Villa Amico

Museum of ancient arts

by janika

.If you go to the Valley of Temples, don't forget the see the museums right across the road. Actually they have multiple museums and most of the art and remains you see there came from the temples area. They have an indoor and one outdoor section for the bigger statues. You will see coffins made of stone and huge stone giants. There is also a museum that used to be a theatre back in ancient times. You can purchase nice brochures in English and in many other languages. The tour guides also speak English, German and French. Post cards are available for a low price outside the entrance

Valle dei Templi - temples of Agrigento

by picek

Agrigentum (Acragas) is placed in a position easy to defend – and south of what is nowsadays modern city of Agrigento - that is along the ridge rather than in 'valley' and is boundned east and west by two watercourses (named Hypsas and Acragas). Temples from 5th century BC are Doric, all except Temple of Zeus were hexastyle format (6 columns at the front; Zeus had 7 columns), built of limestone tufa which is more vulnerable to weather conditions and changes than marble.
West to east distribution of sanctuaries is:
Temple of Hephaestus
Temple of Castor and Pollux
Temple of Zeus or Olympieion
Temple of Heracles
'Concord'
Temple of Hera Lacinia

According to Classic criterion all the buildings face east.

Fee includes entry to entire historic area which is split in two by the main road. Site (east) with Temple of Heracles, Concord and Hera Lacinia is larger and temples are better preserved so probably you will spend more time exploring if you're on your own; but the oldest are Castor and Pollux (symbol of Agrigento) and what is left from Olympieion- trully remarkable ruins.
When we visited east site it was right before it got dark – and it was windy, cold and rainy evening with those beautiful dark and heavy clouds which set more than perfect background for watching ancient architecture. It is at those moments when you're there almost entirely alone in front of a Temple when you feel ancient energy of the sacred place. You're enchanted – and perhaps those minutes you feel like being old Greek yourself.
On next morning we did the west site.

Fee: 8 EUR
Opening time: 9 am – 7 pm

A G R I G E N T O ! ! !

by ruki

Agrigento is a small town on the south coast of Sicily. The beach is good and the small streets of the old town are charming, but what brings you here are the Greek temples just outside of town.

Impressive and of a golden color the temples stand perched on rocks. They date back to the 5th century BC, when the town was one of the most important Greek colonies. The temples are located in the valley of the Seven temples and when buying tickets to visit these locations there is the possibility of buying tickets for both the ruins and the museum. The cost is three euros for those under 25 years of age and 6.5 euro for those in an older age bracket.