Page 439 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

the bells chiming, that he took a rifle and shot at them. These days, the church is
usually closed, but the piazza is a nice place to sit, with views down to the sea.

Museo Civico

Piazza Santo Spirito • Mon–Sat 9am–1pm & 3.30–7.30pm • €2.50 including guided tour
An enticing muddle of Romanesque, Byzantine, Norman, Gothic and Spanish building

styles and motifs, with a cloister sliced in half to give the nuns (who live in a modern
convent overlooking it) a private garden, the restored remains of the Chiaramonte
family’s Norman palace now house the Museo Civico. The friendly, well-informed
custodian will take you to see a chapterhouse with a zigzag Gothic arch, and the tower,
with beautiful faded Byzantine frescoes – the holes in the painted saints were created

when American soldiers, billeted here during World War II, drilled holes to hang up
their kit. The most enticing part of the museum, however, is the Ethno-
anthropological section, crammed onto the top floor. Created in the 1990s with
everyday objects donated by ordinary Agrigentini, it’s a fascinating collection, with
items ranging from an exam-busting ammunition belt (with cheat-notes instead of
ammo), recipe notes, an old-fashioned ice-cream maker and a clothes drier fuelled by

almond shells. Don’t miss the marvellous views of the temples across the fields from
the museum windows.

Santa Maria dei Greci

Via Santa Maria dei Greci • Key from the guardian at Via Santa Maria dei Greci 15

The narrowest and steepest of Agrigento’s streets spread up the hill from Piazza
Duomo, passing the church of Santa Maria dei Greci, built over a Greek temple of
the fifth century BC. The flattened columns can be seen in the nave, and through glass
panels set into the floor, while outside, visible from an underground tunnel in the
flower-filled courtyard, the stylobate and column stumps are incorporated into the
church’s foundations. Inside are the remains of Byzantine frescoes. Just up from here,

Via Duomo leads past a line of decrepit palazzi to the massive Duomo, set on a
terrace at the top of the hill and fronting a spacious, if slightly forlorn, piazza. It has
been closed for years.

The Valle dei Templi

The astonishingly well-preserved temples of the Valle dei Templi are the most
captivating of Sicily’s Greek remains. Magnificently strung along a fertile ridge high
above the coast, Akragas was one of Sicily’s richest and most powerful Greek cities
– visitors reported that people had ivory furniture, abundant silver and gold, and even
made elaborate tombs for their pets. Silver, gold and ivory may have gone, but the
sandstone temples are stunning, and the site itself is beautiful too – especially when