What is Agira known for?

Birthplace around 90 BC of the Greek historian who wrote the forty-book Bibliotheca historica, of which fifteen books survive intact. Royal Abbey founded by Basilian monks in the seventh or eighth century, rebuilt by Roger I after 1095; patron saint buried beneath the church. Only Canadian war cemetery in Italy holds the 490 graves of soldiers killed taking Agira in five days of July 1943 fighting, the largest Canadian battle of the Sicilian campaign.

Agira is a comune in the province of Enna, Sicily region of Italy, about 64 kilometers from Catania.

Sicily · Enna

Agira

On the slopes of Monte Teja at 650 meters, birthplace of the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus and burial site of 490 Canadian soldiers of the 1943 campaign.

650m

Elevation

64 km / 40 mi

Nearest hub (Catania)

7,671

Population

Apr–Jun, Sep–Nov

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Borghi più belli d'Italia

Why come

Agira sits on the summit and slopes of Monte Teja at 650 meters in the mid-valley of the Salso river, thirty-five kilometers east of Enna. The town stands on the site of the Sicel city of Agyrion, where the Greek general Timoleon settled ten thousand colonists in 339 BC and where the historian Diodorus Siculus was born around 90 BC. Diodorus wrote the Bibliotheca historica, a forty-book universal history of which fifteen books survive intact. The Royal Abbey Church of San Filippo, founded by Basilian monks in the seventh or eighth century, was refurbished into a Benedictine abbey by Roger I between 1095 and 1101 and remains the central monument of the town. In July 1943 Agira fell to the Canadians after five days of fighting, the largest Canadian battle of the Sicilian campaign; the Canadian War Cemetery on a hill outside the town holds the graves of 490 soldiers, the only Canadian war cemetery in Italy.

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Gallery

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Known for

Reale Abbazia di San Filippo
Basilian monastery founded in the seventh or eighth century, refurbished into a Benedictine abbey by Roger I between 1095 and 1101; the patron saint Philip of Agira is buried beneath the church.
Castello di Agira
Medieval fortress on the summit of Monte Teja above the town, with surviving walls and towers; the strategic outpost that controlled the central Sicilian interior.
Agira Canadian War Cemetery
Only Canadian war cemetery in Italy, on a hill outside the town, holding 490 graves of soldiers killed in the July 1943 Sicilian campaign.
Centro storico medievale
Steep stone lanes climbing Monte Teja from the lower town to the castle, layered with Greek, Byzantine, Norman and Aragonese remains.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Jun, Sep–Nov

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September through November are the windows for Agira. The hilltop town stays in the low twenties through May, the trails up Monte Teja are dry, and the Canadian Cemetery on its outside hill is the right walk in cool morning light. July and August push past thirty-five in the interior; the centro storico empties in the afternoons and the climb to the castle is for sunrise only. December through March is quiet and cool at 650 meters with rain through January. The Festa di San Filippo, the patron, falls on the first Sunday of May and pulls back the diaspora.