Agrigento

Agrigento needs 1 day: the Valley of the Temples, an archaeological park with seven 5th-century BC Greek temples, several nearly intact, is almost the sole reason to visit. April-June and September-October are best, avoiding the extreme heat of the Sicilian summer. It's inexpensive by Italian standards. It was founded as a Greek colony in the 6th century BC under the name Akragas, and at its peak the Greek poet Pindar described it as «the most beautiful of mortal cities»; today its temples are among the best-preserved of the Greek world outside Greece.