Agrigento is located on the southern coastline of Sicily; it is the capital of the province of Agrigento and is renowned as the site of the ancient Greek city of Akragus. The city was founded on a plateau overlooking the sea, it has two nearby rivers, Hypsas and Akragas, and there is also a ridge to the north, which used to offer a form of natural protection and fortification.
The ancient city of Akragus covers a massive area and only parts have been investigated. The famous Valley of the Temples is located here, there is a sacred area on the southern side of the old city and this is where 7 Greek Temples were built during the 6th and 5th centuries BC. Part of it has been excavated and resorted and these are some of the best-preserved ancient Greek buildings outside of mainland Greece.
The temples of Juno and Concordia are among the best here. The latter is in better condition than Juno, but this is due to the fact that it was transformed into a Christian church in 597 AD. They both were made up of a hexastyle design, this means that they both have or at least had at one time six columns in the standard facade, which was typical for the Greek Doric architecture. The area around the Temple of Concordia was later re-used by the Christians and catacombs were hewn out of the rocky cliffs.
There are other temples in the area, but they have been broken down over time and damaged by earthquakes; the largest is the Temple of Olympian Zeus, which was built in 480 BC to commemorate the Battle of Himera. The temple was used, but never completed and was abandoned in 406 BC after the Carthaginian invasion.
There is also a pre-Hellenic cave sanctuary not too far from the Temple of Demeter, over which, the church of San Biagio was later built. The Tomb of Theron is just outside the sacred area and a 1st century hero shrine.
Although a lot of present day Agrigento is modern, there are still a number of medieval buildings, such as the 14th century cathedral and the 13th century church of Santa Maria dei Greci, or St Mary of the Greeks. The city also has an archaeological museum, which houses many of the artefacts and finds at the numerous sites, which have been investigated thus far.
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