For those who love classical history and culture, Palazzo Vecchio Taormina suggests its tour of Agrigento and the Valley of the Temples, the most extensive and richest archaeological site of classical Greek civilization in the world. Its uniqueness earned its inclusion as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.
The area covers the plateau corresponding to ancient Akragas, described by the Greek poet Pindar as the most beautiful among the cities of mortals.
The remains of ancient Doric temples are preserved here, such as the Temple of the Goddess Concordia, the best preserved in the world along with the Parthenon and in front of which one can admire the majestic sculpture of the fallen Icarus by contemporary artist Igor Mitoray, Or the Temple of Zeus Olympius, one of the grandest in antiquity, as can be deduced from the proportions of its Atlases, the stone giants that held up its entablatures and enchanted even Goethe.
Other evidence of the ancient Greek civilization is collected in the site's in-house Archaeological Museum, which houses more than 5,000 artifacts and tells the story of the area from prehistoric times to Greco-Roman times.
