Archaeological area of San Benedetto in Caltabellotta
The archaeological area of San Benedetto preserves the remains of an important indigenous village which was later Hellenized when the Greeks arrived.
The site where the village stands is a strategic place: impregnable because on the top of a hill and rich in water due to the presence of springs.
Numerous traces have been found on this site that connote it as a privileged place for the human settlement already starting from the prehistoric age. Below the remains of the Greek settlement from the end of the sixth to the beginning of the fifth century to. C. consistent traces of an indigenous village dating back to between the eighth and seventh centuries have been found. to. C. Recent investigations have also revealed a stretch of wall associated with materials belonging to the Recent Bronze Age. Starting from the mid-sixth century. to. C., under the expansionist push of Selinunte, the center acquires more and more a cultural imprint of Greek origin. There are traces of a first destruction that took place in the mid-fifth century. BC: the city was reborn at the beginning of the 4th century. B.C. probably as a Carthaginian fortress. The center was definitively destroyed at the beginning of the third century. B.C., probably following the events of the First Punic War, the village is abandoned and moves further downstream to what will become the city of Triokala in the Hellenistic-Roman age.
The perimeter has been partially identified in the archaeological area. of the walls, of which it is possible to recognize three long sections and two circular towers; a vast area of worship consisting of sacred buildings built with large square blocks and defined by an imposing portico placed along the south side of the plateau and of which the foundation cuts remain.
