Agrigento and the southwest

Set on a ridge below the town of Agrigento, the golden Doric temples of the Valle dei Templi are Sicily’s prime tourist destination. Throughout the year, charabancs disgorge their hoards here, but only a fraction of visitors see anything else of this area. This is a shame, as this part of Sicily has its own fascination, especially for fans of Inspector Montalbano. The fictional detective’s creator, Andrea Camilleri, was born in Porto Empedocle, and wove instantly recognizable elements of both his home town and Agrigento into his detective novels and other writings. You could spend a happy day or so in the southwest just searching out the authentic Montalbano locations – which are very different from the romanticized locations of the TV series.

This is a part of Sicily that will appeal to realists, not romantics, a land where decaying 1970s apartment buildings encircle crumbling historic centres; of dusty roads running through sleepy, shabby villages; and of abandoned settlements at the top of parched hills. The long south coast, from Licata to Sciacca, is sparsely developed, its marvellous sandy beaches and low-key Mediterranean ports and resorts barely known to Italians, let alone tourists. Sporadic concentrations of spectacularly ugly industrial development along the coast put off many people, while the sea is heavily polluted in some areas. But there’s good swimming to be had here nonetheless, and on the coast to either side of Agrigento, isolated sandy beaches – packed with locals on summer weekends – warrant the occasional trip off the busy SS115 main road. One of the best beaches lies just below the Hellenic site of Eraclea Minoa, to the north of Agrigento, while the port of Licata, to the south, offers a few old-town diversions to go with its sand and sea. Of the other coastal towns, Sciacca is perhaps the most enjoyable, a fishing port and summer resort with amazing cliff-top views, and a good base for detours into the tall and craggy mountains that back this part of the coast. Those seeking Sicily’s romantic side could take the midnight ferry from Porto Empedocle to the remote island of Linosa, closer to Africa than Europe, while if solitude is not your style, the larger island of Lampedusa (with its own airport, no less) has fantastic beaches and a lively summer season.

ERACLEA MINOA

Highlights

1 Valle dei Templi, Agrigento Take a walk through ancient Akragas, with its sandstone Greek temples dramatically sited between town and sea.

2 Montalbano tour, Porto Empedocle Take a tour of the places that inspired Andrea Camilleri, creator of Inspector Montalbano, and discover aspects of Sicily few tourists ever see.

3 Torre Salsa Several kilometres of unspoilt sands, backed by cliffs of crystalline selenite and a nature reserve – sheer bliss.

4 Eraclea Minoa A superb sandy beach overlooked by the impressive remains of a Greek city.

5 Sciacca With a labyrinthine Arabic upper town and spas that have been offering cures since antiquity, this vital, salty Mediterranean port town is a fascinating place to visit.

6 Isola dei Conigli, Lampedusa Paddle or swim across to this idyllic desert-island nature reserve, with its pristine white sands and crystal-clear blue waters.

7 Linosa Six hours by ferry from Porto Empedocle, Sicily’s most remote island is completely unspoilt, with only the briefest of tourist seasons.

< Back to Agrigento and the southwest

GETTING AROUND: AGRIGENTO AND THE SOUTHWEST

By public transport Agrigento is connected by bus with most major Sicilian cities, and as ever, buses are usually far quicker than trains. However, as many buses are timed to bring kids to school in the towns in the early mornings, and return them at 2pm, you may end up spending nights in one-horse villages if you rely on them. The nearest airport to Agrigento is Catania, a 3hr journey by bus, around 2hr if you’re driving. Regular trains and buses link the coastal towns and villages, though services to the inland towns are less frequent.

Agrigento and the Valle dei Templi

No one comes to AGRIGENTO for the town, though its worn medieval streets and buildings soak up the thousands of tourists who come every year to marvel at the Valle dei Templi. The substantial remains of Akragas, Pindar’s “most beautiful city of mortals”, these Doric temples strung along a ridge facing the sea, a couple of kilometres below town, are the most captivating of Sicilian Greek remains, unique outside Greece. This is a big and very beautiful site, and it is a shame to see it (as most tourists do) in a single day. Take it easy, with time to sit around and relax among the ruins or in the shade of a tree, and you’ll enjoy it all the more. And if your visit coincides with the summer night-time opening of the three main temples, you’re in for a truly magical experience.

Agrigento

Despite (or perhaps because of) the undoubted pulling power of the temples which fills the town with tourists for much of the year, AGRIGENTO has little sense of identity. Although it retains a historical core of a certain charm, ugly modern suburbs and road viaducts on the coast below lack all sense of proportion and are creeping ever closer to the temples themselves. Meanwhile, government statistics show Agrigento to be one of Italy’s poorest towns. Consequently it comes as no surprise to learn that the Mafia has an undue local influence.

Via Atenea and Rabato

Agrigento’s main shopping street, the semi-pedestrianized Via Atenea is pleasant enough, with a tangle of steep, narrow side streets harbouring ramshackle palazzi and minuscule cortili (courtyards). At the far end of Via Atenea is Piazza Sinatra, beyond which is the Rabato district, the old (and now very dilapidated) Arab quarter, still showing signs of a landslide in 1966 that destroyed much of the historic centre and left 7500 homeless. Although there are a handful of B&Bs in Rabato, full-blown gentrification is dragging its heels.

Santo Spirito

Piazza Santo Spirito • If closed, ring the bell at Piazza Santo Spirito 8

The Santo Spirito church and its adjoining convent began life as part of a grand Norman palace belonging to the Chiaramonte family, and were bequeathed to the Cistercian order in the thirteenth century by a widowed baron mourning the death of his young wife. There is usually a young nun about to show you around the interior, where florid early eighteenth-century monochrome stuccoes by Serpotta sprawl across the walls and domed trompe l’oeil ceiling.

Back on Piazza Santo Spirito, if you ring the bell at no. 8 and ask for “dolci di mandorla”, a nun will bring you a tray of almond cakes, which are expensive, chewy, and worth the experience. If you are lucky there will also be sweet couscous (cuscus dolce), made to a recipe the nuns inherited – along with seven Tunisian servants – back in the thirteenth century.

SAN PIETRO AND THE BELLS

Pirandello spent much of his boyhood in a house overlooking Piazza Jose Maria Escriva and the church of San Pietro. The story goes that Pirandello’s father, a supporter of Garibaldi and committed anti-clericist, was so incensed by the racket of the bells chiming, that he took a rifle and shot at them. These days, the church is usually closed, but the piazza is a nice place to sit, with views down to the sea.

Museo Civico

Piazza Santo Spirito • Mon–Sat 9am–1pm & 3.30–7.30pm • €2.50 including guided tour

An enticing muddle of Romanesque, Byzantine, Norman, Gothic and Spanish building styles and motifs, with a cloister sliced in half to give the nuns (who live in a modern convent overlooking it) a private garden, the restored remains of the Chiaramonte family’s Norman palace now house the Museo Civico. The friendly, well-informed custodian will take you to see a chapterhouse with a zigzag Gothic arch, and the tower, with beautiful faded Byzantine frescoes – the holes in the painted saints were created when American soldiers, billeted here during World War II, drilled holes to hang up their kit. The most enticing part of the museum, however, is the Ethno-anthropological section, crammed onto the top floor. Created in the 1990s with everyday objects donated by ordinary Agrigentini, it’s a fascinating collection, with items ranging from an exam-busting ammunition belt (with cheat-notes instead of ammo), recipe notes, an old-fashioned ice-cream maker and a clothes drier fuelled by almond shells. Don’t miss the marvellous views of the temples across the fields from the museum windows.

Santa Maria dei Greci

Via Santa Maria dei Greci • Key from the guardian at Via Santa Maria dei Greci 15

The narrowest and steepest of Agrigento’s streets spread up the hill from Piazza Duomo, passing the church of Santa Maria dei Greci, built over a Greek temple of the fifth century BC. The flattened columns can be seen in the nave, and through glass panels set into the floor, while outside, visible from an underground tunnel in the flower-filled courtyard, the stylobate and column stumps are incorporated into the church’s foundations. Inside are the remains of Byzantine frescoes. Just up from here, Via Duomo leads past a line of decrepit palazzi to the massive Duomo, set on a terrace at the top of the hill and fronting a spacious, if slightly forlorn, piazza. It has been closed for years.

The Valle dei Templi

The astonishingly well-preserved temples of the Valle dei Templi are the most captivating of Sicily’s Greek remains. Magnificently strung along a fertile ridge high above the coast, Akragas was one of Sicily’s richest and most powerful Greek cities – visitors reported that people had ivory furniture, abundant silver and gold, and even made elaborate tombs for their pets. Silver, gold and ivory may have gone, but the sandstone temples are stunning, and the site itself is beautiful too – especially when the almond trees blossom in January and February, and when it’s carpeted with wild flowers in the spring.

A road winds down to the Valle dei Templi from Agrigento, passing the Museo Regionale Archeologico, a treasure-trove of magnificent artefacts recovered from the site. If you’re intent upon doing the temples and museum in one go, you’ll need to allow a full day, and arrive as the site opens. It makes sense to start with the eastern zone, home to the three major temples, then see the museum, and wind up in the western zone, with a restorative wander through the Giardini di Kolymbetra.

There are several basic places offering refreshments at the site entrances, and a few nearby restaurants mostly aimed at coach parties, but it’s far more pleasant to buy a picnic in Agrigento before coming down to the site.

VISITING THE VALLE DEI TEMPLI

The Valle dei Templi and the Museo Regionale Archeologico are open daily 8.30am–7pm. An €10 entry fee covers both the eastern and western sites, though not the Giardino della Kolymbetra; there’s also an €13 combined ticket covering the temples and the archeological museum.

The easiest way to get to the temples is by bus; buses #1, #1/, #2, #2/ and #3/ leave every 20min or so from Piazza Rosselli in Agrigento (also stopping outside the train station), and drop off at the museum or at the main car park in between the eastern and western sites. Taxis charge about €15 from the city centre to the eastern entrance or museum.

