Agrigento
"A splendid spring like the one which smiled at us this morning at sunrise, was certainly never granted ti us durino oru mortal life. The Temple of Concord is seen just peeping out at the sourthern extremity of this plain which is all green and all flowers; to the east there are tha sparse ruins of the temple of Juno; the ruins of all other sacred edifices on the same straight line as the two mentioned do not present themselves to the eye of anyone standing high up, which runs more northward, along the coast reaching out for another half hour towards the seashore." Still today little or nothing of the landscape that Goethe was able to admire in April 1787 has changed, and the Valley of Temples is the best known and most praised part of Agrigento. The monuments standing in it are what is left of the ancient city of Akragas which was founded in the sixth century B.C. by settlers from gela and became in the space of 100 years "the finest city of mortals" (Pindar). Destroyed by the Carthaginians in 406, it was re-founded by Timoleontes in 340 B.C. and enjoyed new moments of splendour, though inevitably heading for a decline. Which became definitive with the Byzantines. The ancient city was abonded in the ninth century, after the Arab conquest, and the urban nucleus was restricted to a hill above and took the name Gergent. After it went to the Normans, the city was made a diocese and was embellished with numerous churches. Palaces and monuments also continued to be put up in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and again in the seventeeth to eighteenth centuries. In 1927 the city took the name Agrigento and today it has 56,372 inhabitants. A visit to it takes a day Artistic vestiges - the Valley of Temples The Temple of Olympic Jove - "The sacred temples and that of Jove in particular prove the splendour of the city in that epoch. The other temples were burnt or ruined, since the city was conquered several times. The Olympic temple remained roofless because a war started, and the city having been ruined the people of Agrigento were no longer able to comple it...."Thus Diodorus Siculus described this immense sacred edifice, absolutely one of the biggest in antiquity. It has various peculiarities with respect to the building canons of the Greeks: a six-column peripteral building, more than 112 metres long and almost 57 wide (with a surface area of almost 6500 square metres) it was divided on the outside by half-columns (7 by 14), 57 metres high and with a diameter of no less than 4.5 metres (!) protruding from a full inter- columnar wall. Built in the most splendid period of the history of Akragas, i.e.after the victor of Himera, this immense temple, over 30 meters high, presented a wholly new solution from the architectural point of view: telamons, colossal human figures with their arms folded at the sides of their heads so that they constitued an ideal plane supporting the enormous beams and hence participating, together with the columns, in the bearing function. However, the exact position of the telamons is not known for certain: various hypotheses have been formulated by scholars and the relevant reconstructions in miniature are on display at the agrigento archaeological museum, in the same evocative room where there is kept the only one of the giants that is extant. (A reproduction of the latter lies supine in the temple area). At the same time the telamos were elements of architectural decoration of great importance and performed a precise symbolic function, that of commemorating in the Olympeion the triumph of Olympus over the Giants when the latter attempted to climb up to the skies. The people of Akragas had almost completed the construction of the colossal edifice (to get a further idea of the size, one should remember that the altar in front of it, as big as a normal temple, was used for hecatombs, sacrifices of one hundred oxen at a time!) and only the roof was missing, when the city was taken by the Carthaginians. Himilco sached it and devastated its interior, but on account of its grandiosity and solidity failed to demolish it. Thus despoiled of sculptures and ornaments, it remained standing until the Middle Ages when, because of neglect, weather erosion, earthquakes and the ferocity of Berber and Arab raiders, it was completely ruined. Though those ruins are still big today, they are nothing compared to the size of the Olympeion, the ruins of which were used over the centuries as building materials and principally to realise, on the order of Charles III of Bourbon and at the suggestion of the Agrigento bishop Lorenzo Gioieni, the wharf at Porto Empedocle (!!). The Dioscuri temple - In the big sacred area surrounding the temple of Jove, where there are numerous shrines, traces of other temples and the agora, four columns soar elegantly up which are left from a little edifice built in the fifth century. Its name presumably derives from the third ode of the Olympics sung by