La Nicchia

Agrigento is a town on the Southern coast of Sicily and is the capital of the province of Agrigento.

It is built on the site of Akragas, an ancient Greek city which was one of the leading cities of the Magna Graecia during the golden age of the empire. Later, it became a Roman town and was named Agrigentum.

During the middle ages it was renamed Girgenti until 1927, when 'Agrigento' was devised as a way to commemorate the city's past. It is probably now most well known for the Valley of the Temples, though it has much more to offer as a tourist destination and as a city.

If you’re planning a vacation to the stunning Italian island of Sicily, then why not set aside a day or two to explore the fascinating area of Agrigento?

This UNESCO World Heritage Site lies on the outskirts of the modern city and attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists every year. This incredible site consists of quite a few ancient Greek temples, many of which have survived the test of time quite well.

Stay in a gorgeous vacation rental in Sicily where you can easily commute to Agrigento to see this wonderful ancient Greek site as well as other magnificent attractions in the city itself.

Located in the south of Sicily is the wonderful city of Agrigento, which is the capital of the province of the same name! Agrigento was built on the site of an ancient Greek city called Akragas and has a rich history and collection of ancient monuments to show for it.

Tourists wishing to visit Agrigento for a day or two have a superb selection of holiday villas across Sicily to choose from, many within a two hour drive.

The city and surrounding area of Agrigento is a massive tourist attraction today because of the eight Greek temples that still stand here!

Italy is home to some truly unique and beautiful parks and gardens. However, most still confirm to certain aesthetics; green manicured lawns, pathways, fountains, trimmed hedges, neat flowerbeds, and more. While these stunning outdoor spaces are well worth exploring in their own right, if you are in search of a more specific and singular yet equally stunning garden and you have found a vacation rental in Sicily, then we recommend a visit to the Kolymbetra Garden in Agrigento, on the South Coast of Sicily.

Kolymbetra Garden, or Giardino della Kolymbetra, is a very Sicilian kind of garden. Located in the heart of the Valley of the Temples, and often overlooked but readily visited if you are already at that other famous attraction, it is a lush and fragrant space that hosts all sorts of events. The landscape of this area is made up of almond and olive tree groves, with irrigated citrus groves and orchards cutting through this. Kolymbetra is an example of an irrigated citrus garden but also boasts great historical and archaeological value. Situated in a small valley to the west of the Hill of the Temples, nestled between the Temple of Castor and Pollux and the Temple of Vulcan, the six hectares of garden are framed picturesquely by these great monuments of the distant past. It is also mentioned in ancient records, noted as the site of a Greek pool mentioned by Diodorus Siculus in the first century AD as the place where Carthaginian slaves were brought in to build aqueducts that delivered water to the sumptuous pool that they also built in the area. While this artificial lake has long since been destroyed and disappeared, the land remained fertile and the profitable fishing industry that had thrived there when it was a fish hatchery was replaced by the Moors with a business based on abundant trees yielding delicious fruits.

The Scala dei Turchi, or Turkish Staircase, in Realmonte on the island of Sicily is a naturally occuring phenomenon. It is a rocky cliff, an unusual white in colour, which has been eroded by the sea over the centuries. Due to this extraordinary appearance and its mention in Andrea Camilleri's series of detective stories about Commissario Montalbano, it has become a popular tourist attraction in the area.

The white, starkly beautiful crags and hollows of the cliff-face, paired with the rich blue of the ocean and the stunning sunsets in the area make it an astounding sight.