Selinunte did not exist for long, just over two centuries. Yet, the mark she left in the history of the Mediterranean is great and she, just like a beautiful ancient goddess, keeps of giving and surprising, as very recent archaeological discoveries demonstrate.

Selinunte was known to the Greeks, who founded it, as Selinus, which came from selinon, “wild parsley,” a plant that used to grow – and still does – in the area. It was the year 650 BC when some colons from Megara Hyblaea settled in this large plain in the Belice Valley, creating an important urban and cultural center which, at its apogee between the 6th and the 5th century BC, counted 100,000 citizens, and controlled much of the surrounding areas.