Naturalistic and Cultural Tour around the Valley of the Temples

The temple of Vulcan (in Greek Hephaestus) stands on the hill to the west of today's garden of Kolymbetra, which separates it from the southwestern end of the hill of the Temples and the sanctuary of the Chthonic deities. The traditional denomination of the temple of Vulcano - as often happens in Agrigento - is only conventional and is not supported by either archaeological or epigraphic evidence. Its name derives from the interpretation of a passage by Solino, a Latin writer of geography, which mentions the religious ceremonies that took place near a lake in Agrigento not far from the Vulcano hill (collis Vulcanius), perhaps so-called due to the presence of Sulfur.

The Garden of Kolymbethra is a rare archaeological and agricultural jewel, an extraordinary place that contains the colors, flavors and aromas of the land of Sicily and tells, with its finds and its hypogea, excavated 2500 years ago, the history of ancient Akragas .

Necropolis of the Greek age. The necropolis is probably the one mentioned by Diodorus Siculus (Diodorus Siculus Lib 13. 86, 1-4 during the attack by the Carthaginians (406 BC), where by order of Imilcone and Hannibal they were, to facilitate the attack on the city, sepulchral monuments demolished The necropolis has been systematically explored since 1980 by Prof. De Miro and the Superintendence of Agrigento.

Porta V was supposed to be one of the main entrances to the city and led directly to the great sanctuary of the Chthonic divinities. It was crossed by a roadway that joined the important east-west artery that connected to Porta II.