Map & Attractions
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Area Attractions: The Hotel Is Situated In Agrigento, The Most Beautiful City Of Mortals, Seat Of Persephone As The Greek Poet Pindar Defined It, Stands On A Hill Overlooking The Sea. Intense Light, A Mild Climate Throughout The Year, And The Ancient Charm Of Almonds Blooming In The Spring And Cloaking The Town In Color And Scent, Make Agrigento One Of The Most Fascinating Places In The Region. Founded In 580 Bc By The Gelesi Originating From Crete And Rhodes And By Greeks From Rhodes On The Land Lying Between The Rivers Akragas And Hypsas, Agrigento Was A Great Economic And Military Power. In The Sixth Century Bc Under The Tyrant Phalaris, In The Fifth Century Under Theron, And Later Still Under A Democratic Government, The Town With A Hippodamean Layout, Was Mantled, Both In The Upper And In The Valley Part Below, In Splendid Doric Sanctuaries And Temples. Referring To This The Agrigento Philosopher Empedocles, Wrote That His Fellow Citizens Construct Buildings As If They Could Live Forever. Occupied By The Romans In 210 Bc, Then Abandoned In The Byzantine Period, It Was Conquered By The Arabs In 828 Ad, Taking The Name Girgenti. The Town Kept Its Central Economic Position Also Under The Normans And Swabians, But Experienced Great Building Development During The Eighteenth Century, Finally, In 1927 The Town Took On Its Present Name Of Agrigento. It Still Conserves The Intricate Fifth Century Hypogea Network Of Underground Passages, Interesting Medieval Monuments, Including The S. Spirito Monastic Complex And The Cathedral, The Regional Archaeological Museum, One Of The Most Important In Sicily, Fine Churches And Old Palaces, And The Birthplace, Now A Museum, Of Pirandello. The Hotel Is Close To The Famous Valley Of The Temples Of Agrigento. It Encloses One Of The Greatest Ancient Greek Architectural Treasures Still In Existence. The Superb Doric Temples, In An Excellent State Of Preservation, Made From The Intensely Yellow Local Conchitic Tufaceous Sandstone, That Is Either Tinted Pink At Sunset Or Acquires A Warm Amber Shade, Are The Immortal Testimony Of The Splendour And Power Of The Ancient Greek Colony The Poet Pindar Defined It As The Most Beautiful Among The Cities Of Mortals, The Friend Of Luxury, The Seat Of Persephone. In A Crescendo Of Majestic Beauty And In Perfect Harmony With Its Natural Surroundings, The Procession Of Temples Along The Valley Begins With The Monumental Temple Of Zeus Olympius, The Temple Of The Dioscuri, More Or Less The Symbol Of The Town Of Agrigento, The Temple Of Hercules, The Temple Of The Concordia, Among The Best Preserved Of The Sacred Buildings And One Of The Finest Examples Of Doric Architecture Anywhere, The Temple Of Juno Lucina, The Temple Of Vulcan And The Temple Outside The Town Of Aesculapius, All Built Between The Sixth And Fifth Century Bc. The Valley One Of The Most Important Archaeological Areas In The Whole Of Sicily, That Left Goethe Deeply Enchanted, As He Wrote In The Pages Of His Journey Through Italy Also Contains The Famous Sanctuary Of Demeter And Kouros, The Oratory Of Phalaris, Therons Tomb, The Remains Of Greek Fortifications, The Site Of The Ancient Agora, The Magnificently Preserved Remains Of The Hellenic Roman Town And The Very Rich Regional Archaeological Museum, That Houses Material Of Inestimable Historical And Artistic Value. The Archaeological Area Can Be Visited Every Day From 8Am To 9Pm. Selinunte It Is Situated About 96 Km O From The Hotel And Agrigento And Is One Of The Best Preserved And Most Fascinating Magna Graecian Cities Of The Whole Region It Was Called The Favourite Place Of The Gods. The Most Westerly Greek Colony Of Sicily Was Founded, According To Statements By Diodorus Siculus And By Thucydides, In 650 Or 628 Bc By Colonists From The Doric Megara Hyblea. Settled Between Two Rivers, The Selino And The Cottone, The City Its N
