Grade

Moderate

Duration

4 Hours

Category

Day Tour

Tour Type

Private

Season

All Year

 58

This is a Private Tour

Today meet the driver at your hotel and drive to the Archaeological Park of the Valley of the Temples (Admission fee: not included), dated around 5th century B.C., that belongs to the Unesco World Heritage. Walking in this unmissable location you will discover on your own the finest of all ancient Greek sites—the complete Doric Temples.
Then the Driver will lead you to the Turkish Steps (Scala dei Turchi), a rocky cliff of unusual white color that lies between two sandy beaches. Enjoy a brief walk on the cliff (if time available)

Return to Agrigento.

This tour is operated with English speaking Driver.
Some areas can only be visited on foot.
Licensed local guide is not included.

TOUR DETAILS & BOOKING INFORMATION

HIGHLIGHTS:
Valley of the Temples: archaeological park
Turkish steps: rocky cliff

AS REGARDS THE VALLEY OF THE TEMPLES:

Agrigento & the Temples Valley: two hours walking tour on the Valley of the Temples (Admission fee: not included), a Unesco World Heritage site. It covers the Temple of Hera, the Temple of Concordia, the Temple of Hercules and the Temple of Zeus. All these temples were built in the Vth century B.C.

The Temple of Concord: almost in the centre of the ridge of temples, conspicuous for its nobility and integrity, has defied the centuries. It is, in fact, the best preserved example of Doric art in Italy and conveys a vivid impression of the stateliness and harmony of that art which reaches its loftiest form in western Hellenism. Built in the second half of the Vth century B.C., it has 6 columns on the façade and 13 on either side and stands on a pedestal 4 steps high, 40 metres long and 17 metres wide.

The Temple of Hercules: dedicated to the mythical hero, son of Jove, was built in the VIth century B.C. and is the most ancient of those existing in Agrigento. Destroyed, it seems, together with the other temples of Agrigento and Selinunte, by an earthquake in the late post-classic age, it is at present a heap of ruins but, in recent years, 8 columns of the southern side have been re-erected. Mighty and massive, these columns are each made up of 4 drums and surmounted by Doric capitals with a sweeping curve.

The Temple of Olympic Jove: built in 480 B.C., it was an enormous building, the largest in ancient Greece after the Artemision of Ephesus and the Didymeon of Miletus. The base of its imposing ruins measure 112,60 metres by 56,30 and they house a copy of the “telamones”, gigantic Atlases 7,5 metres in height which used to support the architrave. The architect, in order to sustain the enormous weight of the trabeation to which the columns were submitted, resorted to the ingenious expedient of reinforcing them with these enormous figures of Atlases mounted on semi-columns erected in the intercolumnar spaces of the peristyle. Around the perimeter of the temple one can see the massive semi-columns and half-capitals dispersed by earthquakes. During the 1926 excavations the remains of four other telamones came to light; Agrigento has used these figures in its coat-of-arms.

TOUR CODE: AGRSCALA



Included
  • English speaking Driver
  • VAT
  • Vehicle with air conditioning
  • Visit as per itinerary (independent without booking of guide)
Not Included
  • Admission fees
  • Beverages and meals
  • Gratuities and tips
  • Licensed Tourist Guide
Contact us for more information