Agrigento

Agrigento is located a few kilometers away from the southern coast of Sicily and is the capital of the Libero consorzio comunale di Agrigento (Free Municipal Consortium of A.), the territory, which corresponds to what was the now suppressed Province, which reaches the coastal strip, bathed by the Mediterranean Sea. The long history of the place is characterized by the foundation of the Greek Polis of Akragas: the Doric temples of the Valley of the Temples are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, together with the agora, pagan and Christian necropolises and underground aqueducts.

Until 1853 the area, at the time of the Norman dominion called Girgenti, also included the present-day municipality of Porto Empedocle, from where ferries currently depart for the Pelagie islands. The Municipality of Lampedusa and Linosa, the two inhabited islands of the archipelago, are also part of the consortium.

In the historic center of Agrigento there are important examples of Arab-Norman art, with palaces, churches, walls and a monumental complex. The city extends over two hills, Girgenti and the Athenian cliff, and on a plateau, and is bordered by the San Biagio river and the Sant'Anna river, which flow into the San Leone.

The Free Municipal Consortium of Agrigento has 126 kilometers of coastline, both sandy and rocky, from Punta Bianca to Porto Empedocle passing through Lido di San Leone, the area of ​​the ancient port, called Emporion, where there is now a small tourist port. In the consortium, made up of 43 municipalities, there are a total of two tourist ports (Marina Cala del Sole di Licata and Porticciolo di San Leone) and five commercial and tourist ports (in addition to Porto Empedocle, the reference maritime station of the mainland for the Pelagie, we find the ports of Licata, Sciacca, Porto Palo di Menfi, Lampedusa and Linosa). Along the coast, in Realmonte, stands the famous Scala dei Turchi, the white cliff, through which the Saracens went to board the local villages, today a world destination for seaside tourism.

The Natural Park of the Sicani Mountains falls into six municipalities of the consortium. There are also ten other parks in the area (Nature Reserves or Protected Areas). Inland, a thousand meters above sea level, between the Sicani Mountains, stands the Sanctuary of Santa Rosalia alla Quisquina, where there is the hermitage where the Saint lived before fleeing to Palermo, of which she is the patron saint, for avoid marriage arranged by the father. The hermitage, a place of prayer, can be visited, and also houses the Ethno-Anthropological Museum of the municipality of Santo Stefano Quisquina. In the municipality of Agrigento, however, precisely in the Valley of the Temples, there is the Garden of Kolymbetra, a lush bucolic landscape with paths among orange, lemon, almond, mulberry trees, and many other fruit trees.

Among the typical products of the area we find the oranges of the "Washington Navel" variety grown in Ribera and guaranteed by the "Arancia Ribera di Sicilia" protection consortium. The local food production also offers extra virgin olive oil (excellent that of Caltabellotta), cheeses such as ricotta, provola and caciotta, wines, Bivona peach, almonds, pistachios, the artichoke of Menfi and the prickly pear of Santa Margherita Belice.

Typical dish of Agrigento, the City of Temples, are the fresh pasta cavatelli alla giurgintana, with fresh tomato sauce, fried aubergines, basil and ricotta. The cciarduni are the typical dessert with ricotta cream and almond grains. Here the cous-cous is also a dessert, that of the ancient recipe of the nuns of the monastery of Santo Spirito, based on almonds and pistachios.

In the capital of the consortium, in addition to the Monastery of Santo Spirito, the medieval church of Santa Maria dei Greci, the Cathedral of San Gerlando, the Bishop's Palace with the Clock Tower and the Diocesan Museum are important religious buildings. In the Caos district, there is the Luigi Pirandello House Museum, where the great playwright was born.