The Giunone, Concordia and Ercole temples are also open for evening sessions (July, Aug & Sept Mon–Fri 7.30–10pm, Sat & Sun 7.30pm–midnight; €15). There’s a small night-time entrance directly above the Tempio di Giunone, which is best reached from the main site entrance by taxi (€2 per person); there’s no public transport to the Giunone entrance, and it’s quite a walk. Note that the site is cleared before evening entry is allowed, so you cannot stay inside between 7pm and 7.30pm. Tickets for the evening session go on sale at this ticket office only, from 7.15pm, with a queue forming rapidly.

Hiring a guide can bring the history of the site to life and greatly enhance your visit. The talented and informed Michele Gallo ( tel_icon 380 397 930, web_icon valleyofthetemples.com) is highly recommended. Tours start at €10 per person, plus entry fee.

In August and September, it’s also worth looking out for posters advertising open-air concerts on the southeastern edge of the archeological zone at Piano San Gregorio, with tickets from €30, though the average price is nearer €50: call tel_icon 0922 20 500 for details of the programme, or ask at the tourist office.

Brief history

In 581 BC, colonists from nearby Gela and Rhodes founded the city of Akragas between the rivers of Hypsas and Akragas. This was the concluding act of expansion that had seen Geloans spread west along the high points of their trade routes, subduing and Hellenizing the indigenous populations as they went. They surrounded the new city with a mighty wall, formed in part by a higher ridge where they placed the acropolis (and where, today, the modern town stands). The southern limit of the ancient city was a second, lower ridge, and it was here, in the so-called Valle dei Templi (Valley of the Temples), that the city architects erected their sacred buildings during the fifth century BC. They were – and are – stunning in their effect, reflecting the wealth and luxury of ancient Agrigento: “Athens with improvements”, as Henry Adams had it in 1899.

The eastern zone

The eastern zone is the more popular, and is at its least crowded in the early morning, or when it’s floodlit in striking amber light at night. From the eastern entrance, a path climbs up to the Tempio di Giunone (Juno, or Hera), an engaging structure, half in ruins, standing at the very edge of the spur on which the temples were built. A long altar has been reconstructed at the far end of the temple; the patches of red visible here and there on the masonry denote fire damage, probably from the sack of Akragas by the Carthaginians in 406 BC.

Tempio della Concordia

Following the line of the ancient city walls that hug the ridge, Via Sacra leads west to the Tempio della Concordia (Concord), dating from around 430 BC. Perfectly preserved and beautifully situated, with fine views to the city and the sea, the tawny stone lends the structure warmth and strength. It’s the most complete of the temples, and has required less renovation than the others, mainly thanks to its conversion in the sixth century AD to a Christian church. Restored in the eighteenth century to its (more or less) original layout, the temple has kept its simple lines and slightly tapering columns, although sadly it’s fenced off from the public. Circle the temple at least once to get a decent view, and stand well back to admire its elegant proportions.

Tempio di Ercole

From the Tempio della Concordia, Via Sacra continues past the site of the city’s ancient necropolis and across what remains of a deep, wheel-rutted Greek street to the oldest of Akragas’s temples, the Tempio di Ercole (Hercules). Probably begun in the last decades of the sixth century BC, it’s a long structure, with nine of the original thirty-eight columns re-erected, and everything else scattered around like a half-finished jigsaw puzzle.

Tempio di Esculapio

No set hours • Free

The quickest way to reach the Tempio di Esculapio (Asclepius) is to climb over the wall to the side of the Tempio della Concordia and scramble down to the SS115, from which a dusty track leads down to the undersized temple, which has solid walls instead of a colonnade.

The western zone

The western zone is less impressive than the eastern end of the site, though its vast tangle of stone and fallen masonry from an assortment of temples is still engaging. Most notable is the mammoth pile of rubble that was the Tempio di Giove (Jupiter, or Zeus). The largest Doric temple ever known, it was never completed, left in ruins by the Carthaginians and further damaged by earthquakes and the removal of stone to build the port of Porto Empedocle to the south. Still, the stereobate remains, unnaturally huge in scale, while on the ground, face to the sky, lies an 8m-high telamone: a supporting column sculpted as a male figure, arms raised and bent to bear the weight of the temple. As excavations continue, other scattered remains litter the area, not least piles of great column drums marked with a U-shaped groove, which enabled them to be lifted with ropes.

Tempio dei Dioscuri

Beyond the Tempio di Giove, behind the excavated gates and walls of the Greek city, is the earliest sacred site, the Sanctuary of the Chthonic Deities, dedicated to the gods of the underworld and marked by two altars (one square and fire-reddened, the other round), dating from the seventh century BC, before the official foundation of the colony. Considerably more romantic-looking are the ruins of the so-called Tempio dei Dioscuri (also known as Tempio di Castore e Polluce, or Castor and Pollux), assembled in 1832 from various columns and other random architectonic fragments discovered nearby.

Giardino della Kolymbetra

Daily: April–June 10am–6pm; July–Sept 10am–7pm; Oct to early Jan & Feb–March 10am–5pm • €3

Behind the Temple dei Dioscuri is the entrance to the Giardino della Kolymbetra, for which you need a separate ticket. Part of the city’s irrigation system in the fifth century BC, it’s now an extensive sunken garden, lush and green amid the aridity of the rest of the archeological zone. There is nothing monumental here, but it makes a pleasant relief from temple-touring, the olive, almond and citrus groves overlooked by honey-toned calcareous cliff walls draped with cactus and pitted with caves. It also holds banana, pistachio and pomegranate trees, all meticulously labelled and explained, and a reedy stream.

Museo Regionale Archeologico

Tues–Sat 9am–1pm & 2–7pm, Mon & Sun 9am–1pm • €8, audioguide €5 • tel_icon 0922 401 565

The road between town and the temples runs past the excellent Museo Regionale Archeologico. It holds an extraordinarily varied collection, devoted to finds from the temples, the ancient city and the surrounding area. There are brief notes in English throughout, and an informative audioguide.

Rooms 1–6

Unusually for an archeological museum, much of what’s here holds artistic merit as well as historical interest. You could skip most of the initial local prehistoric and Bronze Age finds, though in room 1 look out for the gold signet rings, engraved with animals. Rooms 3 and 4 feature an outstanding vase collection, beguiling sixth- to third-century BC pieces, one of which depicts the burial of a warrior. The highlight is a stunningly detailed white-ground krater from 440 BC portraying a valiant Perseus freeing Andromeda. But it’s the finds from the temples themselves that make this collection come alive: leaving room 4, you’ll pass a series of sculpted lion’s-head waterspouts, a common device for draining the water from the roofs of the city’s temples, while room 6 is given over to exhibits relating to the Tempio di Giove, with three enormous stone heads from the temples sitting in the recessed wall. Some useful wooden model reconstructions help to make sense of the disjointed wreckage on the ground, although the prime exhibit is a reassembled telamon stacked against one wall: all the weather damage can’t hide the strength implicit in this huge sculpture.

Rooms 10–15

The finest statue in the museum is in room 10, where the Ephebus, a naked Greek youth, displays a nerveless strength and power that suggests that the model was probably a soldier. Rooms beyond hold coins, inscriptions and finds from local necropolises; typical is an alabaster child’s sarcophagus in room 11 showing poignant scenes from his life, which was cut short by illness. The last couple of rooms contain finds from the rest of the province, one of which, in room 15, is the equal of anything that’s gone before, amply demonstrating the famed Geloan skill as masters of vase-ware: a fifth-century BC krater displays a graphic scene from Homer in which Achilles slays the queen of the Amazons at the moment when he falls in love with her.

San Nicola and the Hellenistic-Roman quarter

In the grounds of the Museo Regionale Archeologico, look out for the Gothic doorway of the adjacent church of San Nicola. From the terrace outside, you get an invigorating view over the temple valley, while just beyond is a small odeon (third century BC), used for public meetings, during which the participants stood rather than sat in the narrow rows. Nip over the road on the way out of the museum, too: the Hellenistic-Roman quarter opposite (daily 9am–1hr before sunset; free) contains rows of houses, inhabited (on and off) until the fifth century AD, many with mosaic designs still discernible.

San Biagio and the Santuario di Demetra

Via Demetra

Heading back up the road towards town from San Nicola and the Hellenistic-Roman quarter, you’ll pass the Norman chapel of San Biagio, built over the visible remains of another ancient Greek temple. If you’re fortunate, a custodian may appear to lead you down the cliff behind the chapel to the eerie Santuario di Demetra (be prepared to tip), where a stone-built chambered shrine hides two dingy caves that stretch 20m into the hillside. The thin corridor between building and caves was a sort of vestibule with niches for water so that worshippers could wash themselves. The most ancient of Agrigento’s sacred sites, it was once devoted to the cult of Demeter and Persephone, and in use even before Akragas was founded. A mysterious and evocative place, it’s at its best as the sun sets, when shadows flit across the dark and silent caves.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: AGRIGENTO AND THE VALLE DEI TEMPLI

By bus Services operating from the bus terminal at Agrigento’s central Piazza Rosselli include: Camilleri ( tel_icon 0922 29 136, web_icon camilleriargentoelattuca.it) and Cuffaro ( 091 616 510, cuffaro.info) to Palermo; Lattuca ( 0922 36 125, autolineelattuca.it) to Sant’Angelo Muxaro; SAL ( 0922 401 360, autolineesal.it) to Licata, Gela, Palma di Montechiaro and Porto Empedocle (for the Pelagie Islands); SAIS Trasporti ( tel_icon 0922 29 324, web_icon saistrasporti.it) to Caltanissetta, Catania and Naro; Salvatore Lumia ( 0922 20 414, autolineelumia.it) to Castelvetrano, Cattolica Eraclea (for Eraclea Minoa), Marsala, Mazara, Menfi, Sciacca and Trapani. There’s a SAIS bus ticket/information office in the corner of the piazza. Otherwise, buy tickets on the bus. Timetables are posted in front of the various companies’ stops.

