Bolsenatravel.com is your guide to Sicily

Bolsenatravel.com is your guide to Sicily this summer. Follow us to discover San Leone and the amazingtemples at Agrigento.

Bolsenatravel.com is your guide to Sicily

Bolsenatravel.com is your guide to San Leone and to the ancient temples in the City of the Temples – Agrigento.

We recommend you to stay in San Leone, a beautiful quiet little town near Agrigento. San Leone offers you the chance to relax and enjoy its beautiful beaches with fine sand and calm water.

In San Leone we recommend you to book your room at Villa Maiolica situated on a little quiet street downtown. Villa Maiolica is an oasis of relaxation and tranquility, with comfortable rooms with air conditioning and terrace access. Villa Maiolica will enchant you with its beautiful yard and garden with lush, exotic plants.

The owners of Villa Maiolica, Lando and his sister, will make your stay enjoyable and pleasant. They will help you with all the information you need about San Leone and the City of the Temples.

Every morning Lando will prepare you a delicious breakfast served in the garden of Villa Maiolica, in the shade. The breakfast caters to italian and international preferences and also offers typical sicilian products like marmalades and creams. At breakfast you can enjoy boiled eggs, salami, several types of local cheese, yogurt, fresh fruits and chocolate. Lando will offer you fresh bread from the family owned bakery.

The cannoli prepared by Lando specially for us at breakfast is the best we have ever eat.

Lando and his sister are delighted to offer you espresso, cappuccino, fresh fruit juice and other drinks, with a smile. They make sure you have everything you desire from the menu.

From Vila Maiolica you can have a pleasant 10 minutes walk to the Aquaselz Beach Club in San Leone.

When you go to Aquaselz Beach Club, stop for a coffee at Contravento, the beautiful lounge bar near the Marina.

At Contravento you can relax on the terrace and admire the little port near you while you drink the best espresso in town. You can also enjoy an aperol and croissants or snacks that compliment your choice of drinks.

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Aquaselz Beach Club

For the beach and bath we recommend you Aquaselz Beach Club on the Promenade of San Leone. At the Beach Club you can rent double or single sun beds and umbrellas where you can relax.

The Promenade protects the Beach Club from the wind and high waves so you can enjoy the calm water.

At the Beach Club you can have a snack, a coffee and a drink anytime of the day. You can delight yourself with a tasty lunch like a delicious caprese or fish dishes.

Bolsenatravel.com is your guide to Sicily

For dinner we recommend you two very nice restaurants in the center of San Leone: Il Pescatore and Al Porticciolo.

Both restaurants offer delicious fish and sea food dishes.

We ate several wonderful dinners at Trattoria Il Pescatore and we recommend you the fresh fish from the Mediterranean Sea. The swordfish, sole, tuna fish, sea bass and sea food are excellent choices. With the fish dishes we recommend you the biological Sicilian white, rose or red wines.

All the fresh fish and sea food are displayed in the window of the restaurant for your choice of the fish you desire.

The speciality of the restaurant is the delicious Sole in lemon sauce with oven baked potatoes or other side dishes in the menu.

The exquisite sicilian biological white wine Mamari compliments the delicious fish dishes.

The pasta dishes sicilian style are marvelous and the Tiramisu and cannoli are a delight.

Bolsenatravel.com is your guide to Sicily

Cala Manbru

If you want to drive further away from San Leone, we recommend you to book a day at the beach at Cala Manbru Beach Club, at 30 minutes distance by car.

Cala Manbru Beach Club is equipped with all the services you need for a pleasant stay.

Lifeguards supervise the beach all day long. The ticket includes: umbrella and extra-large sun beds, infirmary, nursery, hot/cold showers, cabins/ changing rooms, free Wifi and parking. The indoor restaurant with sea view and the outdoor gastronomy terrace offer typical specialties of the area. On the terrace there is a cocktail bar where you can enjoy quality drinks in front of a breathtaking sunset.

Nestled into the cliffs between land and sea, Cala Manbrù offers an unforgettable experience in a beautiful natural setting with golden sand, crystal clear waters and breathtaking sunsets. Far from the noise of the street and crowded beaches, it is the ideal place to relax and enjoy the sea.

You can sunbathe listening to the sound of the waves, cool off with a drink lying on the sun-bed, enjoy a salad, an ice cream at the bar or taste the Sicilian specialties at the restaurant.

Cala Manbru will offer you maximum tranquility from morning until sunset.

Bolsenatravel.com is your guide to Sicily

The Temples of Agrigento

You can visit the Valley of the Temples at Agrigento booking the ticket online or you can buy it at the entrance with the guide or audioguide.

You will start your journey with the cliff line dating back to the Greek period when it served as a natural defensive wall of the Greek city of Akragas. The fortifications of Akragas had a total length of 12 km.

