Valley of the Temples — the greatest surviving Greek city outside Greece
Agrigento's Valley of the Temples is one of the most breathtaking archaeological sites on Earth — seven Greek temples from the 5th century BCE standing along a ridge above the south coast of Sicily, the most complete and evocative remnants of Magna Graecia anywhere in the world. The medieval hill town above is a bonus: Sicilian arancini, pasta con le sarde, and almond granita are the region's food signatures, and the bone-white cliffs of Scala dei Turchi (the Turkish Steps) are 30 minutes away.
Ancient Akragas was founded by Greek colonists from Gela and Rhodes around 582 BCE and grew to a population of 300,000 by the 5th century BCE — one of the largest cities in the ancient world. It was sacked by Carthage in 406 BCE and rebuilt, captured by Rome in 210 BCE, declined through the medieval period, and was ultimately left as an archaeological ghost — which is exactly why the temples survived. UNESCO listed the Valley in 1997.