Destinations Caltanissetta (hourly Mon–Sat, 10 daily Sun; 1hr 15min); Catania (hourly Mon–Sat, 10 daily Sun; 2hr 50min); Cattolica Eraclea, for Eraclea Minoa (6 daily Mon–Sat, 1 daily Sun; 1hr–1hr 30min); Licata (14 daily Mon–Sat; 1hr); Palermo (14 daily Mon–Sat, 5 daily Sun; 2hr); Palma di Montechiaro (14 daily Mon–Sat; 35min); Porto Empedocle (1–2 hourly Mon–Sat, 6 daily Sun; 20min); Sant’Angelo Muxaro (3 daily Mon–Sat; 1hr 10min); Sciacca (11 daily Mon–Sat, 2 daily Sun; 1hr–1hr 40min); Trapani (3 daily Mon–Sat, 1 daily Sun; 3hr 20min–4hr).

By train Trains pull in at the edge of the old town at Stazione Centrale, unusually fronted by a garden – don’t make the mistake of getting out at Agrigento Bassa, 3km north of town.

Destinations Caltanissetta (5 daily Mon–Sat, 3 daily Sun; 1hr 30min); Enna (3 daily; 1hr 50min–2hr 25min); Palermo (12 daily Mon–Sat, 8 daily Sun; 2hr 15min).

By car The one-way system in Agrigento’s old town is a nightmare. Some hotels are signposted, but you may well not be able to park anywhere near where you’re staying (ask about parcheggio when you book). You can usually bag a space on Viale della Vittoria or Via F. Crispi.

GETTING AROUND

By bus From outside the train station on Piazza Marconi, city buses depart for the temples and the beach at San Leone; buy tickets prior to boarding from kiosks, tabacchi or the station bar (€1.10, or €3.30 for ticket valid all day); kiosks stand to either side of Piazza Marconi, though they’re not always open on Sundays. You can buy single tickets on board the bus for €1.65.

By taxi There are ranks at Piazzale Aldo Moro ( tel_icon 0922 21 899) and outside the train station ( 0922 26 670).

Car rental Avis, Piazzetta San Calogero 11, near train station ( tel_icon 0922 26 353); Hertz, Via Empedocle 35 ( 0922 556 090).

INFORMATION

Tourist information Agrigento holds a couple of tourist offices, with one focusing on the town at Via Atenea 272 (Mon–Fri 9.30am–1.30pm, also Tues & Thurs 3.30–7.30pm; tel_icon 0922 596 168), and one covering the whole province, located inside the Prefettura building at the back of Piazzale Aldo Moro (Mon–Fri 8am–2pm & 3–7pm, Sat 8am–1pm; 0922 593 227 or 800 236 37); both can supply useful maps and brochures. There’s also a desk at Stazione Centrale (Mon–Fri 9am–1pm) and a kiosk at the Valle dei Templi western zone car park (Mon–Sat 9am–1.30pm).

ACCOMMODATION

Finding accommodation in Agrigento itself is rarely a problem, although in peak season the nearby coastal resorts fill fast. All the budget choices, primarily small family-run establishments, are in the old town above the temples, and there are several B&Bs signed on the main Via Atenea. Tour groups tend to stay in the grander hotels a few kilometres east of town at Villaggio Mosè, an unattractive traffic-choked suburb on the coast road into Agrigento, though the hotels themselves – glossy, three- and four-star holiday palaces – are fine. The nearest campsites lie 6km south of town at the unappealing coastal resort of San Leone, also the site of a good B&B.

Arco Ubriaco Via Sferri 12 tel_icon 335 745 6532, web_icon arcoubriaco.com. Three rooms in a warm, welcoming family house on the edge of Rabato, named for the tilting medieval arch leading off the living room. There’s wi-fi, and all rooms have bathroom, a/c and a fridge. The motherly owner is adept at making all guests feel part of the family. €60

Atenea 191 Via Atenea 191 tel_icon 0922 595 594, web_icon atenea191.com. A real find, this B&B on the main drag has huge, tastefully designed en-suite rooms, most with balconies offering distant views of the sea. One room has frescoed walls and ceiling. Breakfast is served on the roof terrace in summer. No a/c but ceiling fans in all the rooms. €85

Camere a Sud Via Ficani 6 tel_icon 349 638 4424, web_icon camereasud.it. This bijou B&B in an alley off Via Atenea has charming hosts, three vividly coloured en-suite rooms with a/c, paintings by Catanese artist Antonio Recca and a roof terrace for breakfasts. Internet access available; no credit cards. €70

Fattoria Mosè Via M. Pascal 4, Villaggio Mosè tel_icon 0922 606 115, web_icon fattoriamose.com. On an estate run by the same family for 200 years, this agriturismo midway between the sea and the temples (signposted from the SS115) offers a simple B&B option as well as self-catering apartments in a converted stable block. Rooms are on the spartan side but there’s a huge garden and a small swimming pool. Breakfasts and meals (€10 for lunch, €25 for dinner) are mostly home-produced and organic, and the family also run cookery courses. There’s free internet and a laundry service. Closed Nov–Feb. Rooms €96

Mille e Una Notte Via Garibaldi 46 tel_icon 320 483 5856, web_icon milleeunanottebeb.it. Sensitively run B&B on the fringe of the evocative Rabat quarter, with spick-and-span rooms including two sleeping four and five and a small apartment with cooking facilities. Doubles €88

author_pick Peppe e Romina Melisenda Giambertoni Via Passeggiata Archeologica 29 tel_icon 348 762 2790, email_icon casinagiambertoni@gmail.com. There is simply no better place to stay in Agrigento than these three simple apartments on the ground floor of a nineteenth-century country villa set just between an olive grove and the Roman-Hellenistic area of the archeological zone, a short walk from the museum. They may not be luxurious, but you have everything you need, and the opportunity to sit outside your apartment at night, looking at the temples, is without a price. Weekly rates from €500

Le Scalette Salita Iacono 3 tel_icon 335 745 6532, web_icon beblescalette.com. Run by the same people as Arco Ubriaco, this house is higher up in town, close to Santo Spirito. There are four small but clean rooms, and a kitchen-dining room for the use of guests. €60

Terrazze di Montelusa Piazza Lena 6 tel_icon 0922 28 556, web_icon terrazzedimontelusa.it. Smart, clean and airy second-floor B&B at the far western end of the old town, with large, fully equipped rooms and a charming, knowledgeable host who will offer useful tips for the area and even trot out a few tunes on the piano if you ask nicely. There are great views from the roof terraces, where a garden is being planned. Free internet. No credit cards. €80

author_pick Villa Pirandello Via Francesco Crispi 34 tel_icon 0922 22 275, web_icon bbvillapirandello.it. A Sicilian-Yorkshire family run this B&B in a nineteenth-century villa where the dramatist Luigi Pirandello’s wife lived (and apparently chucked furniture out of the windows at the barracks next door during one of the spells of madness to which she was prone). With five rooms, a shady garden and a sunny terrace, a more therapeutic post-temples spot is hard to imagine. And you don’t even need to leave for dinner, as the La Terra restaurant is in its garden. Breakfasts are superb, featuring fresh fruit and artisan pastries. €75

EATING AND DRINKING

Agrigento has a fairly good choice of restaurants, many clustered around Via Atenea and offering some kind of menu turistico. Unsurprisingly, they tend to be a bit touristy, though prices are usually low. There are two distinct areas for cafés and bars. The town-centre passeggiata focuses on Via Atenea, and once the shops reopen in the late afternoon the whole street is packed. To watch the action, choose a seat at one of the little bars in Piazzale Aldo Moro, at the beginning of Via Atenea, a nice place to sit in the early evening, despite the occasional burst of organ music from a local crooner. For sunsets and views, stroll along the leafy Viale della Vittoria, where four or five cafés cater to a local family crowd.

L’Ambasciate di Sicilia Via Giambertoni 2 tel_icon 0922 20 526. Fairly standard food in folksy surroundings, though tables on the outdoor terrace provide one of the few good views in town. The antipasto rustico, house pasta and involtini are good choices (mains €7–9 for meat, €13–17 for fish dishes). Tues–Sun lunch & dinner, plus Mon dinner Aug.

Antica Panelleria Musicò Viale della Vittoria s/n (no phone). This little van parked at the beginning of Viale della Vittoria is an Agrigento institution, selling pane e panelle (chickpea-flour fritters in soft bread rolls) since 1954. Daily 8.30am–1pm & 5–8.30pm.

Caffeteria Nobel Viale della Vittoria 11 tel_icon 0922 24 562. A relaxing spot for breakfast (amazing pastries), an ice cream or a beer under the shady trees of the avenue. Daily 8am–late.

Capotavola Viale della Vittoria 15–17 tel_icon 0922 21 484. Perfect for families – it even has a designated play area screened from the main restaurant by a glass window, so you can keep an eye on the kids while you eat in peace. There are pizzas (€5–8, with mini-pizzas at a euro less), including the crowd-pleasing ricottina, with mozzarella, ricotta, ham and parmesan, plus risotto with shellfish and cedro (citron), spaghetti with seafood and toasted breadcrumbs, and fish dishes featuring red prawns from Mazara, further up the coast. From Tuesday to Friday there is a giropasta – you get as much pasta as you can eat (though you have to finish one plate before qualifying for another) for €15 per head including a drink. Otherwise a full meal will cost around €35. Daily lunch & dinner.

La Corte degli Sfizi Cortile Contarini 169 tel_icon 349 579 2922. Little trattoria opposite Via Atenea with a summer walled courtyard where you can eat tasty pasta (like cavatelli with aubergines), or dishes such as grilled sausage or swordfish, and there’s pizza in the evening. Nice staff and very reasonable food for the price. Fixed-price menus including wine cost €20 (meat) and €22 (fish). Mon & Wed–Sun lunch & dinner, plus Tues dinner in summer.

