Porto Empedocle ( scn, 'a Marina) is a town and ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' in Italy on the coast of the Strait of Sicily, administratively part of the

province of Agrigento The Province of Agrigento ( it, Provincia di Agrigento; scn, Pruvincia di Girgenti; officially ''Libero consorzio comunale di Agrigento'') is a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy, situated on its south-western coast. Follo ...

. It was named after

Empedocles Empedocles (; grc-gre, Ἐμπεδοκλῆς; , 444–443 BC) was a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a native citizen of Akragas, a Greek city in Sicily. Empedocles' philosophy is best known for originating the cosmogonic theory of the fo ...

, a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

pre-Socratic Pre-Socratic philosophy, also known as early Greek philosophy, is ancient Greek philosophy before Socrates. Pre-Socratic philosophers were mostly interested in cosmology, the beginning and the substance of the universe, but the inquiries of thes ...

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

and a citizen of the city of

Akragas Agrigento (; scn, Girgenti or ; grc, Ἀκράγας, translit=Akrágas; la, Agrigentum or ; ar, كركنت, Kirkant, or ''Jirjant'') is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento. It was one of ...

(present-day

Agrigento Agrigento (; scn, Girgenti or ; grc, Ἀκράγας, translit=Akrágas; la, Agrigentum or ; ar, كركنت, Kirkant, or ''Jirjant'') is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento. It was one of ...

), in his day a Greek colony in Sicily. The primary industries of Porto Empedocle are

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

, ironworking,

pharmaceuticals A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and rel ...

and rock salt refining.

Physical geography

Climate

Porto Empedocle is the second ''comune'' with the lowest amount of

degree days A degree day is a measure of heating or cooling. Total degree days from an appropriate starting date are used to plan the planting of crops and management of pests and pest control timing. Weekly or monthly degree-day figures may also be used wi ...

in Italy. It is in the climatic zone A of the .

History

Born as a port zone in the old Girgenti, today called

, under the name of Marina di Girgenti (seashore of Girgenti), since in the 15th century it was the main cereal trading centre of the region. From 1549 to 1554, by order of the viceroy Vega, Torre del caricatore of Girgenti, already known during the ancient times (as it probably already existed before the Angevin period), was restored. It had been built to protect against the

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...

pirates, together with the whole system of the Coastal towers of Sicily. The tower was later again restored by

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

with the help of Bishop . This restoration was completed only in 1763. In 1853, during the government of the

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ( it, Regno delle Due Sicilie) was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1860. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by population and size in Italy before Italian unification, comprising Sicily and a ...

the town obtained independence by becoming chief town of the decurionato under the name of Molo di Girgenti. Then, in 1863, the town changed its name into Porto Empedocle in memory of the Agrigentine philosopher

. In 2003, the town changed its official denomination to Porto Empedocle Vigata, after the name of the fictional town where the novels by

Andrea Camilleri Andrea Calogero Camilleri (; 6 September 1925 – 17 July 2019) was an Italian writer. Biography Originally from Porto Empedocle, Girgenti, Sicily, Camilleri began university studies in the Faculty of Literature at the University of Palermo, ...

, Italian writer and native of the town, about

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

Inspector Montalbano are placed. However, the decision was revoked in 2009. The main

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

is Parrocchia Maria SS. del Buon Consiglio, which is located in the center of the town. The

marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. When hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. Marl makes up the lower part o ...

Scala dei Turchi The Scala dei Turchi (Italian: "Stair of the Turks" or “Turkish Steps”) is a rocky cliff on the coast of Realmonte, near Porto Empedocle, southern Sicily, Italy. It has become a tourist attraction, partly due to its mention in Andrea Camiller ...

is located nearby, on the coast of

Realmonte Realmonte ( Sicilian: ''Muntiriali'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Region of Agrigento in the Italian Provence Sicily, located about south of Palermo and about west of Agrigento. Realmonte borders the following municipalities: Agrig ...

References

External links

"Porto Empedocle becomes Vigata"
Repubblica.it
"Parrocchia Maria SS.del Buon Consiglio"
Cities and towns in Sicily Coastal towns in Sicily Mediterranean port cities and towns in Italy {{Sicily-geo-stub