Pindar in the celebration of the feast of the Dioscuri. The temple, Doric, a six-column peripteral building, was the smallest one on the sacred hill, but in shapes, number and position of the columns (6 by 13 ) did not break away from the other bigger ones. Seriously damaged by the Carthaginians, it may have been restored and modified in the Hellenistic epoch, as is suggested by the stylis differences to the found in it. Completely ruined in the ensuing centuries, it was partly rebuilt in 1836, when the four columns were put up with the relevant beams. The Temple of Hercules- Perhaps the most ancient of the Akrags temples (end of sixth century) -as is documented by some archaic characters in the constuction, like the elongated area (6 by 15 columns) and the tapering of the columns - and considered one of the most beautiful on the hill, it was certainly the most famous one in the city. A six-column peripteral building, it measured 74 metres by almost 28, and hence had a surface area of about 2000 square metres and so was second only to the Temple of Jove. It was certainly dedicated to the demigod, whose very fine bronze statue was kept at the back of the cell placed on a pedestal to be venerated by the townspeople. Of the ancient construction - in a spectacular position the Porta Aurea- unfortunately there only remain 8 columns ( on which, though only slightly, we can make out traces of purple painting ); four of them still have stupendous capitals, as well as the base and the remains of the altar. Enriching this splendid monument, inside, there was an extraordinary painting by Zeuxis, showing Alcmene and Hercules in his cradle strangling the serpents. Of this work, wonderfully described by Pliny, it is recounted that, as it appeared exceptionally beautiful to the artist, he refused to cede it to anyone at any price, and decided instead to place it in the temple. The Temple of Concord- "In the Temple of Concord", writes Pietro Griffo, one of most important scholars on Akragas, "the Doric architecture from the middle of the fifth century B.C. is seen in the whole gamut of refined subtleties that characterise its style. The whole edifice, if one looks at it from a suitable position, offers even the naked eye - in the base, the columns, the beams . curving and tapering like that which we know from other greek temples (the last, chronoligically, is the Parthenon) but which here perhaps attained such extremes of application as to make it an absolute masterpiece of forms with pleasant rhythms, exquisite harmonies, impossible to express with words. Fineries of this kind must also have been present in other. Agrigento temples from the same period as this one, and here and there we have proof of this; but never again that overall perception through which the Temple of Concord, apart from the evocative effect of the grandiose landscape around it, is reflected in the sensibility of the visitor with vibrations which have something musical about them, with all the power of astonished enchantment. And may God wish that the visitor arrive there at the magic hour of sunset: he will carry away an impression of it which will never leave him again all his life." Its name is wholly conventional, having been given to it because in it there was found a Roman inscription referring to the consecration of a shrine to concord between Agrigento and Lilybaeum, which however has no connection with the temple. The excellent state of preservation is due to a lucky episode: unlike the other pagan temples, which superstition and ignorance led the Christians to demolish (in accordance with an appropriate edict), in the fifteenth century it was converted into a Catholic church dedicated to St. George. On this occasion the arches in the walls of the cell were done and other alteration were made: however, this "conversion" made it possible to preserve it. It was only in 1788 that the building (apart from the arches) was restored ti its ancient unrivalled form. In this magnificent sacrarium one can also perceive the absolute rigour of construction technique marking the temple, both in the precision with which the massive tufa blocks of the cell were squared off for the maximum reciprocall adhesion and in the grooving in the columns (done after the drums were placed on top) whose thin strips, running along the columns themselves, give perfect correspondence between one drum and another. In short, this is a sublime work of art which superbly represents Greek culture in Sicily. The Temple of Juno Lacinia- Its name, like that of the nearby Temple of Concord, is wholly conventional (due to confusion with the Temple of Hera at Crotone), but it is nice to think that this temple, spectacularly placed on a cliff, at the top of the eastern part of the worschip of the goddes of fertility. The traces of fire wich are exstraordinarily still visible in the walls of the cell remind us of that unlucky year 406 B.C. when this magnificent temple, almost wholly