Italy Guide
Sicily
Valle dei Templi
Opening time: daily 8.30am–5pm in winter, 8.30am–7pm in summer, usually also 8pm– midnight in July and August
Telephone: 0922.621.611
Price: €8
A road winds down from the modern city to the Valle dei Templi, with buses stopping at a car park between the two separate sections of archeological remains (the eastern and western zones). Guided tours are sometimes offered in English – ask at the information kiosk in the car park for details.
The highlights are the glorious Tempio della Concordia, in the eastern zone, dated to around 430 BC and perfectly preserved, and the mammoth Tempio di Giove, or Temple of Olympian Zeus in the western zone The latter is the largest Doric temple ever known, it was never completed, left in ruins by the Carthaginians and further damaged by earthquakes. Still, the stereobate remains, while on the ground, face to the sky, lies an eight-metre-high telamone: a supporting column sculpted as a male figure, arms raised and bent to bear the temple's weight.