Page 444 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

In the grounds of the Museo Regionale Archeologico, look out for the Gothic doorway

of the adjacent church of San Nicola. From the terrace outside, you get an invigorating
view over the temple valley, while just beyond is a small odeon (third century BC),
used for public meetings, during which the participants stood rather than sat in the
narrow rows. Nip over the road on the way out of the museum, too: the Hellenistic-

Roman quarter opposite (daily 9am–1hr before sunset; free) contains rows of houses,
inhabited (on and off) until the fifth century AD, many with mosaic designs still
discernible.

San Biagio and the Santuario di Demetra

Via Demetra
Heading back up the road towards town from San Nicola and the Hellenistic-Roman

quarter, you’ll pass the Norman chapel of San Biagio, built over the visible remains
of another ancient Greek temple. If you’re fortunate, a custodian may appear to lead
you down the cliff behind the chapel to the eerie Santuario di Demetra (be prepared
to tip), where a stone-built chambered shrine hides two dingy caves that stretch 20m

into the hillside. The thin corridor between building and caves was a sort of vestibule
with niches for water so that worshippers could wash themselves. The most ancient of
Agrigento’s sacred sites, it was once devoted to the cult of Demeter and Persephone,
and in use even before Akragas was founded. A mysterious and evocative place, it’s
at its best as the sun sets, when shadows flit across the dark and silent caves.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: AGRIGENTO AND THE VALLE

DEI TEMPLI

By bus Services operating from the bus terminal at Agrigento’s central Piazza

Rosselli include: Camilleri ( 0922 29 136, camilleriargentoelattuca.it) and
Cuffaro ( 091 616 510, cuffaro.info) to Palermo; Lattuca ( 0922 36 125,
autolineelattuca.it) to Sant’Angelo Muxaro; SAL ( 0922 401 360, autolineesal.it)
to Licata, Gela, Palma di Montechiaro and Porto Empedocle (for the Pelagie Islands);
SAIS Trasporti ( 0922 29 324, saistrasporti.it) to Caltanissetta, Catania and Naro;
Salvatore Lumia ( 0922 20 414, autolineelumia.it) to Castelvetrano, Cattolica
Eraclea (for Eraclea Minoa), Marsala, Mazara, Menfi, Sciacca and Trapani. There’s a

SAIS bus ticket/information office in the corner of the piazza. Otherwise, buy tickets
on the bus. Timetables are posted in front of the various companies’ stops.

Destinations Caltanissetta (hourly Mon–Sat, 10 daily Sun; 1hr 15min); Catania
(hourly Mon–Sat, 10 daily Sun; 2hr 50min); Cattolica Eraclea, for Eraclea Minoa (6
daily Mon–Sat, 1 daily Sun; 1hr–1hr 30min); Licata (14 daily Mon–Sat; 1hr); Palermo
(14 daily Mon–Sat, 5 daily Sun; 2hr); Palma di Montechiaro (14 daily Mon–Sat;

35min); Porto Empedocle (1–2 hourly Mon–Sat, 6 daily Sun; 20min); Sant’Angelo