Le Cuspidi Piazza Cavour 19 tel_icon 0922 24 562. Come to this gelateria for the best ice creams in town – try the fresh ricotta, pistachio or almond. Daily 9am–late.

Per Bacco Vicolo Lo Presti tel_icon 0922 553 369. Fish dominates the menu in this small, smart trattoria favoured by locals. There’s a good selection of salads (€5–6) and risottos (€7–9). Expect to pay around €30 for a full meal including drinks. Tues–Sun dinner only.

author_pick Posata di Federico Secondo Piazza Cavour 19 tel_icon 0922 28 289. Lovely, elegant restaurant, just off tree-lined Viale della Vittoria. The food is superb, strictly seasonal, with the menu divided according to the main ingredient (artichoke, veal etc) rather than the usual primi and secondi, so you may need a little help deciphering it. There’s no pressure to order a four-course meal – try it for dinner, and you may well decide to come back for a light antipasto lunch or plate of pasta the next day. The signature dish is beef fillet with gorgonzola and honey – amazing! Expect to pay €35–40 for a full meal, but you could have a nice light lunch for under €15. Mon–Sat lunch & dinner.

La Terra Via Francesco Crispi 34 tel_icon 0922 29 742 or 329 091 4850. Lovely relaxed setting in the garden of playwright Luigi Pirandello’s former summer villa, with a well-researched but unpretentious menu and wine list inspired by the Slow Food ethos. Menu is seasonal, making great use of Sicilian produce – a fillet of dentex (similar to sea bass) in a potato crust, or linguine lightly dressed with mussels, cherry tomatoes and tenerumi (courgette plant fronds). Desserts include a Modica chocolate mousse. Around €45 a head for a full meal. Tues–Sun: summer lunch & dinner; winter dinner only.

Trattoria dei Templi Via Panoramica dei Templi 15 tel_icon 0922 403 110. Fresh seafood in a traditional restaurant halfway between town and the Valle dei Templi. Among their ample pasta dishes, opt for panzerotti della casa (ravioli with seafood sauce; €7), or splash out on the fettuccine all’aragosta, served with a chunk of lobster (€14). Mon–Sat lunch & dinner; winter closed Fri & Sun.

THE MONTALBANO PHENOMENON

Inspector Salvo Montalbano is the most famous policeman in Italy, and his creator, Andrea Camilleri, a chain-smoking octogenarian native of Porto Empedocle, is the country’s most successful writer. The Montalbano books – twenty novels and four collections of short stories – have sold well over eleven million copies in Italy, while episodes of the Montalbano TV series regularly attract an astonishing nine million viewers here. Montalbano fever is fast becoming an international phenomenon, too. The TV series has been broadcast in fifty countries, including the UK and Australia; The Potter’s Field, the latest Montalbano novel to be translated into English, won the UK Crime Writers’ Association International Dagger award in 2012; and intriguingly, Police HQ Scotland Yard in London recently requested copies of the entire TV series for use in “professional training courses”.

A very human policeman, Montalbano lives on a beach, begins every morning with a swim, savours what he eats in silence with an almost religious passion, and suffers from bad digestion. Although the setting for the novels is contemporary, the core of Montalbano’s world remains the provincial Sicily of Camilleri’s youth, a fictional place in which elements of modern life, such as the mobile phone and computer, can at times seem anachronistic.

When it came to filming the TV series, however, director Alberto Sironi decided to re-create Camilleri’s Sicily not in Agrigento, but in the province of Ragusa, perhaps because Agrigento and Porto Empedocle were deemed a little too real for the tastes of TV viewers. Mentioned here are locations in Agrigento and Porto Empedocle that you could easily visit yourself, though keen Montalbano fans are unlikely to regret splashing out on a guided tour of the sites with Michele Gallo ( tel_icon 360 397 930, web_icon sicilytourguides.net); group prices start at €150 for a half-day tour.

MONTALBANO LOCATIONS

Questura The Police Headquarters (and base of the irascible Commissioner Bonetti Algheretti and his odious assistant Lattes) is in fact Agrigento’s police station, on Piazza Municipio at the beginning of Via Atenea.

Rabato Semi-destroyed by a landslide, Agrigento’s Arab quarter, just to the north of Via Garibaldi, serves as the home of Montelusa lowlifes including the Tunisian prostitute mother of Montalbano’s almost-adopted son.

La Mannara The car park and abandoned factory used as a base by Gigi and his prostitutes lie behind the ENI, at the edge of Porto Empedocle on the road to Agrigento.

The “dwarf skyscrapers” A frequently recurring cityscape detail of the TV shows, these occupy the ridge above the port at Porto Empedocle.

Montalbano’s flat rock The place the inspector comes to digest both his lunches and the complexities of his current case lies at the end of the dock in Porto Empedocle.

Chiesa Madre This church on Via Roma, the main street of Porto Empedocle, provides the setting for several funerals, some of them Mafia affairs.

Via Granet This little street off Porto Empedocle’s Via Roma serves as the site of former restaurant San Calogero, and the home of the observant Maestra Clementina and the melancholy violinist.

Bar Kenia, Marinella A favourite meeting place for Montalbano and his Swedish soul mate (and occasional lover) Ingrid, this bar is still functioning at the end of Marinella beach.

Scala dei Turchi Meeting place for Montalbano and his informer and ex-schoolmate, Gigi.

Da Enzo Montalbano’s favourite restaurant is open for business in Porto Empedocle.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: PORTO EMPEDOCLE

By bus SAL buses for Porto Empedocle leave once or twice hourly from Agrigento’s bus and train stations, six times on Sunday (a 15–20min journey), dropping you in Piazza Italia, one block from the waterfront; the last bus from Agrigento leaves at 9pm (7pm on Sun).

By ferry and hydrofoil Services to Lampedusa and Linosa leave from the town’s dock.

Ferry Destinations Lampedusa (6 weekly; 8hr 15min); Linosa (6 weekly; 5hr 45min).

Hydrofoil Destinations Lampedusa (May–Oct 6 weekly; 4hr 15min); Linosa (May–Oct 6 weekly; 3hr).

By taxi A taxi from Agrigento will cost about €25.

EATING AND DRINKING

La Lampara Via F. Crispi 3 tel_icon 339 490 6833. Housed in what looks like a long wooden shed, a few minutes’ walk from the port along the seafront, offering an abundant three-course meal plus good local wine for around €25. Open erratically for lunch & dinner.

Il Timone da Enzo Via Garibaldi 11 tel_icon 334 342 7177. This trattoria is more engagingly idiosyncratic in reality than it is in the pages of Camilleri. Located on a hill above the port, you can’t miss it – it’s the shack with the battered boat on its roof, several hastily erected chipboard walls and the broken plastic (once-illuminated) sign on which you may (or may not) be able to make out the word “ENZO”. It usually opens in the evenings, doesn’t usually open at lunchtime, and often has the kind of dishes that would bring tears of joy and nostalgia to the eyes of Montalbano … polpette made of neonati (newborn fish), spaghetti al nivuru di siccia (with squid ink) and glistening fresh triglie (red mullet). About €25 per head, including carafes of the strong local plonk. No set hours.

Scala dei Turchi

About 7km west of Porto Empedocle, following signs for Realmonte, the stunning Scala dei Turchi beach lies at the bottom of furrowed and gleaming-white cliffs. Prone to landslides, the road above it collapsed in the winter of 2013, and was barricaded off to traffic at the time of writing (though you can still walk down to the beach). This only adds to the traffic congestion during the summer and on sunny weekends. If you want cliffs and sands without the crowds, continue on to Torre Salsa.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: SCALA DEI TURCHI

By car As there are no bus connections to Scala dei Turchi from Agrigento, the easiest way to get here is by car.

ACCOMMODATION AND EATING

Lido Scala dei Turchi Scala dei Turchi, Realmonte tel_icon 0922 814 563. At the top of the steps leading down to Scala dei Turchi beach, this lido restaurant provides welcome sustenance in the form of delicious seafood meals for less than €25. Daily lunch & dinner; closed Mon Sept–June.

Scala dei Turchi Via Grande 171, Realmonte tel_icon 0922 816 238. A little B&B in the village of Realmonte – the main attraction being that it is close to the stunning white cliffs of Scala dei Turchi and the unspoilt beaches at Giallonardo, near Siculiana, and Torre Salsa, between Siculiana Marina and Eraclea Minoa. €50

Torre Salsa

Protected by a WWF nature reserve, and stretching for endless kilometres, the long sandy beach of Torre Salsa, backed by cliffs of mark and selenite crystal, has none of the crowds of Scala dei Turchi. For most of the year, underground springs make the dirt road to the beach inaccessible by car, though if you don’t mind a muddy walk, you could park once the going gets too tough for your car, and continue to the beach on foot; just follow signs for the Ingresso Pantano. If you want to drive all the way to the beach you will need to enter via the Agriturismo Torre Salsa, which charges €3 entrance per person. Both are well signposted from the SS115.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: TORRE SALSA

By car Torre Salsa is off the SS115 between Agrigento and Sciacca; turn off at the junction marked Montallegro/Bovo Marina /Torre Salsa.

ACCOMMODATION

Agriturismo Torre Salsa Torre Salsa tel_icon 336 945 967, web_icon torresalsa.it. German-run agriturismo with several rooms and apartments as well as parking places on the beach for campers. The motto is mente sana in corpo sano (“a healthy mind in a healthy body”), and there’s an emphasis on energetic healthy pursuits such as Nordic walking and mountain biking, with several marked trails. There is a restaurant, and home-cultivated organic vegetables are on sale for self-caterers. Rooms €116

Palma di Montechiaro

Shabby PALMA DI MONTECHIARO, half an hour’s dive southeast of Agrigento, was once the seat of the Lampedusa family, the last of whom – Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa – wrote the acclaimed novel, The Leopard. He died in 1957 (The Leopard was published a year later), but the palace in Palma had lain derelict for a long time before that. Indeed, far more resonant for Leopard fans are the ruins in the western Sicilian town of Santa Margherita di Belice. Today, the only echoes of the great feudal family recorded in the novel are to be found in Palma’s imposing seventeenth-century Chiesa Matrice, built by one of Lampedusa’s ancestors and approached by a wide flight of crumbling steps, and the ruined site of the Castello di Palma, a few kilometres west of town at the end of a small track.

