Agrigento

Agrigento during the Greek era, which dates back to its foundation, was known under the name of Akragas and its birth is due to the expansion of the nearby Gela, where they had settled the Greeks from Rhodes and Crete. The pulsating core of the city of Akragas was precisely the Valley of the Temples, of which today we preserve an extraordinary testimony, the world's largest archaeological site and UNESCO World Heritage Site. Destroyed by the Carthaginians, it was rebuilt by the Corinthians who contended in Carthage for predominance on the island. Like all of Sicily, it fell under the Roman Empire and its name was turned into Agrigentum. Two other names were given to the city: Gergent during the Arab domination and Girgenti during the Norman one.The latter was the official name until 1927, when the fascist regime opted for an Italianization of the name, referring to the one it had during the Roman domination. Today, Agrigento is virtually divided into two cities: the old one which is identified with the upper part and where the Valle dei Tempi is also located, the new valley whose conformation was defined around the 19th century. Agrigento is the city symbol of the Greek presence in Sicily and like all the cities of the island, a crossroads of art, history, culture and also of different historical periods, of which it remains wide and no traces throughout the territory.