Experts say it is better to avoid this picturesque European island in 2025 due to major problem

Picturesque Sicily is one of Europe's favorite vacation destinations. However, one of its cities was included in the list of the worst locations in 2025.

According to the Express, Agrigento was included in the Fodor's Travel 2025 Go and No Lists. Experts concluded that it is better to avoid it.

On the one hand, the city was chosen as the cultural capital of Italy in 2025. And this should attract many tourists. On the other hand, the region is facing a serious water crisis. If the load on its water supply system is increased, it could lead to irreversible consequences for the local ecosystem and cultural heritage.

Agrigento is located on a hilltop on the southwestern coast of Sicily. Getting water here is not a new problem for the locals. It is delivered in tankers. However, the combination of climate change and prolonged drought exacerbated the water supply situation.

Small hotels and guesthouses are finding it particularly difficult to deal with the problem. Some of them limit bookings in August out of fear that they will not be able to provide visitors with the desired level of comfort. While large hotels can buy water from the mainland, small establishments do not have either the capacity to store it or the appropriate financial resources.

Moreover, some shops in Agrigento close in the summer heat, with households storing water for technical and domestic needs.

A combination of factors is blamed for the water crisis in Agrigento. The city's underground aqueduct system is aging and leaking. It also cannot cope with the supply of the required amount of water. Local residents blame the municipal authorities for not doing enough to improve the situation.

Despite discussions about modernizing the water supply network that began in 2011, there has been no progress. To solve the problem, the Italian government has allocated 20 million euros to purchase water tanks and dig new wells in Sicily, but as of July, only 17% of the planned work had been completed.

The drought also threatens the city's historical and cultural sites, including the Valley of the Temples. It is one of the most outstanding examples of ancient Greek art and architecture of Greater Greece and one of the main attractions of Sicily. In 2023, one million tourists visited the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento. However, Giuseppe Abbate, a professor of urban planning at the University of Palermo, says the drought threatens the "splendid agricultural landscape" in which it is inscribed.

In February, the authorities declared a "state of crisis and water emergency" in Agrigento. It will remain in effect until the end of the year. Abbate claims that the situation threatens to disrupt all activities and events dedicated to the city's status as the 2025 European Capital of Culture.

Many cities across Italy are experiencing severe droughts, but the situation in Sicily is one of the worst. The Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research has assigned it the highest level of danger. In the summer of 2024, the regional president of Sicily, Renato Schifani, said that the island's losses from crop failures, empty reservoirs, and the death of livestock had already exceeded one billion dollars - and that's without taking into account the losses of the tourism industry.

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