The city wall of Akragas contained nine gates and various secret passages in the 5th and 4th century BC. The three south-facing gates ensured access to the sacred areas on the Hill of the Temples from the main roads.

From the late Roman Empire on 4th century AD to 7th century AD, on various portions of the defensive wall locals built burial grounds and craft buildings. In the section between Temple of Juno and Temple of Concordia, transformed into a Cristian Basilica in Byzantine times, you will find cemetery composed of arcosolium tombs and underground chambers.

As you continue your walk you will notice the imposing and very well preserved Temple of Concordia in front of you, in beautiful Doric style, dating from 440 – 430 BC. The Temple of Concordia has its name after a Latin inscription found in its vicinity. The inscription was dedicated to the harmony of the people in Agrigento. White stucco with polychrome decorations embellished the interior and the exterior of the temple.

The temple was turned into a Christian Basilica with 12 arches on the walls of the cella and relics in the floor. The bishop Gregorius took seat in the temple around the end of the 6th century. He consecrated the temple to the saints Peter and Paul after he expelled the pagan demons Eber and Raps. Originally the temple was dedicated to Castor and Pollux.

A Paleochristian Necropolis lies on the west side of the temple dating back to the 3rd – 6th centuryAD. The Necropolis is linked to the transformation of the building into a basilica.

In 1788 the Prince of Torremuzza ordered the removal of the remaining structures of the Christian Church.

The last restoration of POR Sicilia took place between 2000 – 2006. This restoration secured the stability of the temple and conserved its stone blocks.

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Temple of Hercules

The Temple of Hercules is the oldest and one of the most beautiful temples in the Valley of the Temples dating back to 510 BC. The temple is in Doric style and has columns along the entire perimeter and hexastyle, that is, with six columns on the short side. Inside there is an entrance hall (pronaos), a cella (naos) where was the statue of the deity, and a rear compartment (opisthodomos).

Gutters in the shape of lion heads decorated the roof of the temple. Excavations found examples of two different series: one from the late 6th century BC and the other from the first decades of the 5th century BC. To the east of the Temple of Hercules you can see the remains of a monumental altar, as well as those of an archaic temple.

The Temple of Hercules is now in ruins. But even so, the building, still visible from far away, is imposing and rises in the Valley of the Temples like the symbol of the power and strength of Hercules, the national hero of Sicily and, in particular, of Agrigento.

The wide rectangular platform, mounted on four steps, measures m.73,992 in length and 27,788 in width. The square occupies a surface of .2.056,89 square meters. It was m. 16,264 high. Out of 38 columns (6 on the front and 15 on the long sides ), only 9 stand out today. The English captain Alexander Hardcastle put them back in 1922.

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Temple of Zeus Olympios

As you continue our walk in the Valley of the Temples you will come across the fallen architectural components of the Temple of Zeus Olympios, a colossal building that still impresses. As you walk among the blocks of the perimeter walls and sections of columns you will notice the telamones or giants. Romans used the term telamones for male statues used in architecture to support the cornices. The Greeks called them atlantes referring to the myth of Atlas. Zeus punished Atlas to hold up the celestial spheres forever.

The accepted theory is that the statues represent the defeat of the Carthaginians at Himera by Theron of Agrigento and Gelo of Siracuse in 480 BC, probably the date of the beginning of the temple. Each telamon is 8 m high and has 12 blocks of local limestone. The builders assembled the blocks before they sculpted them. The facial features belong to two different types: mature male, long-haired with beard and youthful male beardless with short curly hair.

În 1812 the archeologist Raffaelo Politi reconstructed for the first time an almost complete telamon. This telamon is on display in the Agrigento Regional Archaeology Museum.

In 1920 the excavations revealed several telamones still lying where they had fallen. The statues stood on the outside of the temple, one in the middle of each intercolumnal space. There are 38 statues in all, 6 on the short sides and 13 on the long sides of the temple.

In 2009 the Park Authority in collaboration with the German Archaeological Institute of Rome reassembled several telamones. You can see them on the temple’s southern side.

To the south-east of the Temple of Zeus there is a Greek period monumental complex with buildings from different epochs. Building 1, down on the right, served to transfer underground the liquid offerings to the Gods of the Earth.

On the left side is Building 2, where the ritual ablutions took place (washing performed by the faithful for spiritual purification). Ahead of you lie the remains of Building 5, a monumental portico built in association with the Sanctuary of Zeus to accommodate the faithful during the religious ceremonies. At the western end of the building are three rectangular chambers used for ritual banquets. The guests ate the meals on beds placed side by side along the walls of the room.

Bolsenatravel.com is your guide to Sicily

Enjoy this fascinating walk back in time in the wonderful Valley of the Temples this summer!