identical to that of Concord, was destroyed by the Carthaginians. Nearby (to the east) one can still see a big altar for sacrifices and a stretch of road with deep groves made by carts coming from gate III of the town. The Temple of Esculapios and the tomp of Thero- This little temple, also from the fifth century, differs from the others both because of the unusuall location outside the walls (below the Temple of Concord) and because of the shape (in antis) and the small size (about 20 by 10 metres). Mentioned by Polybius, in connection with the Roman siege of 262 B.C., and by cicero (in the Verrines), it housed a statue of Apollo by Miro, first stolen by the carthaginains and, once returnedto the people of Acragas by Scipio of Africa, stolen once and for all by Verro. In the heart of the Roman necropolis which extends on the slopes of the hill outside the ancient walls (a few metres south of the Temple of Hercules), there is the tomb of Thero or Hereon, a magnificent example of Doric-Ionic architecture dating from the third century B.C., which, of course, has nothing to do with the tyrant of Acragas. Very probably the monument was ptu up by the Romans to commemorate the 300,000 soldiers they lost during the siege of the city. The San Nicola hill and the Hellenistic-Roman district- This very rich archaeological area is at the centre of the plateau where there stood the town, and we have certain knowledge of a succession of monuments, objects of worship, starting from archaic Greek times. Here there stand out above all the Oratory of Phalaris, the ekklesiaterion, later transformed, in the republican period, into a commitium, and the church with the annexed San Nicola monastery. The oratory of Phalaris (whose name derives from the tradition according to which here there was the palace of the first tyrant of Acragas) is an elegant in antis building dating from the first century B.C., partly superimposed on the ekklesiaterion, considerably altered by the Goths. This was the place of assembly of the townsfolk (there was room for 3000 of them), but today only the seats are left. In the same area the bouleuterion was recently discovered. Immediately to the west of this extraordinary archaeological complex there is the Hellenistic-Roman district, an area of over 10,000 square metres, in which there extends the magnificent urban complex, part of the city, whose remains, superimposed, can be dated from the fifth to fourth centuries B.C. Of very great importance, this residue of the city at the time of Timoleontes and the Roman epoch, allows the visitor to see the perfection of the Hippodamean street system, the big insulae and the remains of the magnificent buildings. The description of this whole area would deserve much more space; here we will simply mention the "peristyle house", which is the most interesting one and still has several mosaic floors, the "two-storey house", with mosaics showing the magic symbol representing the movement of the sun, the "gazelle house", the "house of the abstract artist", and the "Aphrodites' house". There are many other archaeological sites in Agrigento which are worth visiting: we will mention just a few. Near the cemetery, there are the ruins of the Temple of Demeter and Kore, over which, in the Norman epoch, the San Biagio church was built; the rock shrine of Demeter with archaic Greek forms, presumably used for indigenous pre-Greek worship; the remains of Gate I and of the Greek fortifications. Inside the area of the Temple of Jove, there are numerous sacred areas, the swimming pool and the agora. The old part of the town Santo Spirito Abbey- It is one of the finest Sicilian monuments. Built in 1260, the complex comprises the church and the adjacent Cistercian monastery. On the outside, the church has a magnificent portal in the Chiaramonte style, surmounted by a rich rasette, in a more recent Baroque context. The interior is also eighteenth-century. Here one can admire numerous stuccoes by Serpotta which fantastically decorate the walls; a sixteenth-century holy water font; a Madonna by Gagini (or by one of his school) and a magnificent wooden caisson ceiling done in 1758, showing the coat-of-arms of the Chiaramonte family - it was Federico Chiaramonte's wife, Marchisia Prefoglia, that made the foundation of the complex possible with a generous donation. The adjacent monastery, Badia Grande, dates from 1290. It is embellished by a magnificent rectangular cloister, one of the oldest and best preserved in Sicily. In it there stand out various Gothic portals: there is a splendid and imposing pointed arch one beside which were mullioned windows, leading into the Chapter Room. Inside the monastery there are some frescos dating from the sixteenth centuries. San Lorenzo Chapel and underwater aqueducts- Also known as the Purgatorio church, it was built in the seventeenth century on the site of an older sacred edifice with the same name. It has an elegant Renaisance-Baroque facade