The territory of Palazzolo Acreide has been inhabited since prehistoric times, as evidenced by some findings discovered in the area, dating back to the Bronze Age and Iron Age. The golden age of the city began when the Corinthians from Syracuse founded their first colony Akrai in 664 -663 B.C., a city-fortress for the political and military control on the Sicilians of the Hyblaean Mountains. After sixteen hundred years of life it was destroyed by the Arabs in 827 A.D. The ruins covered with soil were brought to light in the first three decades of the 19th century. It is extended on an area of ​​about 35 hectares.
There are well preserved ruins: the small Greek theater (about 600 spectators) which was changed during the Roman- Imperial period; the Bouleuterion, the place of the board meetings; the remains of a temple of the 4th – 3rd century B.C., that was maybe dedicated to Aphrodite; two Latomies called “Intagliatelle” and “Intagliatae”, that are stone quarries from the Greek period which were used over the centuries as a necropolis, places of worship and houses; the Temple of Aphrodite was built in the 6th century and keeps only the basement blocks.
Besides Akrai, also the so-called Temples Ferali deserve to be mentioned: they are quarries opened in the rock, which witness the cult of the dead in the Hellenistic period. The Santoni were rock carvings of the 3rd century B.C., representing the most complex sacred area of ​​the ancient world dedicated to the worship of the goddess Cybele or Magna Mater.