and shallow seabed.

The set-up, created inside the halls of the structure, is spread over various thematic levels:

- On the ground floor, in room 1a, a Luigi Pirandello is presented in relation to his family : here are two paintings made by the writer's sister, Rosolina, which depict his parents. Between the two paintings there is a didactic support with the animated image of Luigi Pirandello who tells firsthand anecdotes about his life and his relationship with his family. The narrator introduces the figure of Luigi Pirandello as a man, reconstructing his network of family emotional ties and giving great importance to the art of painting expressed by family members. Other original pictorial supports depict further components.

- Next, still on the ground floor, room 1b deals with the theme of the places of the soul dear to the writer. There are paintings depicting Tuscan landscapes and local scenarios of the Chaos countryside, which alternate with animated paintings bearing visual suggestions: they represent photographic images that immortalize the places of the most significant moments in Pirandello's private and literary life, such as Porto Empedocle, the Valle dei Temples and the Temple of Concordia, the Saracen Olive Tree, Piazza Municipio and the nearby Church of S. Domenico, Via Atenea and the Church of S. Lorenzo with Piazza Nicolò Gallo.

- Again in this exhibition section there are also the precious notebooks of the playwright from Agrigento and a circular multimedia support depicting Janus Two- faced with the two opposing faces of humor, portrayed in the action of laughing and crying.
In fact it deals with the theme of the inner self and dualism, fundamental aspects of Pirandello's thought. Through animations, the Janus Double-Faced becomes a metaphor for the dichotomous relationships such as Life/Death, Person/Character, Comedy/Humor and Sicily/World, which populate Pirandello's literature. A short distance away stands the famous phrase “ Humor is a phenomenon of doubling in the act of conception; it is like a two-faced herm, laughing at a crying face of the opposite face ”.

-On the first floor, room 3 allows you to enjoy a cinematic experience, retracing some important events related to Pirandello's life and death, such as the awarding of the Nobel prize and the return of the ashes to Agrigento. The video ends with images of the pine tree and the author's funeral monument: it is an invitation to reach the external area where his ashes are kept, not before immersing yourself in the natural landscape that characterizes the Caos district.

-Room 4, on the other hand, is dedicated to some words that have become key to understanding Pirandello's poetics, it is also prefigured as a space for reflection on the topics covered. The area constitutes a photographic set which preserves part of the original furniture: key words of the Pirandello Opera are posted on the walls, in some cases bearing the titles of the best-known works.

-Room 5 celebrates the novels and short stories that have made the author from Agrigento successful. The writing desk becomes a didactic support that allows you to virtually browse through his manuscripts.

-Room 6 is made up of mirrors animated by masks through which visitors will be able to understand the theme linked to the inner self , very dear to the master Pirandello so as to make it one of the main moments of his works.

Finally, outside the Pirandellian journey continues with a sculpture/stone placed on the tomb of the famous master.