Agrigento is seen on three levels. At the top, on the hill that until 1927 gave the town the name of Girgenti, is the medieval town: the Norman cathedral at the summit, via Atenea halfway up the slope, and between the two a tangle of climbs and stairways. Below, on the ridge that looks at the sea, is Akragas, the Greek city that Pindar called the most beautiful of those of mortals, with its temples in a row along the Via Sacra. And at the far end, where the river flowed into the sea and the Greeks kept their port, is San Leone, the seaside district, with its seafront and its campsites. For those arriving by motorhome the order is the reverse: you sleep by the sea, you leave the vehicle at Porta V for the temples, and you go up into town by bus. Around it, two things worth the detour: the country house where Luigi Pirandello was born, and the Scala dei Turchi, the white marl cliff that is now visited by booking.
Sleeping
Stops and overnight stays
There is no municipal area in the comune, and in town the motorhome has nowhere to stay: for the night the stopovers are all on the coast, at San Leone, and for the temples there is the Porta V car park.
Camping Valle dei Templi
Viale Emporium 94, 92100 San Leone, Agrigento
it is the closest to the temples, three kilometres and six minutes from the Porta V car park, and among its services it has the bus to the Valley and to the centre, which is what you need to go up into town without moving the motorhome; the Temple Tour Bus has a stop with its name. For four adults with electricity the price list comes to about forty euros, the hot shower takes a 1 euro token. The motorhome area admits arrivals from 9:00 to 22:00, and in low season you leave by midday
In the 2026 low season price list, from 26 September to 31 December, 11 euros for the motorhome, 6 euros per person, 4 euros for children between 4 and 10, free up to 3, 5 euros for electricity; those not staying pay 7 euros to fill up with water and 5 to empty · 0922 411115 · campingvalledeitempli.com
the beach of San Leone is outside the gate, and the campsite states in black and white that it is open all year, in November and January too. It costs a couple of euros less than the other one but is five kilometres further from the temples. The bus stop for the Valley and the centre is a hundred metres away; dogs stay free. Arrivals are between 8:00 and 22:00, and from December to April the campsite kitchen is closed
In low season, from 1 October, 26 euros for two people with the motorhome and electricity, 6 euros for each extra person, 3.50 for children between 4 and 11, tourist tax of 1 euro from age 14; from October to March also 150 euros a week, 340 a month and 1,000 for three months, with electricity charged by consumption · 0922 416268 · campingagrigento.com
it is the car park of the Valley of the Temples on the lower side, next to the Porta V entrance and the line 1 stop, and it is the Valley car park where motorhomes are allowed. Daytime only: you cannot sleep here at night
The motorhome does not enter the centre and has nowhere to stop there: it stays by the sea, and you go up by bus.
TUA lines 2, 2/ and 3/ link San Leone, the Valley of the Temples and the centre, and reach Piazzale Rosselli and the station, both a short walk from the start of via Atenea. The 2/ is the one that stops at the Temple of Juno, and the 2 does not run on Sundays and holidays
Line 1 serves the centre, the archaeological museum, Porta V and Villaseta; only four runs a day reach Pirandello's house
A ticket is valid for ninety minutes and costs 1.20 euros, 1.70 if bought on board; the day ticket 3.40
The Temple Tour Bus, the open-top bus that goes round the town, the temples, Pirandello's house and the Scala dei Turchi, costs 5 euros a day; it does not run on Mondays, and the operator writes that it does not run in the coldest months either
Via Atenea is a limited traffic zone with the electronic gate at Porta di Ponte
The centre climbs: from the station to the cathedral it is all climbs and stairways, and they are done on foot
Seeing
Sights
The medieval town fits in one kilometre, from Piazzale Aldo Moro to the cathedral, and is done in a morning on foot. Pirandello's house and the Scala dei Turchi are outside, to the west, on the road along the sea. Tap a marker on the map to open its entry below.
