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Erice

The medieval citadel of Erice is considered one of the most beautiful villages in Europe, it is certainly worth a thorough visit. Its foundation was almost certainly due to the Elimi people, who were the first to build a temple dedicated to the goddess Astarte. The current urban layout is from the medieval period, the numerous churches that characterize it are from the Baroque period. Erice is famous all over the world for the very high quality of the confectionery of conventual origins. The craftsmanship is rich and of high quality, to remember there is the production of Erice rugs, built on the traditional loom, and the manufacture of Erice ceramics. Fascinating is the presence of the Pepoli Castle, the Pepoli tower and what is called the castle of Venus, inside which there is still the ancient sacred well consecrated to the goddess Astarte. From its belvedere you can enjoy a 360 ° panorama of the province of Trapani and the Egadi islands and the gaze turns to the horizon and to the whole Sicilian channel.

Egadi Islands

The Egadi archipelago consists of the islands of Favignana, Levanzo, Marettimo and the islet of Formica. Human presence within the archipelago is very ancient, as evidenced by the archaeological site of the Grotta del Genovese on Levanzo. The beauty of its habitat makes it one of the most beautiful archipelagos in the Mediterranean. The uniqueness of the area is preserved by the presence of the Egadi Protected Marine Area, the largest in the Mediterranean.

The Natural reserve of the Stagnone and the island of Mozia

It extends along the western coast of Sicily in the municipality of Marsala, in the stretch of sea between Cape San Teodoro and Cape Boeo or Lilibeo, including the four islands of San Pantaleo (Mozia), Isola Grande, Schola and Santa Maria and the coastal salt pans of San Teodoro, Genna and Ettore Infersa. The reserve includes the 'Stagnone' (from which it takes its name) a lagoon, the largest in Sicily, characterised by shallow waters (1-2 m and often no more than 50 cm). As a result of movements of the lagoon sand due to underwater currents, Isola Grande was formed around two original islets. The birth of the island closed off a part of the sea that was originally open and here, as there were no currents necessary for exchange, the water became stagnant, with an above-normal temperature.

Marsala

It is the first municipality in the province of Trapani, the fifth in Sicily by population and the 64th by population in Italy.

It was given its name by the Arabs, who called it Marsà ‛Alī (Port of Alì) or Marsà Allah (Port of Allah), from which the city's name was derived.

Famous for the landing of Garibaldi and the Thousand on 11 May 1860 and for the production of the eponymous Marsala wine, for which it has been the City of Wine since 1987. It stands on the ruins of the ancient Punic city of Lilybaeum (Lilibeum in Latin), from whose name derives the appellation of lilibetani (as well as marsalesi) for its inhabitants.

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Mazara del Vallo

The old city centre, once enclosed within the Norman walls, includes numerous monumental churches, some dating back to the 11th century. It has the typical Islamic urban layout of the medinas, called Casbah (also Kasbah), whose narrow streets are a kind of trademark.

Selinunte

The city was short-lived (about 240 years). During this period, its population grew to 100,000.
The state the city is in today is not only due to its destruction by the Carthaginians, but also to earthquakes, centuries of neglect and severe plundering. Selinunte, a sub-foundation of Megara Hyblea, was founded in 650 B.C. (Diodorus Siculus), along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, between the two valleys of the Belice and Modione, on a site with no previous indigenous settlements. It quickly reached its peak in the 6th and 5th centuries BC; its wealth was perhaps due to the dominion it exercised over a vast territory. Selinunte is the westernmost Greek colony in Sicily, in direct contact with the area occupied by the Carthaginians; its entire history is conditioned by this border position, until the problem dissolved with the Roman conquest of Sicily.

Castelvetrano

The city probably arose due to a social transformation that took place after the Norman conquest (1130). Peasants began to populate the villages: the bourgeoisie was born, as in the rest of Italy and Europe. The existence of the town is documented from Angevin rule. However, the toponym Castrum Veteranum was already in use before the town was founded, perhaps to indicate a crossroads. In 1299 Castelvetrano was granted to the Tagliavia family, the future princes of the town, whose surname would change over time to Aragona and Pignatelli. Between the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th century, Castelvetrano became the centre of the Tagliavia-Aragona family's possessions, enriching itself with numerous works of art. In 1522, King Charles V of Spain elevated the town to county status; in 1564, his son Philip II raised it to principality. Under Spanish rule Castelvetrano experienced a period of famine and epidemics in the 17th century. During the Risorgimento Castelvetrano revolted twice (1820 and 1848). In 1860 some people from Castelvetrano joined Garibaldi's Thousand.

Gibellina

After the earthquake of 1968 and the devastation, reconstruction of the town was slowly begun. However, instead of rebuilding in the vicinity of ancient Gibellina, it was resumed some twenty kilometres downstream. The choice of site could have followed the logic of the proximity to the motorway being built to Mazara del Vallo, were it not for the fact that the newly built land belonged to the brothers Ignazio and Nino Salvo, mafia bosses. Gibellina nuova was therefore built on the territory of the municipality of Salemi, in contrada Salinella, following a vote by the town council. For the reconstruction of the town, the former mayor of the town, Ludovico Corrao, had the enlightened idea of 'humanising' the territory by calling several world-famous artists such as Pietro Consagra and Alberto Burri to Gibellina; the latter refused to place one of his works in the new urban context that was being built and created a 'Grande Cretto' in the old Gibellina, in memory of the earthquake that destroyed it. The mayor's appeal was also answered by Mario Schifano, Andrea Cascella, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Mimmo Paladino, Franco Angeli and Leonardo Sciascia. The city immediately became an immense laboratory of artistic experimentation and planning, in which artists and valuable works renewed the urban space according to an innovative perspective.

