Heraclea Minoa

One of the most beautiful of the southern Sicilian coast , the beach is surrounded by a pine forest, chalk cliffs and several holiday homes, the beach is extremely crowded in July and August. Formed by clear, very fine and golden sand, it allows bathers to take long and relaxing walks and to lie down in the sun, feeling relief and refreshment after a refreshing swim in the clear blue waters of the sea.

Located 35 km north-west of Agrigento , it is the third important Greek site on this stretch of coast. According to the historian Didoro, the site took the name of Minoa from the Cretan king Minasse , who, according to legend, chased Daedalus from Crete to Sicily and founded a city where he landed. In the historical reality Minoa was instead founded by the Selinuntini; the Greeks of Sparta settled there in the 6th century BC, later adding the name of Heraklea .

The site of Eraclea Minoa

It extends on the crest of a desert plateau overlooking a beautiful arch of sand, with the mouth of the Platani river on the opposite side. It is one of the most evocative Greek sites in all of Sicily , being located on a promontory. What you see now is the result of subsequent excavations carried out by foreign universities which together with the Municipality have arranged the site in a scenographic way.

Beyond the city walls, once 6 km long, of which a good part is still standing, the most interesting and spectacular part of the ruins is the sandstone theater , which the restorations have restored to its past splendor. In July and August, the theater hosts concerts and classical theatrical productions every evening.

Above the theater, excavations have unearthed tombs and revealed traces of a Greco-Roman temple , while below are the ruins of a grandiose house , with fragments of Roman mosaics.