1
Via Atenea
Walk · free entry · 37.31095, 13.58185
the main street of the old town, some eight hundred metres from Piazzale Aldo Moro, near the station, to Piazza Pirandello. It runs halfway up the slope, with the noble palaces in a row and the climbs branching off upwards. Halfway along, on the little piazza del Purgatorio, is the church of San Lorenzo with the Greek hypogeum next to it, one of the tunnels of the ancient aqueduct that run beneath the town.
it was built by San Gerlando, the first bishop after the Norman conquest, at the end of the eleventh century, on the summit of the hill; its present form comes from the Chiaramonte family, in the fourteenth century. The bell tower is from the fifteenth century, and inside is the wooden ceiling painted between 1511 and 1514, with the apostles, the saints of Agrigento and the coats of arms of the noble families. It was closed for eight years, from 2011 to 2019, because the north side of the hill was sliding and the wall had cracked.
Opening hours from 6 April to 1 November every day 10:00-19:00; out of season the operator gives Tuesday-Saturday 9:30-13:00 and 16:00-18:00, Sunday 9:30-13:00; last entry a quarter of an hour before closing, and visits stop during services · 5 euros with the towers and the sarcophagus room, 7 euros for the single ticket with the diocesan museum and Santa Maria dei Greci, which costs 5 between 18 and 25 years, free under 18 · 327 7549152 · oltrelavalle.com
a small church built inside a Greek temple. Under the floor you can see the foundations and the steps of a Doric temple from the time of Theron, perhaps dedicated to Athena, with thirteen columns on the long sides like the Concordia down in the Valley. It is called "dei Greci", of the Greeks, because in the Byzantine period it was the cathedral of the Greek rite, before San Gerlando. The building is from the twelfth and thirteenth century, with a Gothic portal and remains of fourteenth century frescoes.
Opening hours from 6 April to 1 November every day 10:00-19:00; out of season the operator gives Tuesday-Sunday 9:30-13:00 · 3 euros, or included in the cathedral's single ticket, free under 18
it was founded at the end of the thirteenth century by Marchisia Prefoglio, wife of a Chiaramonte, for the Cistercian nuns, and the people called it the Badia Grande. The church has stuccoes by Giacomo Serpotta. The nuns are still there, and they sell their sweets from a small window with an intercom: the sweet pistachio couscous, whose recipe is secret, the frutta martorana, the amaretti and the pistachio ricci. The selling hours are not published, and you find them out by ringing.
the square at the end of via Atenea, with the town hall and the bust of Pirandello. The theatre opened in 1880 as the municipal theatre, took the name Regina Margherita in January 1881, with the visit of the king and queen, and that of the writer in 1946, ten years after his death. The project begun by an architect named Sciascia, unrelated to the writer, was taken up from 1872 by Giovan Battista Filippo Basile, the same architect as the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, who designed the boxes and the decorations. You go inside when there is a performance.
a late eighteenth century country house, on the Caos plateau between the town and the sea, where Pirandello was born in 1867. He himself said he was a son of Chaos, and not as a figure of speech. Inside are the photographs, the first editions with dedications and the paintings; outside, under the pine, the "rough stone" where his ashes rest. It has been a national monument since 1949. It stands on the road to the Scala dei Turchi, a quarter of an hour from San Leone.
Opening hours every day 9:00-19:30, last entry half an hour before; the tomb until an hour before sunset · 6 euros, reduced 3 between 18 and 25 years, free under 18 · coopculture.it
a cliff of brilliant white marl carved into great steps, which turns pink at sunset. The name comes from the Saracen and Turkish pirates who used the sheltered cove for their landings. After years of seizures and lawsuits over its ownership it has become public property, and since May 2025 you climb onto the marl only by booking: you write to the Comune di Realmonte with the number of people, the day and the time, and the visit lasts twenty minutes, in soft-soled shoes. From the paid car parks along the provincial road you go down to the beach. Between autumn and winter the risk that it is closed because of the weather is real: check the sea that same morning.
Opening hours every day from 8:00, last entry at 19:40; closed with any weather alert, yellow included, and with rain, wind or rough sea · 6 euros per person, paid by card at the entrance · settore5.realmonte@gmail.com
the seaside district of Agrigento, with the marina, the pedestrian seafront and the beaches that continue eastwards as far as the Dune. The name comes from Pope Leo II, who was Sicilian, and at the mouth of the river stood the emporium, the commercial port of the Greek city. It is where you sleep, and where you stroll in the evening after the temples.
