Garden of Kolymbethra - Agrigento

In Agrigento, the Kolymbethra ( Greek for swimming pool ) is a shady corner of paradise where centuries-old olive trees flourish and citrus fruits flood the Valley of the Temples with their scents. Originally this was an old quarry . In ancient times, this quarry was transformed into an artificial garden and irrigation system, using the available water for agricultural purposes.

At the corner of the promised land and the garden par excellence where nature merges with history, this small valley is an important part of Akragas , the city founded by the Greeks in the 6th century BC. Diodorus Siculus tells that in 480 BC the tyrant Theron had the city design a network of tunnels to supply water. This ended at the foot of the city in a large basin called Kolymbethra. It was soon adapted as a fish farm and frequented by swans and birds, but above all able to transform the arid Sicilian land into a blossoming garden of Mediterranean plants. There is a special microclimate in the garden.

The Kolymbethra Gardens are terraced , meaning they are divided into levels or terraces. Crops were grown on each terrace. The irrigation water flowed from one terrace to another through a series of canals and locks.

In later centuries, this true 'place of delight' passed to the church, which introduced citrus fruits , while its heyday came at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, when it became one of the main destinations of the Grand Tour.

In the last decades of the 20th century, due to the disappearance of the old farmers , the Kolymbethra fell into neglect until the intervention of the FAI, which restored it to its former glory. Now the garden is the worthy complement to the emotions of the nearby Archaeological Park, a total pleasure for the five senses: from the scent of the orange blossoms to the taste of the almonds , from the silver of the olive trees to the moisture of the earth, to the light background noise of the constantly flowing water.

Don't miss the new routes to visit the hypogea (underground tunnels) , which are very interesting from an archaeological, speleological and naturalistic point of view.

Willem Vandenameele