with two tiers of pilasters, a rich portal softened by two spiralling columns and by allegorical groups to the sides showing Faith and Charity and, high up, a big window. The interior has only one nave. It is embellished by eight statues of female figures representing the Virtues, by Giuseppe and Giacomo Serpotta. To the left of the church, under a stone lion, there is the main entrance to the ancient and perfactly conserved network of underwater aqueducts which supplied Acragas with drinking water. Done in the fifth century B.C. by the architect Phaeax, they were known all over Magna Gracia as one of the many wonders of the city. San Domenico church- In Piazza Pirandello there is the fine complex made up of the San Domenico church and the adjacent former monastery of the Dominician Fathers which was built over the palace of the Prince of Lampedusa. The San Domenico church, an elegant seventeenth-century construction, has a Renaissance-Baroque facade with two levels, and beside it there is a campanile. In the facade there is a bib portal to the sides of which there are two columns surmounted by a tympanum split by a medallion showing St. Dominic. The facade is completed by a row of pilasters enclosing the lateral niches and by a big central window. In the adjacent elegant edifice of the former convent, in which there is now the town hall, there is the Luigi Pirandello theatre, done by G.B. Basile; after a long period, this has at last been restored, and has recovered its former spendours. The cathedral- Heading northwards along the side of the San Domenico church, to the left of the facade you enter Via Delle Orfane and you came to the vast square in which there magnificently looms up the cathedral. Founded towards the end of the eleventh century by the bishop of Agrigento, Gerlando, the building, in the Gothic-Norman style, was several times enlarged and altered from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries, and maintains its original look only in the magnificent windows to be seen on the right side. It has a facade which you get up a broad and soft flight of steps, besides which there is the magnificent unfinished fifteenth-century campanile, embellished by two tiers of Gothic-Catalan blind windows and by another window with a balcony surmounted by a fine and richly decorated rounded arch. The interior has a Latin cross layout. There are three naves divided by rounded archers resting on octagonal pillars. There is a magnificent and richly painted wooden ceiling, at the centre of which there is shown the two-headed eagle of Charles V; in it there are also rich stuccoes and frescos giving an overall sumptuous effect. In the right wing of the transept there is the little san Gerlando chapel, surmounted by a finely modelled Gothic portal. In the chapel there is kept the Ark, a 1639 reliquary. In the left nave there is the De Marinis chapel. In the right apse there is a 1495 marble group of Madonna and Child. There are also numerous other sepulchres enriching the magnificent interior of this great monument. Of very great importance is the treasure of the cathedral (momentarily trasferred to the archaeological museum), particularly rich in works of art of dreat historical and artistic value, among which there stands out the very famous sarcophagus of Phaedra, a stupendous and very elegant Roman marble work from the early third century B.C. inspired by the fifth-century Greek style. Described and praised by all the great foreign visitors to Sicily in the eighteenth century, from Riedsel to Bartles, this masterpiece (momentarily kept at the San Nicola church) found in the Agrigentum Roman necropolis, represents some episodes from the myth of Phaedra and Hippolyte. Opposite Agrigento cathedral, in the same square, there is the Bishop's Seminary, founded by bishop Narullo in 1574 and completed in 1611; inside it there is an elegant courtyard with a portico and two tiers of loggias. Santa Maria dei Greci- Going a long Via Santa Maria dei Greci you come to the church of the same name, in the oldest part of the medieval town. It was built in the twelfth century, and its foundations stand on the base of a fifth-century Doric temple which some believe to be dat of Athena, in the Acragas acropolis (where Gelias, a rich noblemann of Acragas, is said to have killed himself, to avoid falling into the hands of the Carthaginians). The Santa Maria dei Greci church, in front of which there is an elegant little courtyard, has a refined facade softened by a thirteenth-century Arab-Norman portal and by fine windows. The interior has three naves. There is a fine ceiling reminding one of that of the cathedral and enriched by some traces of fouteenth-century frescos, a sixteenth-century wooden statue and a sarcophagus in which there are the remains of a Palermo nobleman. There is a narrow passage leading from the left nave to the northern base of the Doric temple; some traces of the drums of its columns can be seen.