🏛️ Cultural experiences in Agrigento

A journey through history, archaeology and literature: Akragas Home's cultural experiences will let you discover Agrigento from the inside.

Discover the historical soul of Agrigento with authentic cultural experiences. Stroll among millenary temples, hidden glimpses and places that inspired Luigi Pirandello. Thanks to Akragas Home you can access exclusive guided tours, private experiences and customised itineraries in the heart of the city and the legendary Valley of the Temples.

🏛️ Guided tour of the Valley of the Temples

A guided tour of Sicily's most famous archaeological site. Visit Greek temples, listen to tales of the city of Akragas and watch the sunset between ancient columns.

⏱ Duration: approx. 2 hours 

📍 Meeting point: Gate V entrance (Valley of the Temples) 

🗣️ Available languages: Italian, English

👥 Available in private or small groups

📅 All year round, by prior arrangement

🎁 Extras on request: entrance ticket, return transfer, sunset guide

The Valley of the Temples is an archaeological park in Sicily characterised by its exceptional state of preservation and a series of important Doric temples from the Hellenic period. It corresponds to ancient Akragas, the monumental original nucleus of the city of Agrigento. It has been a regional archaeological park since 2000. Since 1997, the entire area has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage list. It is considered a popular tourist destination, as well as being the symbol of the city and one of the main ones on the entire island. The archaeological and landscape park of the Valley of the Temples, at 1300 hectares, is the largest archaeological park in Europe and the Mediterranean. Most of the excavation and restoration of the temples is due to the work of the archaeologist Domenico Antonio Lo Faso Pietrasanta (1783-1863), Duke of Serradifalco from 1809 to 1812. During the 20th century, excavations and restoration were mainly financed by Sir Alexander Hardcastle. He permitted archaeological excavations within the park, including the straightening of the eight columns on the south side of the Temple of Heracles. For his contributions to archaeology, he was made an honorary citizen of the city of Agrigento, and was awarded the rank of Commander of the Order of the Crown of Italy.

🚶‍♂️ Walking tour in the historic centre and via Atenea

A walking tour of Agrigento's most authentic streets: Via Atenea, Baroque churches, historic squares, medieval alleyways and hidden glimpses.

⏱ Duration: 1.5 hours

📍 Departure: Steps at the beginning of Via Atenea

🗺️ Main stops: San Lorenzo Church, Pirandello Theatre, ancient centre

👟 Accessible and relaxed

📅 Available by appointment every day

The historical centre of Agrigento can be found on the western summit of the hill of ancient Girgenti. Dating back to the medieval age of the 11th and 15th centuries, it still preserves various medieval buildings (churches, monasteries, convents and noble palaces). Since April 2016, it has officially been called Girgenti again, a toponym for the entire city that was abandoned in 1927 at the behest of Benito Mussolini. In the historical centre, there are significant testimonies of Arab-Norman art, including in particular the cathedral of San Gerlando, the Palazzo Steri seat of the seminary, the bishop's palace, the Basilica of Santa Maria dei Greci and the monumental complex of Santo Spirito and the gates of the city walls.

📚 In the footsteps of Luigi Pirandello

A literary and exciting itinerary in the places lived and narrated by the famous writer from Agrigento.

📍 Visit to Pirandello's birthplace

🌄 Panoramic route up to the ‘Lonely Pine’ with a view of the sea

📖 Tales, anecdotes and texts from his works

🧭 Departure: Contrada Caos⏱ Duration: approx. 1 hour

🎫 Included: house-museum entrance ticket

✨ Ideal at sunset for evocative atmosphere

It is located in contrada Caos, 4 kilometres from Agrigento and can be reached by taking state road 115 to Porto Empedocle.The house where the writer was born is a late 18th-century rural building in a country district near Agrigento called ‘Caos’, a plateau overlooking the sea, dotted with olive and oak trees.The Ricci Gramitto family, the writer's maternal ancestors, came into possession of the villa in 1817. The Pirandello family had taken refuge in it to escape the severe cholera epidemic that raged across Sicily in 1867. Damaged in 1944 by the explosion of the nearby American troops' ammunition depot, it was declared a national monument in 1949. Three years later, the Sicilian Region purchased it and began restoration and renovation work on the house and the small road connecting it to the pine tree. The rooms overlooking the countryside house a vast collection of photographs, reviews and honours, first editions of books with autograph dedications, paintings dedicated to Luigi Pirandello, and posters of his most famous works performed in theatres all over the world. Periodically, the House also hosts temporary exhibitions dedicated to the Maestro. Since 1987, the house has formed a single institute with the Luigi Pirandello Library.

🏛️ Museo Archaeology ‘Pietro Griffo

The Regional Archaeological Museum in Agrigento is named in memory of Pietro Griffo, archaeologist and Superintendent in Agrigento from 1941 to 1968. The location chosen for the Museum, the San Nicola hill, has a high symbolic value, as it is in the centre of the public area of the classical city. The building, designed by architect Franco Minissi and inaugurated in 1967, partly incorporates the remains of a Cistercian monastery, attached to the church of San Nicola and dating back to the 14th century. The collections on display consist of more than 5,000 artefacts, some of which come from the Civic Museum's collections, from acquisitions from private collections, from the archaeological museums of Palermo and Syracuse, and the largest part from the archaeological investigations conducted until the end of the 1980s by the Agrigento Superintendency, whose territorial jurisdiction also extended to the provinces of Caltanissetta and Enna.
The museum layout is divided into 17 rooms according to topographic and chronological criteria. There are two exhibition routes, one dedicated to the ancient city of Akragas/Agrigentum and the other to some significant contexts in central-southern Sicily. As well as being one of the most important museum institutions in the world, it is an essential stop for visitors who want to fully understand the history of the Valley of the Temples, today, the Regional Archaeological Museum ‘Pietro Griffo’ is also a lively ‘place of culture’, animated by frequent temporary exhibitions, concerts and educational activities.

📩 Contact us for your cultural experience

All experiences are organised on request, also with a private guide, customised schedules and combinations with other itineraries.

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