Gela, town, southern Sicily, Italy, on the Gulf of Gela (of the Mediterranean Sea) with a fertile plain (ancient Campi Geloi) to the north. It was founded by Cretan and Rhodian colonists in about 688 bc and sent forth colonists to found Acragas (now Agrigento, 45 miles [72 km] northwest) in about 581 bc. Gela enjoyed its greatest prosperity under the tyrant Hippocrates of Gela (498–491 bc), whose dominion extended over much of the island, but his even more powerful successor, Gelon, took possession of Syracuse unopposed and transferred his capital and half of the population there in 482. Gela later revived, but it was destroyed by the Carthaginians in 405 bc and abandoned by order of Dionysius I of Syracuse. The inhabitants returned and rebuilt the town but it was only refortified about 337 in the time of the Greek statesman Timoleon. In 311 bc the Syracusan tyrant Agathocles put to death more than 4,000 of the inhabitants, and, after its destruction by the Mamertini (Campanian mercenaries) in 281 bc, Phintias of Acragas transferred the remainder to the new town of Phintias (now Licata). Refounded in 1233 by Frederick II, the town was known as Terranova di Sicilia until 1928. In World War II Gela was one of the initial objectives of Allied landings in the invasion of Sicily.
An archaeological centre of great distinction, Gela’s ancient remains include a temple of Athena (5th century bc), Greek fortifications that provide evidence of rebuilding under Timoleon, and the acropolis with a “Timoleontean” quarter on the site of earlier sanctuaries. Vast quantities of rich, decorative terra-cotta revetments have been recovered, and Greek vases found at Gela are famous throughout Europe.
Gela is the centre of a cotton-growing region. Fishing is important, and petroleum deposits were discovered nearby in the 1950s and are today the basis of a large local petrochemical industry. Pop. (2007 est.) mun., 77,311.