Page 397 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

from around 510–480 BC. This anonymous Gelan has been criticized by academics

for being more interested in composition and symmetry than in the narrative content
of his paintings – it has even been suggested that, being a Sicilian, his knowledge of
Greek myths left much to be desired. In recent years, however, the aesthetic merit of
his compositions has come to be more and more appreciated.

Museo Archeologico
Corso Vittorio Emanuele • Daily 9am–6.30pm • €4, includes entry to Capo Soprano archeological zone • 0933 912
626 • The museum is a 20min walk from the centre along the Corso

At the eastern end of the Corso, the Museo Archeologico is notable largely for its
important collection of painted vases, on the upstairs floor. Mainly seventh to fifth
century BC, the black- and red-figure jugs and beakers were Greek Gela’s speciality:

most major world museums tend to feature one or two, but the bulk are here. Other
impressive finds include an animated sculpture of a horse’s head (sixth century BC),
and Corinthian and Athenian ceramics unearthed from various necropolises belonging
to Geloan dependencies, illegally excavated in the late nineteenth century. Outside the
museum, a small acropolis has been uncovered, consisting of a few walls and a single
temple column from the fifth century BC, though the small site is drained of all
romance by the brooding, dirty industrial plant that dominates the beach below.

Capo Soprano and the archeological zone

Viale Indipendenza, Contrada Scavone • Mon–Sat 9am–1hr before sunset • €4, includes entry to Museo
Archeologico • 0933 930 975 • Head along the Corso and take a left fork (Via Manzoni), which runs parallel to
the sea as far as the red gates of the site, a distance of almost 4km

Gela’s main archeological site occupies the unexpectedly lovely Capo Soprano, at the
western end of town. The Greek fortifications here date from the fourth century BC.
Preserved by the sand dunes under which they were discovered, the walls, built under

the tyrant Timoleon, stand nearly 8m high in parts, made up of perfectly fitted stone
blocks topped by a layer of brick and now covered in protective glass panels. It’s a
beautiful site, and you’re free to wander around the line of the walls: in some places
you can make out the remains of watchtowers and gateways, while waves crash onto
a duned stretch of beach below. If you’ve come this far out of town, you may as well
nip around the corner (back towards the centre and left, by the hospital), to Via

Europa, to see the remains of Gela’s fourth-century BC public baths, the only ones
from Greek times discovered in Sicily and still equipped with their original seats.

ARRIVAL AND INFORMATION: GELA

By bus Buses stop directly outside the train station (tickets and information from the
bar across the square); regular departures serve Licata and Agrigento, Vittoria,