EnnaAgira.
An ancient and thriving Sicel settlement, it became a Greek colony under Timoleon the Corinthian in 339 BC and was named Agyrion. This is where Diodorus Siculus was bom in the first c. BC, the great historian who first attempted to write a universal history of the world. The town was evangelized in the 4th c.by St Philip, known as the Syrian. The Roman period was not prosperous. The Arab domination is recognizable even today in the complex layout of lanes and courtyards. The earthquake in 1693 caused great damage and hindered the growth of the town. (Other towns meanwhile developed in the vicinity.)

A visit to Agira is principally a visit to its numerous churches. Most of them date from the 16th c. and were damaged by the earthquake in 1693. San Filippo, with a nave and two aisles, has been subjected to several modifications; it contains two paintings of the Madonna by Giuseppe Velasquez. Santa Margherita, with a nave and two aisles, and 14 columns, is the largest church in the whole diocese (of Nicosia). The Chiesa St Anthony of Padua, also with a nave and two aisles, preserves a fine wooden statue of St Sylvester. In San Salvatore there is an Aragonese portal, together with a number of good paintings. One of the finest churches, the Norman Santa Maria Maggiore, is perhaps the most beautiful of all, with its two asymmetrical aisles, and arches and decorated capitals on elegant columns. Then, on the top of the hill, there is the castle: some towers, the keep and some underground parts still remain.