Page 121 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Sicily

SOUTHWESTERN SICIL Y  119

Nearby, Porto Empedocle was
once an important outlet for the
mining activity in the interior. In
the old harbour is the Bastione di
Carlo V (Rampart of Charles V),
while there is a constant bustle
of fishing boats around the more
industrialized area.
Heading north from Agrigento
and turning off SS189 at the
Comitini crossroads, 2 kilo metres
(1 mile) of dirt road to the south
takes you to a place famous for a
curious geological phenomenon:
little volcano-shaped cones
The arched coupled windows in the Convento di Santo Spirito (1295) known as the Vulcanetti di
Macalube emit methane gas
Purgatory), a network of Gothic portal and rose window. bubbles and brackish mud in a
underground conduits built in For many centuries the church lunar land scape made sterile by
the 5th century BC by Greek was the most important in this pseudo-volcanic activity.
architects to supply water to the Agrigento area and was
the various quarters of the city. known as the Badia Grande. E Museo Archeologico
In the 18th century the nave Regionale
R Convento di Santo Spirito was decorated with lavish Contrada San Nicola. Tel 0922- 401
Salita Santo Spirito. Open daily. stuccowork that mirrors the 565. Open 9am–7:30pm Tue–Sat,
This abbey complex is of shapes of the church; the 9am–1:30pm Mon, Sun & hols. &
ancient origin. The church and motif is also developed in Part of the Convento di San
adjacent Cistercian monastery sculpted panels. Nicola and located in a pano-
were founded in the 13th Next to the church is the ramic spot that affords beautiful
century by the Countess monastery, now city property, views over the Valley of the
Vulcanetti di Prefoglio of the powerful where the cloister is well Temples (see pp120–21), this
Cathedral and Macalube
Museo Diocesano VIA PLEBIS REA Chiaramonte family. They worth a visit. The impressive interesting archaeological
were altered several chapterhouse is lined with museum shows material recov-
VIA DUOMO
San Lorenzo VIA GIOENI times, particularly Gothic arcades. ered from excavations around
VIA IMERA
Teatro Museo PIAZZA VIA CICERONE the façade, which, P Piazza Vittorio Emanuele Agrigento. Among the items on
VITTORIO
Pirandello Civico Santo EMANUELE however, still display are a remark able Attic
Spirito
Santo Spírito
PIAZZA VIA ATENEA maintains a This large, lively, traffic-filled vase, the Crater of Dionysus, and
VIA GARIBALDI SINATRA
VIA S. VIA MINERVA square connects the old town the marble statue of a young
F RANCESCO
PIAZZA of Agrigento with the newer athlete known as the Ephebus
VIA EMPEDOCLE
MARCONI
Train Station VIA GIOVANNI XXIII part, which developed during of Agrigento.
the 19th century. The two areas,
VIA ESSENETO
VIA CALLICRATIDE Girgenti to the west and Rupe P Birthplace of Pirandello
VI AL E D E L L A VIT T ÓR I A
Atenea to the east, were once Contrada Kaos, SS 115. Tel 0922-511
V I A M A N Z O N I
separated by a valley that 826. Open 9am–1pm, 2:30–7pm
VIA F. CRISPI
V I A U. LA MALFA
San Biagio was filled in during the late daily. &
VIA PE TRARC A
VIA DEMETRA
19th century, blocking what
Museo
Archeologico was traditionally known as
Regionale
“Empedocles’ opening”, through
San Nicola which the north wind passed,
Hellenistic cooling the valley below.
V I A D E L T E M P L I Environs
Roman Quarter
Temple of Towards the sea is the parish
Olympian Zeus
Temple of PIAZZALE Temple of of Kaos, near Villaseta, worth
Castor and Pollux DI TEMPLI Concord visiting to see the Birthplace
VIA SACRA Temple of
Tomb of Hera of Luigi Pirandello, the house
Theron Temple
of Heracles of the great dramatist and
SS 115
novelist and Nobel Prize for
V a l l e d e i T e m p l i
Literature winner; it is now a
Temple of museum (see pp26 & 29). The
Asclepius
urn containing Pirandello’s
Hypsas
ashes can be found in a crack
PORTO EMPEDOCLE, in a rock next to an old fallen The eerie landscape of the Vulcanetti
KAOS
pine, facing the sea. di Macalube
For keys to map symbols see back flap
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