On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
way2blue
After Siracusa, we drove west across Sicily to Agrigento. And again struggled with navigation. Most road signs again had several towns listed, and often not any that we recognized. We’d drive into a vlllage to find no road signs at all. One village, we kept to what we thought was the main road but found ourselves headed downhill on a narrow road of hairpin turns making it impossible to turn around. The road kept getting narrower and rougher, then around one turn was a parked van for an electrical company facing uphill. A relief, because I figured if they had come from below—there had to be a way through.
Valle dei Templi (Valley of the Temples) is just west of the town of Agrigento. As you can see it’s not actually a valley, rather a ridge with seven Greek temples constructed during the 6th & 5th centuries BC. We stayed in a small hotel built around a 16th century watch tower which had been constructed for protection against Turkish invasions. Our window looked across to this ridge, with the main temple illuminated at night.
Tempio della Concordia (Temple of Concordia) built ~440 BC, together with the Parthenon, is considered one of the best perserved Doric temples in the world. Because the local stone wasn’t the favored white marble, most of the temple was orIginally covered with white stucco.
Remains of Tempio di Hera Lacinia (Temple of Hera Lacinia), built ~450 BC.
Statua di Icaro Caduto (fallen Icarus), a mesmerizing bronze statue created by the Polish sculptor Igor Mitoraj and installed in a fitting location as In mythology, Agrigento was founded by Daedalus & his son Icarus following their flight from Crete. Thus, Icarus ‘with the broken wing’ lies discarded on the ground adjacent to the Temple of Concordia.
Scala dei Turchi (Turkish Steps) is a bluff of marl, west of Agrigento, resembling a giant stairway from the sea to the clifftop. Apparently Saracen pirates docked their ships by the scala, and climbed these steps to raid nearby villages, hence the watch towers. The marl was slippery when wet, and some kids used a puddle to ‘whitewash’ each other…
On our drive back to Catania, we stopped at the Villa Romana del Casale—thought to have been the country retreat of Marcus Aurelius Maximianus, Rome’s co-emperor during the reign of Diocletian (AD 286–305). Rooms in the villa are floored with elaborate, beautifully preserved Roman mosaics—more than 37,000 sq ft of mosaic—most depicting scenes from Roman life. We viewed the mosaics from a network of catwalks above the rooms.
Sala delle Dieci Ragazze (Chamber of the Ten Maidens or Room of the Gymnasts) was my husband’s favorite… from Wikipedia » “women athletes are shown competing in sports that include weight-lifting, discus throwing, running, and ball-games. A toga-wearing official on the bottom left holds the victor’s trophies (a crown and a palm frond), and the victor herself appears crowned in the centre of the mosaic.”
A close-up to show some of the amazing detail. These mosaics are attributed to skilled North African artists, because the use of color wasn’t typical in Roman mosaics during this era.
Mary G
Those are great, especially the Icarus sculpture, the lady athletes, and the mosaics. It’s amazing to think how long it’s all been preserved it such good condition.
JeanneT
Lovely! Now I’m trying to imagine these scenes back in the day when the buildings were in use. I don’t have a visual imagination, but looking at your photos helps me make the leap, at least a little.
JPL
The mosaics are wonderful and thank you for sharing your photos.
Laura Too
Wow! I’m adding this to the ever growing list of must see places when travel is an option. We never made it this far on the 8 brief days we visited Italy.
Mike in Oly
Thanks for sharing these. Great set. Love the old temples so much.
Uncle Cosmo
I daytripped by train to Agrigento from my digs in Palermo in 1985. At least that was the plan. Bus from the stazione to the Valle dei Tempii; a quick consultation at the small shop at the stop to establish when the last bus would get me back in time to catch the return train; and then off to walk the Valle.**
I arrived back at the bus stop well before the designated hour. The next bus showed two hours after it was (supposedly) due – long after the last train back. With nothing more than a guidebook in my rucksack and the clothes on my back, I had to spring for a room in a pensione for the night.
Let me note in passing that the populace seemed by and large decent folks – particularly in the two small towns where I went to dig up records of both sides of my ancestry – but I have had more unpleasant encounters with il tourismo in Italy than in every other European nation combined.*** I found the Italians who dealt with tourists often incompetent, uninformed, careless, arrogant, and at worst mendacious and mercenary. Combine this with the fact that of the 3 significant instances of theft over many European trips, two occurred during this particular 3 weeks roaming the Boot and its triangular dropkicked Football, and you will understand why the land of my forefathers is the European nation I least want to revisit.
