Porto Empedocle (Agrigento, Sicily Italy)

Porto Empedocle (cruise port to Agrigento) is a port town on Sicily Island (Italy, Agrigento province), located on the central-west coast. The town is named after the Greek philosopher Empedocles (490-430 BC), citizen of the Greek colony Akragas (Agrigentum).

Porto Empedocle has population around 17,000. Main industries include agriculture, ironworking, commercial fishing, pharmaceuticals, rock salt refining, resort tourism (3-km beaches).

Emperor Charles V (1500-1558) ordered a tower to be built to protect harvested grain reserves. Later the tower was converted to prison and today serves as cultural center. Trade in the region increased following the harbor wall completion in 1763.

Porto Empedocle can be reached via secondary roads (from Palermo, Trapani, Catania, Syracuse), by trains (railway links to Agrigento), by boats (cruise ships and ferries from Pelagie Islands / Lampedusa, Linosa and Lampione) and by planes via the airports in Catania (Fontana Rossa), Palermo (Punta Raisi) and Trapani (Vincenzo Florio).

Agrigento is the capital of Agrigento province and renowned as the site of ancient Greek city Akragas (aka Acragas, Kirkent, Jirjent, Agrigentum). During Ancient Greece's golden age, the colony had population between 200,000-800,000 (before 406 BC). Akragas covered a vast land area, much of which is still unexcavated, featuring 7 monumental (Doric style) Greek temples constructed in the 6th-5th centuries BC. They are excavated and partially restored, listed World Heritage Site and ranked as some of the biggest and best-preserved Greek buildings outside Greece.