Selinunte, ancient Selinus, founded by Greek colonists from Megara Hyblaea around 650 BC, was destroyed by the Carthaginian army in 409 BC in a five-day siege that killed approximately 16,000 of its inhabitants and enslaved another 5,000. The destruction was thorough: the temples were toppled, the buildings demolished, the city abandoned. What remained was a vast plain of fallen masonry on the southwestern Sicilian coast, buried progressively by sand dunes and vegetation over 2,400 years, until systematic excavation began in the 1820s. The result is the most extensive and most atmospheric Greek archaeological site in the western Mediterranean. 270 hectares of ruins, eight Doric temples in several states of preservation and collapse, and the specific visual experience of enormous column drums lying in geometric patterns exactly as they fell on the day the city was destroyed.
The Selinunte archaeological park is the largest in Europe after Pompeii, and is almost entirely absent from the standard Sicilian tourist circuit that concentrates on Palermo, Catania, Taormina, and the Valley of the Temples at Agrigento. This combination of extraordinary scale and low international recognition means that Selinunte's main temple group on a Tuesday morning in October is visited by perhaps a hundred people. The sensation of standing among the fallen temples in near-solitude, with the African Sea visible to the south and the silence of a ruined city 2,400 years abandoned, is one of the most genuinely overwhelming archaeological experiences in Italy.
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The Selinunte Temples: An Orientation
The East Group
The three temples of the East Hill, designated Temple E (Hera, 460-450 BC, partially reconstructed in the 1950s and now the most visually complete at Selinunte), Temple F (probably Athena, 550-530 BC, collapsed), and Temple G (possibly Zeus, begun 530 BC, never completed and the largest temple ever planned in the Greek world at 113×54 meters, larger than the Parthenon), are the first visible from the entrance road and the most frequently photographed. Temple E's partial reconstruction (twelve columns re-erected, the entablature partially restored) allows the visitor to understand the scale and proportions of a standing Doric temple without the complete reconstruction that characterizes Agrigento's Temple of Concordia. Temple G's scattered column drums, some individual drums weighing 100 tons, give the most direct sense of the ambition that Selinus had before the Carthaginian destruction ended it.
Selinunte Archaeological: tours & tickets
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See availability & prices →We may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.The Acropolis
The central acropolis of Selinunte, the walled urban center on the promontory above the ancient harbor, has five temples (designated A through C and O and other letters) in varying states of preservation, plus the remains of the street grid, the city walls, and the harbor area below. Temple C (Apollo, 570-550 BC, the oldest of the Selinunte temples) has fourteen column drums re-erected in the 1920s and the best remaining original metope sculptures in situ (the larger metopes are in the Palermo Archaeological Museum). The acropolis provides the best overall view of the site's extent.
Q&A: Selinunte Archaeological Park
How long does a visit to Selinunte take?
A complete visit. East Group, Acropolis, the ancient city area, and the Malophoros sanctuary to the west, requires 3-4 hours. A focused visit to the East Group (the most photogenic and most accessible section) takes 1.5-2 hours. The park is large and the distances between groups significant. Comfortable walking shoes are essential, and visiting in summer requires early morning arrival (the open site has minimal shade). Electric golf carts are available for rent at the entrance for visitors with mobility limitations.
How do I get to Selinunte?
By car: from Palermo approximately 120 km via the A29 autostrada, 1.5 hours. From Agrigento approximately 90 km, 1 hour 20 minutes. By bus: SAIS Autolinee from Palermo (approximately 2 hours) or Lumia from Agrigento. The bus stops in Marinella di Selinunte, the modern village 1 km from the park entrance. Open daily 9am-7pm (summer), 9am-5pm (winter). Admission approximately €6-9.
What Nobody Tells You About Selinunte
The metopes removed from Selinunte's temples in the nineteenth century and now in the Palermo Archaeological Museum (the Museo Archeologico Regionale A. Salinas) are some of the finest examples of Archaic Greek relief sculpture in existence, the Perseus and Medusa, the Heracles metopes, and the Zeus and Hera metope from Temple E. Visiting the Palermo museum before or after Selinunte to see the sculptural program that the temples once displayed adds the final dimension to what the standing ruins can't provide.
Internal Links
- Segesta: Western Sicily's Other Greek Site
- Central Sicily Archaeology: The Interior Circuit
- Marsala Province: Selinunte Area Wine
- Sicily by Car: The Essential Western Circuit
- Sicily Spring: Best Season for Selinunte
- Marinella di Selinunte Beach: After the Ruins
- Greek vs Etruscan Civilization: The Comparison