** NB The reason the Tempio della Concordia remains more or less in one piece may be that the local ecclesiastical authorities consecrated it as a house of Christian worship before the local faithful could tear it down. IIRC the greatest hazard to the structural integrity of pagan temples was the destructive urges of Christians. Worth remembering next time someone brings up the Taliban and the statues of Buddha.
*** Also NB that I’ve been across the Pwnd over three dozen times, in toto for well over a year of my life, & have visited every nation in Europe west of Russia except Portugal, Belarus, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania.
JanieM
The pictures and stories are amazing. It would be awesome (and I mean that literally) to see those buildings, and especially the mosaics.
Uncle Cosmo’s take is dismaying, though I’ve heard whispers along those lines before. My dad’s parents came to the US from Italy 120 years ago, and for that reason among others Italy is still on my maybe someday list. I do know people who have gone many times and who, if I went, would steer me toward B&Bs etc. where they’ve been treated well…..but who knows when, or even if, that will be possible!
The tally of thefts reminds me of my own tally of broken-down trains. I had the impression that trains in the UK and on the continent were wonderful, on time, etc. Then in 2008, 3 of the 6 trains I took (some in the UK and the others between Brussels and Amsterdam) broke down, with hours of delay each time, people missing connections, etc. etc. Hmmmm.
Miss Bianca
Wow, who knew bikinis had such an ancient history? ; )
JustRuss
Love these. Can’t pick a favorite.
way2blue
@Uncle Cosmo: We mostly visit northern Italy (my husband’s maternal grandfather is from South Tyrol), but have heard warnings to be careful in southern Italy. Have few complaints so far. I do remember when we were staying in Portovenere, the B&B owner told us to only eat at a short list of restaurants as we’d be cheated at the others… One was amazing, run by a husband & wife. Only. Very limited menu. Big on pesto & shellfish. Plus the owner kept giving us grappa for ‘dessert’…
Please share photos of the ‘more exotic’ European countries you’ve visited.
way2blue
@Mary G: I have a friend who sculpts in bronze, and when I sent him that photo—his response was ‘Wow’. (It had been part of a larger installation, but the others were removed a few years back.)
way2blue
@Miss Bianca: Exactly my husband’s comment…
Ann Marie
I went to Sicily and southern Italy on a small ship cruise a few years ago with an emphasis on archaeology. It was amazing. To my immense disappointment, we did not get to see the main archaeological sites in Siracusa because of flooding from a downpour the day we were there. But Agrigento and the Villa Romana del Casale were wonderful. We were able to get in before the big cruise ships hit and that made for a more enjoyable experience. If you get to Agrigento, be sure to go to the small museum near the Valley. It has some lovely artifacts, plus a small-scale reconstruction of the Temple of Zeus (now all rubble) that shows how huge and impressive it must have been.
Comrade Colette
Ah, Agrigento. We stayed there for Christmas and New Year in 2001/2002, in a 17th century farmhouse that had been partially renovated into a B&B. It was fantastic – the ruins, mosaics, museums, scenery, food, hospitality, everything except driving our big Volkwagen station wagon down those crazy narrow roads. We didn’t have any of the issues Uncle Cosmo mentions, but I’ve heard enough horror stories from others over the years to know that he’s not wrong. I do think, based on many visits to Italy between 1996 and 2017, that both customer/tourist service and honesty have improved. It might help that my family mostly speak at least rudimentary Italian, but except in Venice I’ve always found Italians have gone generously and patiently out of their way to understand and communicate with us.
My two favorite things about the trip were:
Mosaic bikinis! Who knew?
The afternoon of New Year’s Day, which was the very first day Euros were officially in circulation, we were in a café overlooking those same temples in the first three pix and our change included a Euro coin from Finland. It had made its way all the way from the top of the euro zone to the very southern tip in one day. Kinda cool.
(I have a dozen stories about Italian befuddlement with the euro in the early going, but those are for another time.)
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@JanieM: In 2019 my husband and I took a 2 week trip around Christmas to Florence and Vienna. Started in Florence, and then was scheduled to take a night train (with sleeping compartment) to Vienna. The Florence train station was FREEZING, with doors open to (I suppose) discourage street people from sleeping in the waiting room. The train was about 2 hours late, and when we finally got into our 1st class sleeping compartment, the heat was on full blast and could not be moderated. I was told later by our guide in Vienna that trains from Italy were always late. I had thought it would be fine because it was German-based, but no. Sigh. We had thought the night train experience would be cool and romantic, but sadly, not.
fuckwit
Girgenti! My family is from there!