The main altar area, of the Cattedrale di San Gerlando, is rich in baroque decorations.  The concept for the apse was created by Francesco Traina, with individual artists and craftsmen carrying out the separate details.  The episcopal chair you see on the left, in the photo below, was commissioned in the mid-1800s by the bishop,  Giovanni Battista Peruzzo.  The large pipe organ dates from 1933.

With our visit to the church completed, we began to walk down to our apartment.

A plaque, next to an icon, pays tribute to Gaetano Blandini, who oversaw the Second Catholic Regional Congress, which was held in Agrigento in 1896.  He died in this city two years later, in 1898.

Not only is the lookout point, Belvedere Domenico Modugno, named after the famous Italian singer, who won the heart of all of the world with his Grammy Award winning song, “Nel blu, dipinto di blu,” or as most people refer to it, “Volare,” but there is even a cutout of the singer, in the middle of singing one of his hits, right at the edge of the belvedere.

The Chiesa di San Domenico sits on a corner, next to the city’s town hall.  The church dates form the 17th century.

In the piazza, in front of the town hall, you will find a bust of the writer, Luigi Pirandello.  The bust was put in place in 2017, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the writer’s birth.  The Teatro di Pirandello is inside the town hall complex.

The former Collegio dei Filippini is soon to become the new Museum of the City of Agrigento.  The museum will tell the history of the city, from its foundation to the present day.

 

Next up: We travel ten minutes by car to our next destination, Porto Empedocle!

 

<em>Note: This blog is written in English and Spanish, and the author takes no responsibility for the quality of any other translations that may appear.  If you have enjoyed this post, please, check out our archives for more posts from Agrigento, as well as other Italian destinations.  Grazie!</em>