An airport near the ‘Valley of the Temples’

A Sicilian Region has approved the funding of €40 million for a new airport at Agrigento, near the famous ‘Valley of the Temples’.

November 3: A Sicilian Region in Italy has approved the funding of €40 million for a new airport at Agrigento, near the famous ‘Valley of the Temples’, one of the world’s most important and best preserved Greek sites and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988.

It had been thought that plans for an airport near the Valley of the Temples were abandoned last year after protests about the effect the project would have on the locality. Enac, Italy’s national aviation authority, halted the project in October 2008, and Eugenio D’Orsi, the President of the Regional Province of Agrigento, stated that the airport would be built elsewhere in the area.

On October 27 D’Orsi confirmed the project had been approved and funded and said “This is the best moment since I was elected President of the Province.”

Aeroporto Agrigento will be a regional airport with a 1.5 km runway suitable for ATR72-sized aircraft. It is planned to open the airport in July 2011. It is estimated that around 106 small houses will have to be bulldozed to make way for the runway.