Naro

The medieval hill-town of NARO makes a good destination for a scenic drive inland. The finest of the buildings are the Chiaramonte castello at Naro’s highest point, and the nearby ruins of the old cathedral; other churches in this walled and battlemented town are emphatically Baroque. Architecturally harmonious though Naro is, the real attraction is not so much the end destination as the drive itself from Palma, which is rewarded by extensive sweeping views down to the coast.

< Back to Agrigento and the southwest

Licata

LICATA is a pleasant little port town some 50km down the coast from Agrigento, though there’s certainly nothing left of ancient Phintias, the settlement founded here in 280 BC by Greeks from Gela, whose own city had been destroyed in successive attacks. Instead, Licata’s historic centre is largely Baroque, with a lower town split into two distinct halves. Pavement cafés line the two wide avenues – Corso Roma and Corso Umberto – that form an L-shape at the heart of town meeting at Piazza Progresso. Behind here, the narrow crisscrossed alleys of the old town reach back to the harbour. There’s a lido and beach just up from the harbour, though as Licata is still a working port, full of maritime hardware, it’s not exactly enticing. For a view over the harbour, climb to the top of the town from the main Corso Roma and then work your way around the hill to reach an imposing sixteenth-century castello. Other strolls can take in the lively old-town market (Mon–Sat from early morning till around 2pm), held in the cobbled square in front of the church, and some of Licata’s good palazzi, the most prominent being the gargoyle-studded Palazzo Canarelli on Corso Roma. Housed in a sixteenth-century convent on Piazza Sant’Angelo, and reached by walking down Via Dante off Corso Umberto, the Museo Archeologico displays a good deal of local prehistoric and Greek material, as well as medieval art, but has been closed for a lengthy renovation for some years now, though there are rumours that it is due to reopen shortly; call for an update ( tel_icon 0922 77 6263).

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: LICATA

By bus Buses pull up on Corso Roma, right in the centre; the bar at Corso Roma 36 posts timetables and sells tickets for the regular daily departures to Agrigento, Gela, Catania (and Catania Airport) and Palermo. Main bus companies are Etnabus, Interbus, SAIS and SAL.

By train Licata is served by far fewer trains than buses; principal destinations are Caltanissetta and Gela. The train station is a 5min walk from the bus station.

ACCOMMODATION AND EATING

Antica Dimora San Girolamo Piazza San Girolamo tel_icon 0922 875 010, web_icon dimorasangirolamo.it. This is a great little B&B in the heart of the old fishing quarter, La Marina, housed in an old building full of character on an atmospheric square where, in fine weather, guests are served first-class breakfasts al fresco. €50

La Madia Corso Re Capriata 22, off Corso Serrovia tel_icon 0922 771 443, web_icon ristorantelamadia.it. A pricey, critically acclaimed restaurant where world-class but distinctly Sicilian dishes can be sampled on a tasting menu for €80. Summer Mon & Wed–Sat lunch & dinner, Sun dinner only; winter Mon & Wed–Sat lunch & dinner, Sun lunch only.

L’Oste e il Sacrestano Via Sant’Andrea 19 tel_icon 0922 774 736. A small, smart but unpretentious hostaria and wine bar near the Duomo and Corso Vittorio Emanuele, where the tasting menu of five small courses (€48) is highly recommended. Tues–Sat lunch & dinner, Sun lunch only.

< Back to Agrigento and the southwest

North of Agrigento

The lively spa and port town of Sciacca and the lovely ancient site of Eraclea Minoa are the best-known destinations to the north of Agrigento, but if you have a car, Sciacca makes a good base for a day’s circular drive, taking in a few minor inland towns, including the superbly sited village of Caltabellotta. Local buses also make certain simple excursions into the hinterland possible.

Sant’Angelo Muxaro

Some 30km north of Agrigento, in the steeply sloping Platani River valley, the small agricultural centre of SANT’ANGELO MUXARO boasts a number of local tholos (tombs) hollowed out of the rock in dome-shaped caves. The earliest date from the eleventh century BC, but most are from around the eighth to the fifth centuries BC, and recall Minoan and Mycenaean examples in design. You’ll spot them as you approach the bare hillside on which the village stands: the road leads up past a ramshackle brick wall, beyond which a path heads along the sheer rock to the “beehive” caves. At the bottom, the largest is known locally as the Tomba del Principe: later converted into a Byzantine chapel, it’s half-hidden by overhanging trees and you may have to backtrack to get inside. Like all the others, it’s empty now, the finds scattered in various museums around Europe.

THE ALBERGO DIFFUSO EXPERIENCE

Sant’Angelo boasts a great accommodation option which transforms the village from a day-trip destination into a place where you might well be tempted to stay a night or two. Run by the Val di Kam agency, who have a “reception” at Piazza Umberto I 31 ( tel_icon 0922 919 670 or 339 530 5989, web_icon valdikam.it), it’s known as an albergo diffuso – a hotel that is “diffused” throughout the village, with en-suite rooms (€60) in a number of different houses – it’s a formula that’s becoming increasingly popular in Sicily, and it’s proving to be a great way of reviving small rural centres. Breakfast is usually a grand affair with local delicacies, served in your room, and the agency can also arrange local dinners in private houses. Val di Kam also organize hiking, caving and archeological trips around Sant’Angelo (from around €50 per person), can arrange pick-ups from Agrigento and is a mine of useful information on the area.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: SANT’ANGELO MUXARO

By bus From Agrigento, buses for Sant’Angelo run by Lattuca ( tel_icon 0922 36 125, web_icon autolineelattuca.it) leave from Piazza Vittorio Emanuele (Mon–Sat at 10.30am, 2.10pm & 6.30pm; the last bus back leaves at 4pm).

By car Drivers should take the SS189 branching off westward for Aragona and Sant’Angelo, or choose the more wriggly but faster SS118 via Raffadali.

Eraclea Minoa

Thirty-five kilometres along the coast northwest of Agrigento is the ancient Greek site of ERACLEA MINOA. According to the historian Diodorus, this was originally named Minoa after the Cretan king Minos, who chased Daedalus from Crete to Sicily and founded a city where he landed. The Greeks settled here in the sixth century BC, later adding the tag Heraklea. A buffer between the two great cities of Akragas, 40km to the east, and Selinus (Selinunte), 60km west, Eraclea was dragged into endless border disputes, but flourished nonetheless. Most of what’s left dates from the fourth century BC, the city’s most important period, three hundred years or so before it fell into decline.

While you’re here, you’ll be hard put to resist a trip down to the beach, one of the finest on Sicily’s southern coast, backed by pine trees, chalky cliffs and a strip of holiday homes. It’s hideously busy in July and August; unless you get here early, you’ll never find a space to park.

The site

Daily 9am–1hr before sunset; may close Sun in winter, call to check • €4 • tel_icon 0922 846 005

The site sits on a ridge high above a beautiful arc of sand, with the mouth of the River Platani on the other side. Among the most attractive of all Greek sites in Sicily, it occupies a headland of which only around a third has so far been excavated. What there is to see is the fruit of successive excavations by foreign universities, who, together with the local Comune, have landscaped the remains to good effect. Don’t stray too far off the paths, though, as snakes lurk in the undergrowth.

Apart from the city walls, once 6km long and with a good part still standing, the most impressive remains are of the sandstone theatre. Now restored to its former glory after years of deterioration of the seats (which are made of very soft stone), the theatre is protected from the worst of the elements by a plastic roof.

Above the theatre, excavations have also revealed tombs and traces of a Greco-Roman temple, while below stand the ruins of a grand house, with fragments of Roman mosaics, though these are covered and inaccessible. Many of the finds are displayed in a small on-site museum.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: ERACLEA MINOA

By bus You can get here between June and September by bus from Cattolica Eraclea, which has bus connections from Agrigento, but outside the summer months you’re going to have to take any bus running between Agrigento and Sciacca and ask the driver to let you off at the turning on the SS115: from here, you’ll have to walk the 3.5km to the site. Heading on, walk back to the SS115, where you should be able to flag down any bus bound for Sciacca.

ACCOMMODATION

Eraclea Minoa Village tel_icon 0922 846 023 (summer), 0922 29 101 (winter), web_icon eracleaminoavillage.it. Pine-shaded campsite a few steps from the sea which also has one- and two-bedroom bungalows and a bar, pizzeria, restaurant and disco. Camping €7 per person, plus €10 per pitch; bungalows €70

Sciacca

Just over 30km further up the coast from Eraclea Minoa, SCIACCA is a working fishing port that conceals a good-looking upper town which is virtually untouched by tourism. A spa town for nearby Selinus in ancient times, it enjoyed great prosperity under the Arabs, from whom its modern name is thought to derive (the Arabic xacca meaning “from the water”). The town was at the centre of a feud between Catalan and Norman families that simmered on for a century, resulting in the deaths of a good half of the local population. Several notable buildings are scattered about, which infuse Sciacca’s agreeable Mediterranean air with more than a passing historical interest and make for some pleasant strolling through the weaving streets.

The town is the main centre of ceramic production on Sicily’s south coast, and you’ll see colourful plates, vases and ornaments on sale everywhere. Its spa waters are still potent, and Sciacca remains a popular destination for Italians seeking all manner of cures, many of which are available on the state. There’s also a decent arc of sandy beach 1km west of the centre at the end of Via Gaie di Garaffe.

The upper town

The still-walled upper town can be entered through any of the three grand gates remaining of the original seven. The westernmost, Porta San Salvatore, leads onto the Chiesa del Carmine, whose facade is lent a skew-whiff air by an off-centre Gothic rose window. Past the church, up Via P. Gerardi, the fifteenth-century Palazzo Steripinto is even more ungainly, its embossed exterior only partially offset by some slender arched windows.

