Agira
Discovering Agira: the historic city on the mount of Teja
Are you ready to discover one of the oldest cities in Sicily? We're talking about Agira, a municipality of about 7,685 inhabitants located in the province of Enna, which rises on the top of Mount Teja. On this page, we'll tell you about its ancient and modern history, as well as the characteristics of its geographical location.
Physical geography of Agira
Agira is located in the middle valley of the Salso river, overlooking Lake Pozzillo, and its territory also includes the artificial reservoir of Sciaguana. The city is located northeast of the Enna province, 35 kilometers away from the capital town. The Mount Teja on which the city rises also occupies the slopes of the surrounding area.
History of Agira
Agira, one of the oldest cities in Sicily, has kikone Sicule origins. According to Diodoro Siculo, the city was founded by this people inhabiting the island even before the Greek colonization. In 339 BC, a colony of 10,000 Greeks was founded, and it was thanks to them that the urban structure that characterized the city for a long time was created, along with the wealth that generated luxuries, bureaucracy, a court, and a public road. This is attested by the authority that the city exerted over the area until the rise of Syracuse and Agrigento.
Agira, Mount Teja, and human settlements
The population of Agira has been documented since the Paleolithic era. Nomads of Afro-Asian origin, already skilled in the production of flint weapons, hunters, farmers, fishermen, and perhaps even breeders, settled on Mount Teja, becoming sedentary populations. Over the millennia, various dominations succeeded each other, such as that of the Mycenaean civilization and then that of the Sicani, a people probably of Iberian origin who moved to Sicily after being driven out of the Iberian zone of the Sicano river, now Segra. The city of Agira, perhaps the oldest of the Sicilian cities, probably takes its name from one of the Sicani leaders, Agiride, who founded it. But the origin of the name could also be connected to the presence of a silver mine near the city, from ''argyros'' which in Greek means silver.
The Middle Ages in Agira
The Greek monastery in the city of Agira was once one of the most important in Sicily. At the end of the 11th century, every trace of the Greek monastery disappeared, and in the last decade of the century, the Agira monastery was populated by the Order of Saint Benedict.
In Agira, the terrain is characterized by the height of Mount Teja on which the city rises and the predominantly overlooking position on the middle valley of the Salso river. The city, together with the small surrounding villages and the Sciaguana dam area, constitutes an important tourist and cultural area of Sicily. If you're in the area, don't miss the opportunity to visit this historic city, discovering many aspects related to its geographical location and its millennial culture and history.
