Agrigento, Italy

Temple of Hera, Agrigento, Sicily, Italy
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Agrigente_2008_IMG_1895.JPG
Author: poudou99


Agrigento is the capital of the eponymous province on the south coast of Sicily, Italy. It is also known in Sicilian as Girgenti. The city covers 244 sq km (94 sq mi) and has a population of 59,000 people (2012 estimate).

The history of Agrigento goes back to around 582 BC, when it was established by Greek colonists and was originally called Akragas. At one time it grew into one of the wealthiest colonies of Magna Græcia, as the Greek colonies of Southern Italy was known. An attack by the Carthaginians in 406 BC brought an end to its glorious days, and the city never fully recovered.

In 261 BC, Romans attacked Agrigento and sold its population to slavery. More battles were to be fought in Agrigento between the Romans and the Carthaginians until 210 BC, when the Romans captured the city and renamed it Agrigentum. The modern name is derived from that.

Due to its rich history, Agrigento is today a popular tourist destination. However this did not help lift the city from being one of the poorest in Italy with unemployment rate that is three times the national average.

Agrigento

Take route SS121 heading south from Palermo. There are buses and trains from Palermo as well.

Places of Interest in Agrigento

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.

To get to know me better, do follow me on Facebook!