20 Attractions to Explore Near Valley of the Temples

The temple of Concordia is a Greek temple of the ancient city of Akragas located in the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento. It is still not known who this temple was dedicated to, but the name of "Temple of Concord" is documented by one of the first Sicilian historians: Tommaso Fazello. This temple is of the peripteral type with a double cell in antis. Together with the Parthenon, it is considered the best-preserved Doric temple in the world.

The Scala Dei Turchi is a rocky wall that rises above the sea along the coast of Realmonte, in the province of Agrigento. Over time it has become a tourist attraction both for the singularity of the cliff, white in color and with peculiar shapes and as a result of the popularity acquired by the novels starring Inspector Montalbano written by the empedoclinic writer Andrea Camilleri, being the imaginary municipality of Vigata da frame with Porto Empedocle.

The Torre Salsa oriented nature reserve is a protected natural area located in the municipality of Siculiana , in the province of Agrigento . The reserve was established in 2000 by the Sicily Region and entrusted to WWF Italy for management. The territory of the reserve extends for 761.62 ha in the province of Agrigento in the municipality of Siculiana . Its coastline extends along the coast for about 6 kilometers, from Siculiana to Eraclea Minoa , where more or less steep cliffs alternate with

The Villa Romana del Casale is a Roman villa Urbana built in the first quarter of the 4th century and located about 3 km outside the town of Piazza Armerina, Sicily, southern Italy. It contains the richest, largest, and most complex collection of Roman mosaics in the world, and has been designated as one of 49 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Italy.

The castle of Lombardy, a symbolic building of the city of Enna, is an imposing fortress that stands on the highest point of the city. With its 26,000 m² of surface, it is one of the largest medieval castles in Italy, together with the castle of Brescia and the castle of Lucera. The castle of Lombardy is the architectural symbol of the city even before the tower of Federico II, its most important monument and one of the most visited in the Sicilian hinterland.

The Madonie Park is a protected natural area established in 1981. It includes the massif of the Madonie, situated on the northern coast of Sicily, between the rivers Imera and Pollina. The park is home to over half of Sicilian plant species, and in particular most of those present only in Sicily. The site was included in the network of Global Geoparks of ' Unesco the 17 November 2015, during the 38th Plenary Session of the General Conference held in Paris.

The cathedral of Santa Maria Nuova is the main place of Catholic worship in Monreale, in the metropolitan city of Palermo, the archbishopric of the archdiocese of the same name. Built starting from 1174 at the behest of William II of Altavilla, king of Sicily from 1166 to 1189, it is famous for the rich Byzantine mosaics that decorate the interior. In August 1926, Pope Pius XI elevated it to the dignity of a minor basilica.

The Mandralisca Museum is the only museum in the city of Cefalù. The foundation is due to Baron Enrico Pirajno di Mandralisca, who collected, in his short life, numerous art objects and placed them in his home, where they are still found today. The museum and foundation archives are also kept on the premises, on the basis of which it is possible to reconstruct its history in detail.

Cefalù's cathedral is one of the jewels in Sicily's Arab-Norman crown, only equalled in magnificence by the Cattedrale di Monreale and Palermo's Cappella Palatina. Filling the central apse, a towering figure of Cristo Pantocratore (Christ All Powerful) is the focal point of the elaborate Byzantine mosaics – Sicily's oldest and best preserved, predating those of Monreale by 20 or 30 years.

The church of San Giovanni Degli Eremiti is a national monument located in the historic center of Palermo, near the Norman Palace. The church is built according to the canons of Sicilian-Norman architecture; it is a Romanesque church and externally resembles oriental buildings. This reference to the East is even more emphasized by the bright red domes, restored in the nineteenth century by the architect Giuseppe Patricolo, according to an interpretation of the original color based on ancient tr

The Palatine Chapel is the royal chapel of the Norman palace in Palermo, Sicily. This building is a mixture of Byzantine, Norman, and Fatimid architectural styles, showing the tricultural state of Sicily during the 12th century after Roger II's father and uncle conquered the island. Also referred to as a Palace church or Palace chapel, it was commissioned by Roger II of Sicily in 1132 to be built upon an older chapel constructed around 1080.

