Porto Empedocle

Infobox CityIT
img_coa = Porto Empedocle-Stemma.png img_coa_small = yes
official_name = Comune di Porto Empedocle Vigata
name=Porto Empedocle
mapx=37.3
mapy=13.533333
region = Sicily
province = Agrigento (AG)
elevation_m = 2
area_total_km2 = 24
population_as_of = 2001
population_total = 15828
population_density_km2 =688
timezone = CET, UTC+1
coordinates = coord|37|18|N|13|32|E|region:IT_type:city(15828)
frazioni =
telephone = 0922
postalcode = 92014
gentilic = Empedoclini
saint = San Gerlando
day = february 25
mayor =
website = [http://www.comune.portoempedocle.ag.it/ it icon

Porto Empedocle is a town and "comune" in Italy on the coast of the Strait of Sicily, administratively part of the province of Agrigento. It is the namesake of Empedocles (Greek: Polytonic|Ἐμπεδοκλῆς, ca. 490–430 BC), a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a citizen of the city of Agrigentum (present-day Agrigento), in his day a Greek colony in Sicily. The primary industries of Porto Empedocle are agriculture, fishing, ironworking, pharmaceuticals and rock salt refining.

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, ordered a tower built to protect the territory's reserves of harvested grain in the fifteenth century. The tower was later converted to a prison and is now a social and cultural center.

Trade increased in the area after the completion of the harbor wall in 1763. The comune became autonomous in 1853. The town it took its present name in 1863. It is named after the Agrigentine philosopher Empedocles.

In 2003, the town changed its official denomination to Porto Empedocle Vigata, after the name of the fictional town where the popular novels by Andrea Camilleri, famous Italian writer and native of Porto Empedocle, about detective Inspector Montalbano are placed.

The main church is Parrocchia Maria SS.del Buon Consiglio, which located in the center of the town.

Here was born in 1867 the Nobel Prize awarded writer Luigi Pirandello.

External links

* [http://www.repubblica.it/online/cronaca/vigata/vigata/vigata.html "Repubblica.it" - Porto Empedocle becomes Vigata] it icon
* [http://www.chiesamadreportoempedocle.it Parrocchia Maria SS.del Buon Consiglio] it icon
* [http://www.sicilytourguides.net/Montalbano_tour.htm On the trail of Inspector Montalbano from Montelusa to Vigata] English