Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
vast petrochemical refineries that still blight the city along with swathes of cheap housing
blocks. Other than a fascinating archaeology museum and remains of the city's ancient
fortifications, there are few reasons to stop by.
Sights & Activities
Museo Archeologico
( 093 391 26 26; Corso Vittorio Emanuele; adult/reduced incl acropoli & Capo Soprano €3/1.50; 9am-6pm,
closed last Mon of month)
The Museo Archeologico is the only place offering an insight into
Gela's great artistic past. It contains artefacts from the city's ancient acropolis and is
rightly famed for its staggering collection of red-and-black
kraters
(vases used to mix
wine and water), the largest such collection in the world.
These terracotta vases were a local speciality between the 7th and 4th centuries BC, ad-
mired throughout the Greek world for the delicacy of their designs and superb figurative
work.
Other treasures include Italy's most important collection of ancient vases dating from
the 8th to the 6th centuries, and some 600 silver coins minted in Agrigento, Gela, Syra-
cuse, Messina and Athens. At one time the collection numbered more than 1000 coins, but
it was stolen in 1976 and only about half of it was ever recovered. More recently, the city
has acquired three unusual terracotta altars. These were found in 2003 in a 5th-century-
BC warehouse, which had been buried under 6m of sand.
Outside the museum a gate leads to a small
acropoli
(Acropolis; 9am-1hr before sunset)
,
where you can see the scant remains of the ancient Greek acropolis. Adding little to the at-
mosphere are the belching chimneys of a nearby petrochemical plant.
MUSEUM
Capo Soprano
At the western edge of town, 4km west of the museum, you will find the remains of
Gela's ancient
Greek fortifications
(adult/reduced incl acropoli & Museo Archeological €3/1.50; 9am-1hr be-
fore sunset)
. Built by the tyrant of Syracuse, Timoleon, in 333 BC, they are in a remarkable
state of preservation, most likely the result of being covered by sand dunes for thousands
of years until they were discovered in 1948.
The 8m-high walls were built to prevent sand being blown into the city by the blustery
sea wind. Today many of the walls are in ruins and the authorities have planted trees to act
as a buffer against the encroaching sand. It makes for a pretty site, planted with mimosa
HISTORIC SITE
