Valle dei Templi: The Greeks Built a City in Sicily and It Still Stands
The Tempio della Concordia in Agrigento is not a ruin. This needs to be said clearly, because the word 'ruin' implies something fragmentary, something that requires imagination to reconstruct. The Temple of Concordia is standing. Its 34 Doric columns are standing. Its entablature is largely intact. Its proportions are exactly as the Greek architects intended them in 450 BC. It is one of the most perfect objects in the human world, sitting on a limestone ridge above the Sicilian coast, turning golden in the afternoon sun, looking exactly as it did when Empedocles — born in Akragas around 490 BC — called his city the finest on Earth.
Akragas (the Greek name; Agrigentum in Latin; Agrigento in Italian) was founded as a Greek colony in 582 BC and grew within a century into one of the wealthiest cities in the Mediterranean world. At its peak in the 5th century BC, it had a population estimated at 200,000 — larger than Athens. Its wealth came from agriculture (it exported vast quantities of olive oil to Carthage), and its public display of wealth took the form of temples. The city built at least nine major temples along a sacred ridge running parallel to the coast — a 'Valley of the Temples' (though it is actually a ridge, not a valley). The temples were deliberately visible from the sea, announcing the city's greatness to every ship that passed.
Why did the Temple of Concordia survive while others fell? Because in the 6th century AD, a Christian bishop converted it into a church. The spaces between the columns were filled with walls; the orientation was reversed; two rows of arched windows were cut into the walls. The conversion saved the structure from the quarrying and lime-burning that destroyed most other ancient temples across Sicily. The other surviving temples — Juno, Heracles, the Olympieion (the remains of what would have been the largest temple ever built in the Greek world, never completed) — tell the story of a civilisation that was simultaneously building the future and fighting for survival against Carthage.
🇮🇹 Italian vocabulary for this place
Il tempio dorico si riconosce per le colonne senza base. — The Doric temple is recognisable by its columns without a base.
Akragas era una colonia greca fondata nel VI secolo a.C. — Akragas was a Greek colony founded in the 6th century BC.
La cella era la stanza più sacra del tempio. — The cella was the most sacred room of the temple.
Il fregio rappresentava scene mitologiche. — The frieze depicted mythological scenes.
Il peristilio ha 34 colonne ancora in piedi. — The peristyle has 34 columns still standing.
I templi sono costruiti in calcare locale. — The temples are built in local limestone.
La Valle dei Templi è il simbolo della Magna Grecia. — The Valley of the Temples is the symbol of Magna Graecia.
La Valle dei Templi è Patrimonio UNESCO dal 1997. — The Valley of the Temples has been a UNESCO site since 1997.
L'Olimpieion sarebbe stato il più grande tempio greco mai costruito. — The Olympieion would have been the largest Greek temple ever built.
I telamoni dell'Olimpieion erano figure umane giganti. — The telamons of the Olympieion were giant human figures.
How to talk about it in Italian
La Valle dei Templi si trova ad Agrigento, nel sud della Sicilia.
The Valley of the Temples is in Agrigento, in southern Sicily.
Il Tempio della Concordia è uno dei templi greci meglio conservati al mondo.
The Temple of Concordia is one of the best-preserved Greek temples in the world.
Agrigento era una delle città più ricche del Mediterraneo antico.
Agrigento was one of the wealthiest cities in the ancient Mediterranean.
I templi si vedono già dal mare, come volevano i Greci.
The temples can be seen from the sea, as the Greeks intended.
È meglio visitarli all'alba o al tramonto, quando la luce è dorata.
It is best to visit them at dawn or sunset, when the light is golden.
The Valle dei Templi is just outside the city of Agrigento in southern Sicily. Agrigento is reachable by train from Palermo (about 2 hours) or by bus from Catania or Palermo airports. The archaeological park is extensive — allow at least half a day, ideally a full day. There is an entrance fee; a combined ticket includes the Archaeological Museum (excellent, with the reconstructed telamon from the Olympieion). Visit at dawn or in the evening for the best light and fewest crowds; in summer the evening visits are magical, with the temples lit at night. The park is also open after sunset in July and August.
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