The Norman Palace, also known as the Royal Palace, is located in Palermo and is currently the seat of the Sicilian Regional Assembly. The palace is the oldest royal residence in Europe, home to the kings of the Kingdom of Sicily, the imperial seat with Frederick II and Conrad IV and the historic Sicilian Parliament. On the first floor of the building stands the Palatine Chapel. The west wing is assigned to the Italian Army. It is one of the most visited monuments on the island.

Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio is a sacred site in the center of Palermo. The church was commissioned in 1143 by George of Antioch, the admiral of Norman King of Sicily, Roger II. The church is characterized by the multiplicity of styles that meet, because, with the succession of centuries, it was enriched by various other tastes in art, architecture, and culture. Today, it is, in fact, as a church-historical monument, the result of multiple transformations, also subject to protection.

The cathedral of San Cataldo is a church of Taranto, precisely the oldest cathedral in Puglia , initially dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene then to St. Cataldo bishop. The proposal to recognize in the succorpo the remains of the early Christian church dedicated to Santa Maria dates back to the Fago, whose existence in the seventh century was confirmed by a letter from Pope Gregory. It was built by the Byzantines in the second half of the 10th century, during the reconstruction of the city commiss

Palazzo Abatellis is an ancient noble palace located in Palermo via Alloro, the main artery of the Kalsa district. It has been the seat of the Regional Gallery of Sicily since 1954. It was an example of Gothic-Catalan architecture, which was designed in the 15th century by Matteo Carnelivari, at the time working in Palermo at the palazzo Aiutamicristo. It was the residence of Francesco Abatellis, port master of the Kingdom of Sicily.

The Primatial Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Virgin Mary of the Assumption , known simply as the Cathedral Church of Palermo , is the main place of Catholic worship in the city of Palermo and the archbishopric of the homonymous metropolitan archdiocese. A feast of geometric patterns, ziggurat crenellations, maiolica cupolas and blind arches, Palermo's cathedral has suffered aesthetically from multiple reworkings over the centuries, but remains a prime example of Sicily's unique Ara

The Pretoria fountain was built in 1554 by Francesco Camilliani in Florence, but in 1581 it was moved to Piazza Pretoria in Palermo. Initially placed in the garden of the Florentine palace of the brother of the Grand Duchess Eleonora of Toledo, thanks to the intervention of her brother Don Garçia, the first viceroy of Sicily and governor of Palermo, it was put up for sale for the Senate of Palermo. Purchased from the rich city of Palermo, then dismantled and shipped, twenty years later, to Paler

Piazza Pretoria, also known as Piazza Della Vergogna, is located on the edge of the Kalsa district, near the corner of Cassaro with Via Maqueda, a few meters from the Quattro Canti, the exact center of the historic city of Palermo. At the center of the square is the Pretoria Fountain, the work of Francesco Camilliani built-in 1554, which, occupying a large part of its extension, strongly characterizes the Piano Pretorio. It was one of the iconic places in this area and it attracts a lot of tou

Quattro Canti is the name of an octagonal square at the intersection of the two main roads in Palermo: Via Maqueda and Cassaro, today Via Vittorio Emanuele, about half of their length. The piazza is octagonal, four sides being the streets; the remaining four sides are Baroque buildings, the near-identical facades of which contain fountains with statues of the four seasons, the four Spanish kings of Sicily, and of the patronesses of Palermo.

The Catacombe dei Cappuccini is a complex of tunnels and shrines in Palermo, Sicily that is decorated entirely with mummified corpses. Today they provide a somewhat macabre tourist attraction as well as an extraordinary historical record. The catacombs contain about 8000 corpses and 1252 mummies that line the walls. It will be a unique experience visiting this place.