Tempio Dorico (Doric Temple)

Tempio Dorico (Doric Temple) Review

Segesta is the site of one of Sicily's most impressive temples, constructed on the side of a windswept barren hill overlooking a valley of giant fennel. Virtually intact today, the temple is considered by some to be finer in its proportions and setting than any other Doric temple left standing. It was actually started in the 5th century BC by the Elymian people, who may have been refugees from Troy. At the very least, evidence—they often sided with the Carthaginians, for example—indicates that they were non-Greeks. However, the style is in many ways Greek. The temple was never finished; the walls and roof never materialized, and the columns were never fluted. A little more than 1 km (½ mile) away, near the top of the hill (a shuttle bus leaves every 30 minutes, €1.50 round trip), are the remains of a fine theater with impressive views, especially at sunset, of the plains and the Bay of Castellammare. Concerts and plays are staged here in summer.