In Agrigento, a neighbourhood destroyed in the 406 BC siege resurfaces

In the Case Montana plateau, within the Valley of the Temples Archaeological Park in Agrigento, monumental walls and buildings belonging to a neighbourhood of the ancient city of Akragas have resurfaced. The structures were destroyed during the Carthaginian siege of 406 BC, one of the events that marked the end of the period of greatest splendour of the Greek city in Sicily.

The find is the result of the third excavation campaign conducted by the University of Milan, concluded on 24 October 2026. The mission is directed by Professor Claudia Lambrugo, of the Milan university, together with the Park’s archaeologist Maria Concetta Parello. The excavation also received support from Fai, the Fondo Ambiente Italiano.

The neighbourhood brought to light reveals a portion of urban fabric that the siege had abruptly interrupted, freezing buildings and walls in the state they were in at the moment of destruction. For this reason, excavations in areas of this kind often provide detailed information on the daily life of a city at the exact moment of its fall, more so than stratifications accumulated over centuries of continuous habitation.

The collaboration between a university and the body managing the archaeological park, supported by a heritage protection organisation, describes a working model that has characterised excavation campaigns in the Valley of the Temples for years.

It should be noted that the news currently comes from a single source, the joint communication from the Valley of the Temples Archaeological Park and the University of Milan, picked up by the local press; no independent confirmations are currently available on the dating and extent of the neighbourhood brought to light.

The third excavation campaign is part of a multi-year research path on the Case Montana site, which in recent years has progressively expanded knowledge of Akragas’s urban layout in the phase preceding the siege of 406 BC. The results of future campaigns, if confirmed by scientific publications, will allow the phases of the neighbourhood’s life and destruction to be placed with greater chronological precision.