The Valley of the Temples is not really a valley at all, but a long ridge running parallel to the Sicilian south coast, with the sea shining a few kilometres to the south and modern Agrigento climbing the hill behind. The Greeks called their city Akragas. It was founded around 580 BC by settlers from Gela and became one of the great cities of the Greek west, rich enough that the philosopher Empedocles, who lived here, is said to have remarked that the citizens built as if they would live forever and ate as if they would die tomorrow.
What survives is staggering. The Temple of Concordia, from the fifth century BC, is among the best-preserved Greek temples anywhere, mainly because it was later turned into a church. The Temple of Juno stands on the ridge's eastern end with a fine view over the olive and almond trees, and the fallen Temple of Olympian Zeus still lies in huge broken pieces that give a sense of its scale. A giant stone figure, a telamon, lies on its back on the grass. In February the almond trees bloom and the town holds its almond-blossom festival, which is the most beautiful time to be here, with white flowers around the golden stone.
Riding to the site is easy enough from Agrigento, though the town's streets are steep and busy. The road along the ridge, the scenic Via dei Templi, is a gentle ribbon with views to the sea. To get here from the interior you will probably take the SS640 or SS115, both solid roads through sun-baked, yellow-brown hill country that suddenly drops toward the coast. In July and August the heat is serious, so try to arrive in the early morning or just before closing, when the stone turns honey-coloured.
Agrigento is a proper town of thirty thousand, so you will find fuel, restaurants and cafes without trouble. Try the local almond pastries, and the sweet-and-savoury Sicilian staples: caponata, pasta with sardines, and cannoli whose ricotta tastes remarkably unlike anything outside the island. The writer Luigi Pirandello was born just outside town, and his house is a modest place of pilgrimage for anyone who likes the theatre of the absurd.
From here the long routes lead east, toward Ragusa and the Roman mosaics of Villa del Casale, across a Sicilian interior that is emptier and wilder than most visitors expect.