Discover the secrets of the ancient suburbs of Agrigento. A journey through history, archeology and magnificent finds
Introduction to the Ancient Suburbs of Agrigento
The suburbs.
What can be seen to the West and North of the ancient city
Where were those suburbs located?
On the western line of the city, from the vicinity of the sea to the hill of Agrigento, there are traces of manufactured works:
few remains near the Casina Vella, in front of the beach, where a magnificent marble sarcophagus was found, which adorns our Museum.
From the Vella lands to those of Baron Celauro in the S. Anna district, there are traces of ancient factories, but not of such importance as to lead us to assume an entire village.
The Historical Traces to the West of the City
In the Celauro lands, several aqueducts of the usual type, i.e. meati, dug into the tuff sandstone to obtain springs, are worthy of note.
One of them lies above the landing where the old house stands, and precisely at the roots of the hill called Granet;
several others below the house where there are the vegetable garden and the garden which are irrigated by the water still supplied by those ancient aqueducts.
From the S. Anna district to the Agrigento hill we have the Cavoline valley, in which there is no trace of construction.
Only towards the middle, on the left bank, did I notice something that gave me the impression of a bridge head or abutment:
it was a simple impression, which needs control and confirmation.
The Cavoline Valley: A Bridge between the Living and the Dead?
In any case, I observe that if I am not mistaken, we would have the bridge over the Cavoline valley nearby, which would have united the city of the living with the city of the dead, but of very modest proportions and possible in ancient times and never the mammoth bridge of the dead supposed by Schubring.
From the Cavoline valley and then from the Fontana up the hill of Agrigento we have the main necropolis of the city.
In places where the rock has not been tampered with, the tombs are so close to each other that they have the appearance of a honeycomb, or as they call it, bee cells: this is precisely the case in the entire space beneath the Piedigrotta pasta factory right up to the drinking trough of the Cross.
So too, I remember, was the whole space in which the gas outlet was built, and for the electric light, and equally so it is from those points to go up to the church of the Annunziata.
The Main Necropolis of Agrigento
I note that the mentioned tombs reach up to the walls of the modern city, and we cannot therefore say whether they ever went beyond the line and by how much.
This factual observation makes me understand that if in ancient times a suburb existed on our hill;
it must have been limited to the upper part of the wall only, and therefore it must not have been very extensive, because the Greeks did not use to bury their dead inside or near the walls, but outside and at a certain distance; and the custom of burying them in churches or in consecrated enclosures dates back to the Christian era.
the ancient tombs
Therefore, given that the ancient tombs reached up to our walls and we no longer know where they still extended, we cannot assume the resistance of a very large Greek suburb lest we assume it was in direct contact with the necropolis.
The Discovery of the Temple at S. Maria dei Greci
In fact, it should be noted that the only remnant of an ancient work is found on the heights of Agrigento, in S. Maria dei Greci; and that temple must have been built in the most beautiful period of Agrigento’s history because it was of pure Doric order.
These are the notable things along the entire western line of the walls
To the north, beyond the Rupe Atenea, there could be neither suburbs nor isolated houses due to the precipice mentioned several times, and because the terrain is unstable.
Below the eastern tip of the cliff lies the Marchetta bottom, with a steep slope towards the river.
There we observe manufactured works; a water pipe, some column shafts, and the owner assures that just above the site where the columns slipped he found the base of a temple, which was then filled in by the overlying soil.
Recent Finds and Their Historical Significance
Many years ago, terracotta idols were found there, about a third or half the size of life, of very elegant workmanship, and their respective mother forms; precious objects that are rarely found.
The superintendence of Palermo never dealt with the affairs of Agrigento;
our Municipality did not think of spending even a small sum for the purchase of terracottas; but Prof. Orsi purchased them for the Syracuse museum.
