Sicily’s iconic landmarks give you pinch-me moments, like this one at Valley of the Temples in Agrigento, a UNESCO recognized site that plays host to the ruins of seven ancient Greek and Roman temples. The magnificent Doric-style Tempio di Concordia (pictured) was erected by the ancient Greeks between 440-430 BCE. Archeologists don’t have evidence to whom it was dedicated.At the end of the 6th century CE, it was consecrated by the Christian Church — an effort to clean it of pagan demons — in the name of Saints Peter and Paul, transforming the sacred structure into a Byzantine-style basilica. In the mid-18th century, all signs of the church were removed in order to display the temple’s original ancient Greco-Roman glory. Concordia’s size and scope are stupendous as it sits, not in a valley at all, but commandingly on a cliff overlooking a plane towards the Mediterranean Sea in the distance.
