Empedocle’s spiral

The Valley of the Temples is one of the great masterpieces of humanity. Located where once stood the powerful Sicilian city of Akragas, is characterized by the exceptional state of preservation of a series of Doric temples. Among almond and olive trees this place takes us back 2500 years with the columns, in some cases still intact, soaring into the sky in search of Zeus and members. A unique heritage in a strongly Sicilian landscape. Empedocles, was born in Akragas,  Agrigento today, in the fifth century BC He was one of the great philosophers of antiquity and is particularly remembered for his cosmogonic theory (on the formation of the Universe) based on the mixture of the four classical elements (water, air, earth and fire) with Love and Hate. Empedocles was also one of the first animal rights activists in history, opposing the practice of animal sacrifice for both nutritional and religious purposes. Legend has it that he died throwing himself into the crater of Etna which erupted back his famous sandals. Villa Genuardi is a nineteenth-century villa in Agrigento famous for its extraordinary collection of tropical plants.

(photo) Valley of the Temples, etching realized during the journey of J.W. Goethe, 1787