Agrigento - Santa Maria dei Greci

Proceeding uphill from the Museo Civico in Agrigento, narrow old streets lead to the Church of Santa Maria dei Greci. The custodian will open the door to a small courtyard at the end of which stands the church. It is a three-aisled building dating from the Norman period, built on the site of a Doric temple of 6x13 columns, which may actually have been the Temple to Athene built in 488 B.C.; a stairway leads down to a room underneath the church where the terracing and columns of the temple can still be seen.