Gela and its surroundings

Despite the wound in the landscape left by a long history of industrial exploitation and urban sprawl, the territory of Gela still boasts an amazing and little-known archaeological heritage. This city became one of the richest and most powerful poleis in Sicily during the Greek Archaic Period, and it gave birth to the enlightened tyrants who ruled Syracuse during the 5th century BC. Gela continued to play a starring role even during the Middle Ages, when it was given a new lease of life by Frederick II of Swabia with the name “Heraclea Terranova”. It was the protagonist of history once again during WWII, when the American troops landed along its coastline and started to free Europe from its Nazi and Fascist oppression.