In the 5th century BCE, the city of Acragas, the ancient Agrigento, had reached its highpoint in terms of splendour and power and its tyrant Theron, to satisfy the need for a water supply for the about 200,000 inhabitants, started the construction of a great water supply system by digging underground chambers from which water flowed for irrigation and the construction of the great Kolymbethra basin, near the western spur of the Valle dei Templi hill. In the 1st century BCE the location had already been abandoned and it was only from the 12th century that it was once again used for the cultivation of sugar cane, and later citrus fruits, becoming a perfumed garden attracting many travellers on their Grand Tour. In 1999, after a long period of neglect, the area was entrusted to FAI, Fondo Ambiente Italiano, Italy’s National Trust, by the Region of Sicily. A thorough restoration was carried out re-establishing its original value, salvaging all the remains of rural architecture (dry stone walls, terraces, “gebbie” cisterns and the “saje” Arab irrigation system). The hillsides are covered with typical Mediterranean vegetation with myrtle bushes, mastic trees, turpentine trees, phillyrea, spurge and broom. In the areas that are not irrigated, mulberries, carob trees, prickly pears, almonds and enormous Saracen olive trees grow; rock vegetation with Mediterranean dwarf palm, osyris and caper bushes thrive. On the valley plain, as well as the stream lined with hydrophilic plants, such as giant canes or castor beans, and willows and silver poplar, the citrus grove spreads out and is irrigated using traditional Arab techniques.