The ancient Sicilian city of Agrigentum had passed after the fall of the Western Roman Empire into the hands of the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy and then the Eastern Roman Empire.

During this period, the inhabitants of Agrigentum largely abandoned the lower parts of the city and moved to the former acropolis, at the top of the hill.

The reasons for this move are unclear but were probably related to the destructive coastal raids of the Saracens and other peoples around this time.

In 828, the Saracens had captured the diminished remnant of the city.

They pronounced its name as Kerkent in Arabic; it was thus Sicilianized as "Girgenti".

(It will retain this name until 1927, when Benito Mussolini's government will reintroduce an Italianized version of the Latin name.)

Agrigento is captured in 1087 by the Normans under Count Roger, who establishes a Latin bishopric here.