In 282 BC, Phintias, tyrant of Akragas, destroyed Gela and moved its people to a city built from scratch, which he named after himself: Phintias, or Finziade in Italian. It was the last Greek colony founded in Sicily, and the one to record its birth was the historian Diodorus Siculus. Its remains surface today on Monte Sant'Angelo, in the territory of Licata, along the southern coast of the island.
What to see
The site sits on the height of Monte Sant'Angelo, where between 2003 and 2005 excavation campaigns led by archaeologist Gioacchino Francesco La Torre uncovered the layout of the Hellenistic town. This is where the story of Sicily's final Greek foundation can be read on the ground, from the forced resettlement of the people of Gela onward through the wars that shaped the ancient island. Not far off, in 310 BC, the battle of Monte Ecnomo was fought, and Agathocles was beaten by the Carthaginians, who took the city. The turn came with the First Punic War: off this coast the Roman fleet of Marcus Atilius Regulus defeated the Carthaginians at the Battle of Cape Ecnomus, remembered by ancient writers as “the greatest naval battle” of antiquity for the number of men and ships involved. Under Rome, Finziade grew into a busy trading port, helped by its closeness to the African coast and its ties with Halaesa on the Tyrrhenian side. Its name, in the form Phintia, even appears in Cicero's speeches against Verres.
Our editors' tip
Before climbing up, get hold of the excavation guide written by Gioacchino Francesco La Torre (“Finziade. L'ultima fondazione greca di Sicilia”, 2008): without a thread to tie the stones together, an archaeological area like this can stay silent. The same rise also holds Castel Sant'Angelo, easy to pair on the same visit for anyone who wants to close the loop between the Greek age and the centuries that followed.