Until the late 16th century, the valley was in a condition of neglect and oblivion, used for the most part for the cultivation of fields.
With the advent of the Grand Tour around 1700, however, a period of rediscovery began of the places that in the past had made Akragas then Agrigentum great.
The city thus became an important stop for academics and scholars, such as Goethe and Tolstoy, who came to Magna Graecia to rediscover the classical roots of European culture.