Segesta

The date of the foundation is unknown, but documents show that the city was inhabited in the 9th century BC. The Greek historian Thucydides narrates that Trojan refugees crossed the Mediterranean Sea to Sicily and founded Segesta, called Aegesta, and Erice. These refugees took the name of Elymians. According to myth, Segesta was founded by Aceste (who was its first king), son of the Trojan noblewoman Aegesta and the river god Crimiso. Virgil reports the legend that Segesta was founded by Aeneas to rest the old men and women, after they had set fire to the ships shortly before resuming their voyage.

Alcamo

An important agricultural centre and industrial hub, it stands at the foot of Mount Bonifato. It is one of Sicily's largest centres for the wine trade. Agricultural products include olives, cereals, melons, table and wine grapes. Cattle and sheep farms are also present. The name Alcamo is of Arab origin, Manzil Alqamah, (Alqamah-name of a very poisonous watermelon, Manzil-casale-station) built in the 12th century along the trade route from Palermo to the coast. Between the 15th and 17th centuries, the city developed due to the settlement of numerous religious groups that pushed expansion beyond the city walls. The city became the property of the Counts of Modica until the early 19th century; the feudal character is still visible in the numerous remains of stately homes. In 1860, Baron Giuseppe Triolo di Sant'Anna, at his own expense, organised the Picciotti squads that helped the 'Mille': it was in Alcamo that Garibaldi appointed the Sicilian Francesco Crispi 'Secretary of State for Sicily'. In the monumental area, the Castle of the Counts of Modica, built in the 14th century, has a rhomboid plan, with two quadrangular and two cylindrical towers; mullioned windows with two lights in Gothic style can still be found in the northern part. The interior of the imposing Mother Church is rich in important works of art, such as those by the Gagini family and Serpotta, and frescoes by G. Borremans. Remains of a 14th-century thermal building, the 'fontanazza' can be found on nearby Mount Bonifato. Illustrious personalities include Cielo D'Alcamo, to whom the town has dedicated a square, an important poet of vernacular literature (mid 13th century) and author of the well-known 'Rosa Fresca Aulentissima'.

Castellammare del Golfo

Castellammare originated as Emporium Segestanorum (port of the nearby Segesta), until the arrival of the Arabs its history is identified with that of the city of Elymium. It is assumed that the emporium already existed from at least the beginning of the 5th century BC. Evidence to this effect is to be found in the writings of Herodotus as well as in those of Diodorus Siculus and Thucydides, who, with regard to the Athenian expedition to Sicily in 415 B.C., speaks several times of ships going to or coming from Segesta. However, it is Strabo, in his Geography, and the geographer Ptolemy who make explicit reference to the port of Segesta, but who gives an incorrect location of the site, perhaps due to a mere clerical error in the transmission of the text.

Scopello

The present village dates back to the 17th century and is divided into two parts: a baglio, which tradition indicates as being of Norman date, but dating from the 18th century, and a small square with the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, parish church since 1961, and a few houses. Ferdinand II of Bourbon elected the Scopello area, with the nearby forest of the same name, to the rank of royal hunting reserve, visiting it twice in 1830 and 1859. Because of these visits, as the unification of Italy was close, with the Expedition of the Thousand, the people of Scopello sided with the Bourbons, so much so that they engaged in a battle, between December 1862 and January 1863, with the Piedmontese forces, who were not easily able to settle in the village. The Scopello hunting reserve was assigned to a state company that had the task of disposing of the assets of the old Bourbon state and was bought at very low prices by mafia affiliates from Castellammare del Golfo who had supported the united cause and then resold the land at market prices. The tuna fishery in Scopello is one of the most important and oldest in the whole of Sicily: the first buildings date back to the 13th century, the actual tuna fishery was built in the 15th century by Giovanni Sanclemente and extended by the Sanclemente family during the 16th century; it then passed to the Society of Jesus and finally to the Florio family.

The Natural reserve of the Zingaro

The reserve extends in the western part of the Gulf of Castellammare, in the peninsula of San Vito Lo Capo overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea between Castellammare del Golfo and Trapani (geographical coordinates. The territory falls partly in the municipality of San Vito Lo Capo and partly in the municipality of Castellammare; it extends along 7 km of coastline and almost 1,700 hectares of unspoiled nature. The coast is made up of Quaternary limestone and dolomitic Mesozoic limestone reliefs, with cliffs that from a maximum height of 913 m (Monte Speziale ) slope steeply towards the sea, interspersed with numerous coves.

The Natural reserve of Monte Cofano

Monte Cofano is a mountainous promontory of calcareous nature, with a characteristic triangular shape overlooking the sea, which reaches 659 m in height. It is located on the coast of the province of Trapani, at the eastern end of the Gulf of Bonagia. It is included in the municipality of Custonaci, along the coast that leads from Trapani to San Vito Lo Capo. The Reserve area extends for 537.5 hectares, of which 325.5 are zone A and 185 zone B or pre-reserve. In its ambit there is a small seasonal wet area, a torrential gorge (Gole di Cipollazzo) and numerous karst phenomena linked to the remodeling of the limestone rock by the water, both on the surface (sinkholes and sinkholes) and in depth (caves).