Page 450 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

the inspiration for the Taviani Brothers’ film, Kaos, based on four of Pirandello’s

short stories. One of the greats of twentieth-century Italian literature, Pirandello is
best-known for his dramatic works, such as Six Characters in Search of an Author
and Henry IV, though his 1934 Nobel Prize was awarded as much for his novels and
short stories. He had a tragic life: his wife was committed to an asylum, having lapsed
into insanity following the ruin of her family and the birth of their third son, and for
much of his life Pirandello was forced to write to supplement his frugal living as a

teacher. His drama combines elements of tragedy and comedy with keenly observed
dialogue, and the nature of identity and personality, reality, illusion and the absurd are
all recurring themes. Pirandello’s ideas – and innovations – formed the blueprint for
much subsequent twentieth-century drama.

Casa Natale di Luigi Pirandello

Contrada Caos, just off the SS115 and past the Valle dei Templi • Daily 9am–1pm & 2–7pm • €4 • 0922 511 826,
lavalledeitempli.it • Bus #1/ runs here from Agrigento
Although he left Agrigento while still young, Pirandello spent time here every summer

at the Casa Natale di Luigi Pirandello, where you can see the study in which he
wrote, crammed with foreign editions of his works. As well as a couple of murals he
painted, it holds stacks of photos, including one sent by George Bernard Shaw, and a
fifth-century vase, depicting a bearded man attacking a young woman, that was
formerly used as an urn for Pirandello’s ashes. After seeing the house, with its

bamboo and daub interior, you can wander down through the grounds to where the
writer’s ashes are interred, though the views he once enjoyed over the sea are now
ruined by a patch of industrial horror.

Porto Empedocle

Six kilometres southwest of Agrigento, PORTO EMPEDOCLE is mainly of interest

as the departure point for ferries to the Pelagie Islands – unless, that is, you happen to
be a fan of Andrea Camilleri, who was born here. Porto Empedocle is Camilleri’s
Vigàta, the fictional home to many characters including the beguiling Inspector
Montalbano, whom Camilleri based at the police station here, and who lived on the

beach at nearby Marinella. Indeed, if you enter town from the south, you will pass a
sign recently erected by the local council proclaiming “Vigàta (Porto Empedocle)”.

Though it’s an unprepossessing, functional port, much of it dominated by an
enormous cement works, Porto Empedocle’s workaday ambience makes a welcome
antidote to tourist-ridden Agrigento. If you’re waiting for a ferry, you can enjoy a
pleasant stroll along the town’s spruced-up pedestrian walkway to check out the statue
of Detective Montalbano on the main street (inspired by the books, not the TV series,

with moustache and cigarette), or dine at good, inexpensive fish restaurants including