House of Monte Kronio and heaters of s. Calogero Sciacca Agrigento

HOUSE OF MONTE KRONIO AND HEATERS OF S. CALOGERO SCIACCA AGRIGENTO

The mount Kronio, or monte San Calogero, is a hill located about 7 km from Sciacca, Italian municipality of the province of Agrigento in Sicily. à ˆ a natural reserve managed by the Azienda foreste demaniali della Regione Siciliana.

The mountain is located on the Museum site House of Monte Kronio-Stoves of s. Calogero, a bath complex and a number of karst caves, exploited since antiquity for therapeutic purposes. Already Diodorus Siculus tells a tale of Daedalus in Sicily of the caves of Hercules and the exceptional phenomenon vaporous.

The Antiquarium has been opened in the 1980s and contains finds from excavations. The site is run by the Soprintendenza dei beni culturali e ambientali.

The stove of Saint Calogero is a 4.2 m wide and 9.4 m long cave and reaches a height of about 4 m. Within the temperature ranges between 36 and 42 degrees C, with variations in different seasons and times of day.
Due to the high temperature, the stay in the cave, according to legend, carved by Daedalus in the period when the territory was occupied by the Sicani, was traditionally used in the treatment of conditions such as arthritis, rheumatism, gout and sciatica. Inside were made seats and counters and drilled holes in the walls which were to be inserted the limbs suffering.

Following a survey commissioned in 1880 by the Municipal Council of Sciacca to professor Silvestro Zinno, the municipality set out to create a thermal bath.