Valle dei Templi
— — Doric stone the centuries forgot to ruin.
Not only on a wall.
“A line of Doric temples along a limestone ridge above the Sicilian coast, south of modern Agrigento. The Temple of Concordia, from the mid-5th century BC, is one of the best-preserved Greek temples anywhere. It survived because a 6th-century bishop walled it in as a Christian basilica. The almond trees on the slopes flower in early February.
Valle dei Templi, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
The Valle dei Templi sits on a long limestone ridge south of the modern city of Agrigento, in southwestern Sicily. The archaeological park covers roughly 1,300 hectares, one of the largest in the Mediterranean. It marks the site of ancient Akragas, a Greek colony founded around 580 BC by settlers from Gela and Rhodes. The principal temples were built during the city's prosperous 5th century, between roughly 510 and 430 BC, when Akragas was among the wealthiest cities of the Greek world. The site was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1997.
Seven major Doric temples line the ridge, though only the Temple of Concordia, built around 440 to 430 BC, stands close to complete. It survived because in the 6th century AD Bishop Gregory of Agrigento converted it into a Christian basilica, walling in the colonnade. The Temple of Hera Lacinia, the Temple of Heracles, and the unfinished Temple of Olympian Zeus also stand along the ridge. The Olympieion was once among the largest temples in the Greek world, supported by colossal stone telamons; one is reconstructed on the ground today. The honey-coloured limestone came from local quarries below the city.
The site is open most of the calendar, but the slope around the temples turns in early February when the almond trees flower. Agrigento holds the Sagra del Mandorlo in Fiore, the almond-blossom festival, in the first half of February, with folk groups from across the Mediterranean performing among the temples. Summer afternoons run hot; readings over 35°C are common in July and August. Most visitors arrive at first opening or in the last hour before closing, when the light goes amber along the colonnade of Concordia and the ridge throws long shadows toward the sea.