From Palazzo Steripinto, the main Corso Vittorio Emanuele runs right the way down to the lovely Piazza A. Scandaliato, a large terrace with some good cafés, enhanced by wide views over the port and distant bays. The most enduring Arab legacy in town is the street layout and, back from the piazza, above the Duomo, a Moorish knot of passages and steep alleys leads up to the rather feeble remains of the fourteenth-century Castello Conti Luna, which belonged to one of the feuding families that disrupted medieval Sciacca. A little way down from here, the twelfth-century church of San Nicolò is a tiny construction with three apses and some elegant blind arcading.

The port

Steps from Piazza A. Scandaliato lead down the cliffside to the lower town and port, whose most distinctive feature is the hexagonally steepled modern church of San Pietro. Just north of the church you’ll see further steps, each riser decorated with contemporary ceramic tiles, some depicting sea life, some just patterned, and each one different. Fishing vessels lie tied up at the quayside, lorries unload salt by the bucketful for anchovy- and sardine-processing, and repairmen, foundry workers and chandlers go about their business, breaking off work for a drink in some scruffy portside bar.

ARRIVAL AND INFORMATION: SCIACCA

By bus Buses pull up by the Villa Comunale (the town gardens) at the eastern end of Sciacca. Bus tickets are sold at the Bar Giglio on Viale della Vittoria for Lumia services to Agrigento, Caltabellotta, Castelvetrano and Trapani, and from the Antico Chiosco bar in the centre of Piazza Santa Friscia for Gallo services to Palermo.

Destinations Agrigento (9 daily Mon–Sat, 2 daily Sun; 1hr 10min–1hr 40min); Caltabellotta (4 daily Mon–Sat; 45min); Castelvetrano (3 daily Mon–Sat, 1 daily Sun; 40–55min); Palermo (8–10 daily Mon–Sat, 5 daily Sun; 1hr 45min); Trapani (3 daily Mon–Sat, 1 daily Sun; 2hr–2hr 20min).

By car Parking is problematic in Sciacca – ask locals for advice.

Tourist information Both of the town’s tourist offices are on Corso Vittorio Emanuele, at no. 84 (Mon–Fri 9am–1pm, also Wed 3.30–7pm; tel_icon 0925 22 744) and no. 94 (Mon–Fri 8am–2pm, extended opening in summer; 0925 20 478, web_icon comunedisciacca.it), and can supply maps, public transport timetables, accommodation lists and information in English, though not everything is up to date.

ACCOMMODATION

Aliai Via Gaie de Garaffe 60 tel_icon 0925 905 388, web_icon aliai.com. First-rate B&B facing the sea in the lower town. The smartly renovated rooms boast antique touches, wood-beamed ceilings and free wi-fi, and one has its own terrace. €100

Casa Jacaranda Via delle Sequoie, Contrada Isabella tel_icon 392 812 3231, web_icon casajacaranda.it. This ultramodern B&B lies 2km east of town, but just 30m from the bus stop for the frequent service into the centre. It has designer decor, boldly coloured rooms equipped with LCD TV, a/c, wi-fi and scented towels, and a gazebo in the semi-tropical garden where breakfast is served. Good deals for longer stays. No credit cards. €100

author_pick Conte Luna Vicolo Gino 1 tel_icon 0925 993 396 or 348 120 3647, web_icon contelunasciacca.com. Excellent value for money, this is a welcoming B&B in an old palazzo in the heart of the upper town (off Via Licata), where two of the seven en-suite rooms have cooking facilities, and all have fridges and a/c. The top room is best, with a large balcony and panoramic views. There’s also a spacious lounge and a terrace, and in summer, a minibus service is available to carry guests to nearby beaches. Breakfast is at a nearby café. No credit cards. €60

Grand Hotel delle Terme Via Agatocle tel_icon 0925 23 133, web_icon grandhoteldelleterme.com. This spa hotel offers a wide range of beauty treatments and massages as well as more serious physical therapies and cures in its spa building and in the wonderful steamy caves at San Calogero. There’s a garden with an area for kids, too, as well as restaurants and bars where you can hone your Italian medical vocabulary by eavesdropping on fellow residents chatting about their ailments and treatments. All in all, a thoroughly Italian experience. Half board obligatory. Doubles, per person €85

author_pick Locanda al Moro Via Liguori 44 tel_icon 0925 86 756, web_icon almoro.com. Set in a thirteenth-century Moorish tower in the heart of town, this is an excellent B&B, modern and clean, and run by a Sicilian-German couple. The only downsides are the difficulty in finding it by car (ask directions and don’t attempt to negotiate the surrounding narrow lanes) and the stairs. Rooms – some small – have a/c, and there’s free internet. Local wine tours can be organized. €100

EATING AND DRINKING

La Lampara Lungomare C. Colombo tel_icon 0925 85 085. Slightly pricier than some other places at Sciacca’s port, and better quality, with a fancy upstairs dining area where you can enjoy your meal overlooking the boats. First courses such as pasta con sarde and risotto ai frutti di mare go from €10, as do fish mains (though can naturally rise far higher for prized fish), and there’s a good wine list. Daily lunch & dinner; closed Mon in winter.

author_pick Porto San Paolo Largo San Paolo 1 tel_icon 0925 27 982. Come here for the fine views over the harbour from the terrace, and delicious dishes such as seafood risotto and lobster fettuccine, as well as pizza in the evening. You’ll pay around €40 for a full meal excluding drinks. Arrive early for the best tables, and in any case book ahead in summer. Daily lunch & dinner; closed Wed Sept–July.

La Vela Via Gaie de Garaffe 60 tel_icon 0925 23 971. This quayside eatery serves a €25 set menu, which includes two first and two second courses plus dessert, but not drinks – all very abundant and usually exquisite. Booking advisable. Daily lunch & dinner; closed Wed Sept–July.

Caltabellotta

Twenty kilometres northeast of Sciacca, and an impressive ride past sparkling fresh streams and jagged outcrops of rock, the village of CALTABELLOTTA perches magnificently on three jutting fangs of rock 950m above sea level. Tremendous views stretch out on all sides, apparently taking in 21 villages. On the highest pinnacle, you can pass through the solitary surviving entrance of the Norman castello (always open; free) that once stood here, and climb up steep, rock-cut steps to the very top, from which the village below appears as a patchwork of grey roofs. The castle itself, ruined by an earthquake, was where the Angevins and Aragonese signed the peace treaty that ended the Wars of the Vespers in 1302. Immediately below sit the Norman Chiesa Madre and the Gothic Chiesa di San Salvatore, both wonderfully sited against a rocky backdrop.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: CALTABELLOTTA

By bus Lumia buses run direct to Caltabellotta from Sciacca four times daily (not Sun), the last one back leaving at 3.40pm.

ACCOMMODATION

Mulè Via Venezia 5 tel_icon 0925 951 145 or 329 377 6740, web_icon bbmule.it. The perfect B&B for anyone interested in staying right off the beaten track. It’s set in a typical village dwelling, close to the entrance to the castle, and the plain rooms share a bathroom. You can also taste and buy local oil and other rural products, and view changing collections of local arts and crafts. No credit cards. €50

Sambuca di Sicilia

The Arab past of SAMBUCA DI SICILIA, around forty minutes’ drive northwest of Sciacca, atop a hill to the west of the Arancio lake, is just about discernible in its convoluted old-town layout. A sixteenth-century church in Piazza della Vittoria, the Chiesa del Carmine, is the home of a statue that’s reputed to be by Antonello Gagini, and you can eat at two or three very cheap trattorias. In addition, a 10km detour north enables you to see the low-key excavations (always open; free) at Monte Adranone, a Greek city of the sixth century BC which fell to Carthage in the fourth.

< Back to Agrigento and the southwest

The Pelagie Islands

The remote Pelagie Islands (Isole Pelagie) are little more than dry rocks set bang in the middle of the Mediterranean, over 200km from Sicily’s south coast and lying even further south than Malta or Tunis. Throughout history they’ve been neglected, often abandoned or uninhabited, although the largest island, Lampedusa, now makes its living as a summer resort for an increasing number of Italians, who are attracted by its wonderfully clear waters and remote, end-of-the-line feel. Tiny, tranquil, volcanic Linosa is the perfect place most of the year for anyone wanting a few hours, days or weeks away from it all. B&Bs and restaurants are all seasonal, but there are always houses to rent for a song. The tiniest islet, Lampione, is uninhabited and mostly visited on dive and fishing trips.

In 1943 the Allies bombed Lampedusa prior to springing into Sicily, and Colonel Gaddafi of Libya nearly gave a repeat performance in 1987 when he retaliated against the American bombing of Tripoli by targeting missiles at the US base on Lampedusa. Italian troops were mobilized and Sicily was on a virtual war-footing for three days, though in the event the missiles dropped into the sea short of the island. In recent years, the island has been the site of detention centres for enormous numbers of immigrants from Africa, either dumped here by unscrupulous people-traffickers, or intercepted at sea by naval vessels. Often they stay for months on end – kept firmly out of sight of tourists – until the legal processes for their inevitable repatriation are completed.

GETTING TO THE PELAGIE ISLANDS

The quickest way to Lampedusa is to fly from Palermo or Catania with Darwin Airline ( web_icon darwinairline.it). Tickets cost from €60 one-way, and are cheapest booked online. Otherwise, there are ferries and hydrofoils from Porto Empedocle (6km southwest of Agrigento and connected to it by frequent buses). Siremar ( siremar.it) ferries leave Porto Empedocle year-round at midnight daily except Friday, calling at Linosa (5hr 45min) and Lampedusa (8hr 15min). You can buy tickets online or at the port, with one-way tickets starting at around €40 to Linosa, or €50 to Lampedusa, including use of a poltrona (reclining chair); shared and exclusive-use cabins are also available. Ustica Lines ( web_icon usticalines.it) operates hydrofoils six times a week (not Tues) from May to October, departing Porto Empedocle at 3pm and arriving in Linosa three hours later and Lampedusa about four hours later; one-way tickets are around €40 to Linosa, €60 to Lampedusa.

