Slope instability in the Valley of Temples, Agrigento (Sicily)

The town of Agrigento and the surrounding Valley of Temples represents a place of world importance because of the historical, archaeological and artistic value of their monuments. Since ancient time the town planning expansion of Agrigento has been controlled by the particular geological set up of the area and the repeated and extensive instability phenomena The safeguard of this precious cultural heritage is seriously threatened by slope failures including falls, rock topples and rock slides involving the calcarenitic outcrops. While rotational and translational slides occur when failures develop in the clay and sandy-silt soils below the calcarenitic levels, involving wide areas. This paper explains the geological and structural set up, the geotechnical aspects and man-made factors that exert major influence on this phenomena, on the stability of the area and on the basal foundation of the temples, above all of the Juno Temple.