'A remarkable scholarly achievement, this massive book is the product of a specific German brand of classical archaeology, antike Bauforschung, which brings together the study of architecture and archaeological fieldwork. The author, the vice-director emeritus of the Rome branch of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) and one of the most respected and authoritative experts on the Western Greeks, is a prominent representative of this scholarly tradition, which largely defines the scope of the book. Mertens brings together and discusses what is known of the architecture and urbanism of the Greek cities of Sicily and Southern Italy from the eighth century to the end of the fifth. In practical terms, this means that the book covers in detail temples - almost the only well-represented kind of monumental architecture - and urban footprints of the Greek cities, with close attention to developments over time. (...) The sheer amount of evidence and bibliography that went into this book is striking, and it would by itself justify its presence on the shelves of every scholar of Greek architecture or of the history and culture of the Western Greeks (...). In conclusion, this book is clearly destined to become a standard work of reference, especially as far as monumental architecture is concerned, for decades to come. Scholars and students should be grateful to Dieter Mertens for undertaking this task and bringing it to completion in such a remarkable way. ' (NINO LURAGHI in BMCR 2010.08.22).