Lampedusa

LAMPEDUSA is the largest of the Pelagie Islands (23 square kilometres), and is inhabited by around 5000 people, most based in the town of the same name. Many still earn a living from fishing, but most depend on the influx of tourists who swell the population to around 20,000 every August. This is a comparatively recent phenomenon, since Lampedusa has either been largely uninhabited or long-neglected by Sicily’s rulers. In 1667 it passed into the hands of the Tomasi family (as in Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, of The Leopard fame), one of whose descendants attempted to sell the island to Queen Victoria in 1839, when it still had only twenty or so inhabitants. The queen lost out on the sale (at a cost of twelve million ducats) to Ferdinand II, the Neapolitan king, who was finally stirred into action at the prospect of losing such a scraggy but strategically important island.

Lampedusa is long, thin, flat and very dry, though the pristine waters offer some of the best swimming, snorkelling and diving in the Mediterranean. There are excellent beaches, almost all found on the south coast, and some fantastic swimming coves and grottoes. Dolphins are often seen, there’s a sperm whale migration in March, and an offshore nature reserve where turtles come to lay their eggs. Bear in mind that it’s a small, exposed island, so summer evenings are cooler than on the mainland. It’s also not really somewhere you’d want to holiday in winter, when the wind whips across the barren landscape.

LAMPEDUSA’S FAUNA AND FLORA

When Lampedusa became a Bourbon colony in the 1840s, one of the first actions of the new settlers was to strip the land of its indigenous Mediterranean maquis, in order, it was thought, to render the island cultivable. The result was one of Europe’s most extreme examples of deforestation, resulting in massive soil erosion that accounts for the arid state of the land today. However, a progamme of conservation and reforestation is gradually having some effect and, while Lampedusa still appears devoid of greenery at first glance, a closer look reveals a wide range of plant life. Date palms are dotted along otherwise barren stretches, and, at Cala Galera in particular, look out for the Phoenician juniper, carob and wild olive trees, all survivors of the original maquis. Rare plants include the Caralluma europaea, a cactus-like plant with star-shaped flowers, and the Centaurea acaulis, from the centaury family, while during spring the flowering squills, irises, crocuses, orchids, echinops and thyme make up a vibrant display. Meanwhile, the nature reserve of Isola dei Conigli is the only habitat in Italy of the Psammodromus algirus lizard – a common species in North Africa – and Lampedusa and Linosa are among the few surviving nesting places in Italy of the turtle Caretta caretta. During summer evenings, the turtles deposit between 100 and 150 eggs in deep holes, from which the babies stagger out after sixty days. The nests are individually fenced off, but that doesn’t help protect them from peregrine falcons. Injured turtles are cared for at the World Wildlife Fund’s Centro Recupero Tartarughe Marine on the island’s east coast at Cala Creta, before being released back into the sea.

Lampedusa Town

Its location – set back from two curving harbours – is the best thing about LAMPEDUSA TOWN, as otherwise it is nothing special to look at. Low concrete buildings hug a dusty grid of streets between airport and harbours, though things improve along the wide, main Via Roma, which is largely closed to traffic and lined from top to bottom with gift shops, pavement cafés and restaurants. On summer evenings, as the temperature drops, out come the wicker café chairs, souvenir stalls, jewellery hawkers and fruit-and-veg stands, and a real street-market atmosphere develops. Indeed, there are far more people on the street at 11pm than 11am. You can buy the usual beach gear, postcards and T-shirts, but there’s also a thriving trade in souvenirs like turtle carvings, sculpted beach rocks and hand-crocheted Arab caps. Enterprising local kids sell polished shells from the beach, while island produce – sun-dried tomatoes, mountain capers, wild oregano and fennel seeds, hand-made cheese – is widely available from stalls and grocery stores.

A twenty-minute walk around the large Porto Nuovo harbour leads to the busy main beach, Spiaggia della Guitgia, backed by bars, hotels and restaurants. There’s a stretch of fine sand, and good swimming in gently shelving water, though it’s always packed here in summer; for a change of view try the next bay west, Cala La Croce. The other place you can explore from town is the smaller harbour, Porto Vecchio, where the ferries and hydrofoils dock, which also has a few bars and restaurants, and fishing boats coming and going during the day.

FROM TOP LINOSA HOUSE; LAMPEDUSA COASTLINE; TEMPIO DELLA CONCORDIA

Isola dei Conigli and the south coast

Hourly buses for Isola dei Conigli depart from Lampedusa town bus station, off Via Roma

The best single beach destination on the island is at Isola dei Conigli (Rabbit Island), 5km to the west of Lampedusa town. From the cliff-top road you clamber down the jagged path to a stretch of fine, white sand and gorgeous aquamarine waters. Just offshore is the little island itself, which you can reach either on foot or by swimming, depending on the tide. Conigli island, and much of the rest of Lampedusa’s southern coast, is protected as a nature reserve and there are various access places along the cliff-top road to viewpoints and short signposted footpaths. With a bike or scooter you can find more windswept vantage points and hidden bays if you continue along the road past Isola dei Conigli, or you can turn inland opposite the Conigli parking area and loop back towards town high above the north coast. However, you can only swim on the north side of the island from a boat – it’s mostly sheer cliffs, tiered like a wedding cake, and pierced by deep gorges and grottoes.

Cala Creta

Buses for Cala Creta depart from Lampedusa town bus station, off Via Roma; ask to get off at Cala Creta, and follow the signpost down a dusty track

Some 3km to the east of Lampedusa town, Cala Creta is a magnificent swimming cove, where steps lead from a tiny rock apron directly into stunning waters. It gets busy in summer, but it’s a pretty spot with a sophisticated beach bar on the rocks – Cala Creta is a cut above the other island beaches, overlooked by pristine dammusi houses and a holiday village.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: LAMPEDUSA

By plane Lampedusa’s airport ( tel_icon 0922 970 006) is on the edge of town, a 10min walk to Via Roma and the centre – most hotels have courtesy buses for guests. Taxis charge €10; Salvatore ( 333 345 6062) is a recommended driver.

Destinations Catania (1 daily, 1hr); Palermo (2–4 daily; 1hr).

By ferry and hydrofoil Ferries and hydrofoils dock at Porto Vecchio; a bus meets arrivals in summer, or you can jump in a taxi. The Siremar ferry ( web_icon siremar.it) to Linosa/Porto Empedocle departs daily (not Sat) at 10.15am, with one-way tickets from around €50. The Ustica Lines hydrofoil ( usticalines.it) departs May–Oct daily except Tues at 7.30am (one-way tickets around €60). There’s also an extra morning and afternoon hydrofoil to Linosa (6 weekly between April and Oct, and at least 4 weekly throughout the year; one-way ticket around €20). Full timetables available on the websites.

Ferry Destinations Linosa (6 weekly; 1hr 45min); Porto Empedocle (6 weekly; 7hr 45min).

Hydrifoil destinations Linosa (2–3 daily, 4 to 6 days a week; 1hr); Porto Empedocle (May–Oct 6 weekly; 4hr 15min).

GETTING AROUND

By bus The bus station is on Piazza Brignone in the centre of the town, off Via Roma. Timetables are posted, but basically there are buses every hour (roughly 8am–8pm) to Isola dei Conigli and the south coast, and to Cala Creta and the east coast.

By bike, scooter or quad It’s much easier to see the whole island by renting some form of transport, either a bike (from €7 a day), scooter or quad (from €25) or a mini-moke (€40), with all prices cheaper by the week or outside July and Aug. There are lots of rental agencies around town and harbour, or ask at your accommodation. Bike rental in particular is a great idea – you can easily do a complete circuit of the island in a day, and even in the hottest months a refreshing breeze blows constantly. You can also rent your own self-drive motorboat from various harbour agencies, for around €80 per day plus fuel.

INFORMATION AND TOURS

Tourist information There’s online information (in Italian) at web_icon lampedusa35.com and lampedusa.it, while on the island you can call in at the environmental agency, Legambiente, Via Vittorio Emanuele 25 (highly erratic hours, and usually closed in winter; tel_icon 0922 971 611). Some English is spoken here, and you can pick up an island sketch map and information about the nature reserve and hiking trails.

Tours Boat trips and cruises (from €35 per person) mostly depart from the Porto Nuovo, particularly the part of the harbour by the petrol station. Departures are usually around 10.30am, returning at 5.30pm, and options include round-island cruises with swimming stops and lunch included (from €30 per person), or more specialist tours like dive trips to Lampione or night-fishing for squid.

Diving centres The larger hotels can all book you onto dive trips, or contact one of the operators direct; try Blue Dolphins ( tel_icon 338 819 4489, web_icon bluedolphins.it), Lo Verde Diving ( 329 178 6723, loverdelampedusa.it), or Moby Diving Center ( 335 528 1984, mobydiving.it). Single dives are from €35, open-water dive courses from €330, and most places are open April–Nov.

ACCOMMODATION

The season on Lampedusa runs from Easter to the end of October, and you’ll generally have no problem finding a room; however in August, advance booking is essential and half or full board is often obligatory. There are several hotels in the town itself, another half a dozen within a stone’s throw of the port and Spiaggia della Guitgia beach, and others just outside town and near Cala Creta. Self-catering accommodation (usually by the week) is available either in apartments or in one of Lampedusa’s stone-built dammusi – updated versions of the traditional dome-roofed, thick-walled shepherd’s hut, typical of Sicily and North Africa. Dammusi are found all over the island, some in village-style developments, and prices vary wildly (some are very boutiquey in style) – there’s more information from agencies like Servizi Mikael ( web_icon servizimikael.com), Licciardi ( lampedusa-licciardi.it) and Dammusi di Borgo Cala Creta ( calacreta.com).