between late February and March, when the almond trees blossom
the town's festival: the parade of folk groups from all over the world and the torchlight procession of friendship up to the Temple of Concordia. In 2026 it reached its seventy-eighth edition, from 7 to 15 March
Feast of San Calogero
from the first to the second Sunday of July
the black saint carried in procession on the shoulders, with drums, and the bread that was once thrown from the balconies
Remember
Useful tips
The nuns' real recipe is secret: the one above is one of the versions that follow their tradition. For the original, ring at the small window of Santo Spirito
Sleep at San Leone and go to the temples the next morning, or arrive at midday and stay in the Valley until sunset, which from November to January falls at around five
The motorhome is left at Porta V, during the day: the Valley is done by going up by bus to the Temple of Juno and walking down
Go up into town by bus, and the day ticket pays off as soon as you take three rides
At Porto Empedocle, ten kilometres to the west, on via Roma stands the statue of Inspector Montalbano, and a little further on that of Camilleri
Between October and early November the pastry shops have frutta martorana, the sweet of the Day of the Dead
Agrigento · part two
and then?
What to do, what to taste, and where to go tomorrow.
Experiences from here
What we did starting from here, ordered by driving time.
Agrigento is a land of almond and pistachio trees: the pistachio of Raffadali, a few kilometres away, has been PDO since 2021. And it has a sweet that is not found anywhere else, because only the nuns make it.
Santa Maria dei Greci at the end of its courtyard, with its stone façade and Gothic portal, above the foundations of the Doric templePhoto: Mboesch, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0inside Santa Maria dei Greci, the remains of a fourteenth century fresco on the white wallPhoto: Vinicio62, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Agrigento on its hill seen from the Valley of the Temples, with the cathedral at the top and the bell tower of Sant'Alfonso next to itPhoto: José Luiz, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0a telamon from the Temple of Olympian Zeus lying among the ruins of the valley, and on the hill behind, today's townPhoto: Tiziana Mercurio, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the four columns of the Temple of the Dioscuri, re-erected in the nineteenth century, with the buildings of the modern town on the hillPhoto: Alun Salt, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0via Atenea where it begins, at Porta di Ponte, between palaces of pale stonePhoto: Effems, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0via Atenea in the morning, with the café tables and at the end the neo-Gothic façade of the Chamber of CommercePhoto: trolvag, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the Baroque façade of San Lorenzo, the church of the Purgatorio, above its flight of steps on via AteneaPhoto: Benjamin Smith, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0inside San Lorenzo, the white stucco virtues by the Serpottas along the nave, with the wooden pulpitPhoto: Davide Mauro, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the white dome and the stone side of the cathedral of San Gerlando, at the top of the hillPhoto: Vinicio62, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Gothic blind arches on the bell tower of San Gerlando, with the stone worn by timePhoto: Vinicio62, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the nave of San Gerlando seen from above, between the pointed arches, with the chequered floor and the choir at the endPhoto: Vinicio62, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the painted wooden ceiling of the cathedral, with its decorated beams and blue and gold coffersPhoto: Vinicio62, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the white and gold Baroque stuccoes of the cathedral of San Gerlando, with the organ pipes and the crucifixPhoto: Vinicio62, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the stone façade of the monastery of Santo Spirito, with its bell gable and Gothic portal, at the end of its courtyardPhoto: Effems, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the golden stone arches of the monastery of Santo Spirito, one inside the other as far as the courtyardPhoto: Max5783, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0piazza Pirandello with the church of San Domenico and, next to it, the former convent that houses the town hall and the entrance to the theatrePhoto: Effems, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the painted ceiling of the Teatro Pirandello, with the boxes in a circle and the chandelier in the middlePhoto: Giacomo Palermo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the country house where Pirandello was born, on the Caos plateau, seen among the pines of the gardenPhoto: Tommaso from Palermo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0the white marl of the Scala dei Turchi stepping down to the sea, in a photograph from 2010, when people walked freely on the stepsPhoto: Vegafi, Wikimedia Commons, pubblico dominiothe Scala dei Turchi seen from the sea, the white cliff above the blue waterPhoto: www.gironavigando.it, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0the Scala dei Turchi seen from the viewpoint at the top of the cliff, the white steps running down to the beachPhoto: Calogero1988, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the mouth of the San Leone river with the seagulls, and in the background, on the hill, AgrigentoPhoto: Marinaio56, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0a group in red and white costume parading through the streets of the centre during the Mandorlo in Fiore festivalPhoto: Giacomo Palermo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