Baia Turchese Via Lido Azzurro tel_icon 0922 970 455, web_icon lampedusa.to. This cheery four-star seaside hotel has the best location at Spiaggia della Guitgia beach, a skip across from the sands, which explains the high prices. Rooms are always on a half-board basis, with an extra charge if you want a terrace and sea view. €205

author_pick Belvedere Piazza Marconi 4 tel_icon 0922 970 188, web_icon hotelbelvederelampedusa.it. In town, rather than by the beach, this is a friendly, family-run place overlooking the harbour (rooms with a view cost extra), with a good panoramic dining room and terrace restaurant to boot. It’s pretty good value for most of the year. Closed Nov–Feb. €150

Cupola Bianca Via Madonna tel_icon 0922 971 274, web_icon hotelcupolabianca.it. A luxury outfit 2km out of town, with a North African feel and plush rooms as well as upmarket dammusi-style accommodation. There’s a fabulous pool and terrace, plus a restaurant and all sorts of boat trips and excursions available. At least half board is required. Closed Nov–April. Half-board doubles €400

Nautic Via delle Grotte tel_icon 0922 971 531, web_icon lampedusanautichotel.it. This chic little four-star hotel off Via Roma is the classiest town-centre choice, with only a dozen rooms and a light, stylish touch throughout. There’s a decent restaurant too, with a corner terrace. €200

Paladini di Francia Via Alessandro Volta tel_icon 0922 970 550, web_icon hotelpaladinidifrancia.com. Contemporary three-star resort hotel and restaurant on the harbour, close to the beach, with rooms set around bright, white courtyards, the four at the front with port-side balconies. There are flight-and-accommodation packages from Milan Linate, Bologna and Bergamo available by the week. Closed Nov–Feb. €160

Vega Via Roma 19 tel_icon 0922 970 099, web_icon lampedusa-hotelvega.it. There’s nothing wrong with the cheapest hotel in town – in fact, it’s quite cheery, with perfectly decent en-suite rooms – but it just doesn’t have much of an island or seaside feel. That said, B&B rates are always available, some rooms have distant port views, and it’s in the middle of town so ideally located for bars, restaurants and services. €120

EATING AND DRINKING

There are lots of restaurants in Lampedusa town, and more around the harbours, and while prices are much higher than on most of the Sicilian mainland, the quality is largely excellent. In fact, you’re unlikely to have a bad meal, given the abundance of fresh-off-the-boat fish and the exacting standards of Italian holidaymakers. Specialities available everywhere include fish couscous, grilled tuna and swordfish (often simply served with a garlic, olive oil, lemon and parsley salsa), and whole sea bream or bass baked with potatoes. At night, the whole of Via Roma is basically one long open-air café, with hundreds of chairs and tables spread out down the traffic-free road. Some places are more bar than café, with DJs and music, and it’s a pretty lively scene until well into the small hours. Most cafés and restaurants close from mid-October to mid-May, but you’ll find something open whenever you come.

Il Balenottero Via Sbarcatoio 40 tel_icon 0922 970 830. A family-run place near the old port that’s nice and cool inside but also has an outdoor terrace. It’s a standard seafood-pasta and grilled fish place, with squid, shrimp, clams, mussels, tuna, swordfish and bream on the menu, and most dishes under €15. Daily lunch & dinner; closed Dec–Feb.

Bar del Amicizia Via Vittorio Emanuele 34 (no phone). Not exactly a secret, but you have to know it’s here to come this far down the street. Inside is a huge array of stuffed pastries, simply amazing ice cream and a dozen flavours of granita (from strawberry to watermelon), plus a large terrace that overlooks Lampedusa’s back gardens to the sea beyond. Daily lunch & dinner; closed Nov–Easter.

author_pick U’ Calacciuni Spiaggia della Guitgia tel_icon 339 435 0300. Summer-season beach-shack trattoria that’s great for whiling away the hours over typical lampedusani dishes. There’s no menu but you’ll be offered pasta (say with clams and mussels, or con le sarde, with sardines and wild fennel), followed by the day’s catch, like a slab of grilled tuna with a breadcrumb and pistachio crust. Dishes cost between €10 and €20. Daily lunch & dinner; closed Nov–April.

La Cambusa Piazza Municipio tel_icon 0922 970 826. Down an alley just off Via Vittorio Emanuele, this cavernous underground restaurant serves the best pizzas (€5–8) in town, straight from the wood-fired oven. It’s also a great place for fish (dishes €9–16); try the pasta with scampi, tomato, garlic and parsley. Daily dinner only; closed Nov–Easter.

author_pick Al Gallo d’Oro Via Vittorio Emanuele 45 tel_icon 0922 970 249. A cheerful trattoria, with seats inside and out, serving a fish and seafood menu that’s a cut above most in town. Typical dishes are pasta tossed with fresh tuna, cherry tomatoes and parsley, followed by oven-roast bass with potatoes. Expect to pay €30 a head for a full meal à la carte, or go for the €25 tourist menu. Daily dinner only; closed Oct–May.

author_pick Gemelli Via Cala Pisana 2 tel_icon 0922 970 699. Near the airport, and worth the short walk for a menu full of Tunisian flavour – from appetizers like brik (stuffed savoury pastries) and merguez sausage to couscous. It’s also excellent for fish, and well worth the higher-than-normal prices (expect to pay around €50 a head for a full meal). Reservations essential in Aug. Daily dinner only.

Trattoria del Porto Via Madonna 20 tel_icon 0922 970 516. Best place on the main harbour, with a breezy upper terrace that affords a bird’s-eye view of the port. There’s a summer salad menu for lunch, as well as a choice of classic fish and seafood dishes, from spaghetti with clams to marinated tuna with wild fennel (primi €7–12, secondi €15–20). Daily lunch & dinner; closed mid-Oct to May.

ARRIVAL AND INFORMATION: LINOSA

By ferry and hydrofoil Linosa is only an hour from Lampedusa by Ustica Lines hydrofoil. There are two or three departures a day, the first at 7.30am or 8am, leaving six days a week (not Mon or Tues, depending on the service) from April to October and four days a week (not Tues, Thurs or Sun) from November to March; one-way tickets are around €20. The Siremar ferry is cheaper (around €15), leaving Lampedusa daily (not Sat) at 10.15am, arriving at noon. The hydrofoil from Linosa to Porto Empedocle leaves daily except Tues at 8.45am (May–Oct only), and the ferry (not Sat) leaves at 12.15pm.

Ferry Destinations Lampedusa (6 weekly; 1hr 45min); Porto Empedocle (6 weekly; 5hr 45min).

Hydrofoil Destinations Lampedusa (2–3 daily, 4 to 6 days a week; 1hr); Porto Empedocle (May–Oct 6 weekly; 3hr).

Diving Operators such as Linosa Blu Diving ( tel_icon 333 965 4595, web_icon linosabludiving.it) and Terra Ferma ( 347 343 5027, terrafermadiving.it) offer all sorts of dive trips, courses and excursions.

ACCOMMODATION AND EATING

You might find B&B rooms offered on arrival in the summer, and restaurants and several locals let out apartments. The local website web_icon linosa.biz has a few lovely little houses to rent. There are half a dozen trattorias and bars all closed except between June and September – only Bar Dammuso stays open all year.

Bar Dammuso Via V Alfieri 5 tel_icon 0922 97 2195. The heart and soul of Linosa, this friendly bar is where locals gather all year round, happily joined by tourists in the summer. They have cornetti in the morning, and snacks such as cheese and ham or bruschetta to accompany drinks. Daily 8am–late.

Residence La Posta Vicolo Pisa 3 tel_icon 320 601 0556 or 339 741 0705, web_icon linosaresidencelaposta.it. Linosa’s only conventional hotel, with smartly furnished, air-conditioned rooms in the heart of the village. Closed Nov–May. €160

< Back to Agrigento and the southwest

Agrigento and the southwest

Highlights

GETTING AROUND: AGRIGENTO AND THE SOUTHWEST

Agrigento and the Valle dei Templi

Agrigento

Via Atenea and Rabato

Santo Spirito

SAN PIETRO AND THE BELLS

Museo Civico

Santa Maria dei Greci

The Valle dei Templi

VISITING THE VALLE DEI TEMPLI

Brief history

The eastern zone

Tempio della Concordia

Tempio di Ercole

Tempio di Esculapio

The western zone

Tempio dei Dioscuri

Giardino della Kolymbetra

Museo Regionale Archeologico

Rooms 1–6

Rooms 10–15

San Nicola and the Hellenistic-Roman quarter

San Biagio and the Santuario di Demetra

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: AGRIGENTO AND THE VALLE DEI TEMPLI

GETTING AROUND

INFORMATION

ACCOMMODATION

EATING AND DRINKING

DIRECTORY

Around Agrigento

Caos

Casa Natale di Luigi Pirandello

Porto Empedocle

THE MONTALBANO PHENOMENON

MONTALBANO LOCATIONS

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: PORTO EMPEDOCLE

EATING AND DRINKING

Scala dei Turchi

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: SCALA DEI TURCHI

ACCOMMODATION AND EATING

Torre Salsa

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: TORRE SALSA

ACCOMMODATION

Palma di Montechiaro

Naro

Licata

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: LICATA

ACCOMMODATION AND EATING

North of Agrigento

Sant’Angelo Muxaro

THE ALBERGO DIFFUSO EXPERIENCE

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: SANT’ANGELO MUXARO

Eraclea Minoa

The site

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: ERACLEA MINOA

ACCOMMODATION

Sciacca

The upper town

The port

ARRIVAL AND INFORMATION: SCIACCA

ACCOMMODATION

EATING AND DRINKING

Caltabellotta

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: CALTABELLOTTA

ACCOMMODATION

Sambuca di Sicilia

The Pelagie Islands

GETTING TO THE PELAGIE ISLANDS

Lampedusa

LAMPEDUSA’S FAUNA AND FLORA

Lampedusa Town

Isola dei Conigli and the south coast

Cala Creta

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: LAMPEDUSA

GETTING AROUND

INFORMATION AND TOURS

ACCOMMODATION

EATING AND DRINKING