Surroundings

The salt pans of the lagoon were elected FAI 'Place of the Heart', winning the special EXPO 2015 ranking. An extraordinary lagoon, where history, nature and archaeology find a perfect synthesis and allow the visitor to have different, unique and suggestive experiences.
The lagoon salt pans are located in western Sicily, on the coastline between Trapani and Marsala. A unique area opposite the island of Mothia, along the famous 'salt road', which offers visitors a variety of opportunities to visit and stay.

The Faraglioni and the 'sunken museum', the 'tonnara' and the 'baglio’ (fortified farm with large courtyard). Scopello is an ancient seaside village that seems to have sprung up on the site of the mythical city of Cetaria (whose name may derive from the abundance of tuna that populate the sea near the Faraglioni).
The sheltered position of the Faraglioni has made this place an important anchorage point since antiquity, which can be seen from the large number of artefacts found on the seabed of this stretch of water. These are amphorae and other Greek, Punic, African and Spanish ceramic remains.

It is in the centre of the largest archaeological park in the Mediterranean with columns and ruins of colossal Greek temples. Temple 'C' is one of the oldest existing examples of Doric architecture, dating back to the first half of the 6th century BC. Temple 'E' is the most impressive, given its almost complete reconstruction.
Temple 'D' is the most archaic, built around the middle of the 6th century B.C. a short distance from Temple 'C', and is located in the Acropolis. On the eastern hill stand two more Temples 'F' and 'G', the latter being one of the largest in classical antiquity.

Of Elymian origin, Segesta is embedded in a system of hills that enclose its precious Temple and the Theatre.
The Sicilian Doric temple from the 5th century BC stands intact and majestic on a hillock in the centre of a picturesque valley.
The Greek Theatre from the 3rd century BC, carved into the rock, overlooks the summit of Monte Barbaro where, every two years, theatrical performances evoke an atmosphere of times gone by!

On top of Monte San Giuliano, in a splendid panoramic position overlooking Trapani, sits the city of Erice.
Erice was populated by the Elims who erected there the temple dedicated to the cult of Venus.
On the ruins of the Temple still stands the Castle of Venus, fortified during the Norman domination, adjacent to the Balio gardens dominated by medieval towers.

The charm and beauty of the first oriented nature reserve. The stretch of dolomitic limestone rocks that makes up the Reserve runs in the western part of the Gulf of Castellammare, along the eastern flank of the Capo San Vito peninsula overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea, between Castellammare del Golfo and Trapani.

Mazara del Vallo, the city of 100 churches. Home to the largest fishing fleet in the Mediterranean, Mazara lies on the left bank of the mouth of the river Mazaro, along the western coast of Sicily. The historic fish market is worth a visit. The old historic centre, once enclosed within the Norman walls, includes numerous monumental churches, some dating back to the 11th century. It has the typical features of the typical Islamic urban layout of the medinas, called Casbah (also Kasbah), of which the narrow streets are a kind of trademark. t also owes its fame to the Dancing Satyr, exhibited in the Civic Museum.

Favignana, Levanzo e Marettimo can be seen from Trapani and the entire southern coastline. You get there by hydrofoil from the port of Trapani or Marsala.
They constitute the Nature Reserve of the Aegadian Islands because they are a delicate ecosystem, still virtually untouched. The history of the Aegadian Islands has very ancient origins: signs of metal age cultures are still visible. Inhabited since prehistoric times and also known in classical times, these islands belonged to the Pallavicini-Rusconi family until the 19th century, when ownership of the Tonnara passed to the Florios and then to the Parodi.

The Madonna della Cava is the Patron Saint of the city of Marsala. It has its sanctuary in a cave in the ‘Porticella‘ area, where the simulacrum of the Madonna was found inside a well in the early 16th century. It is celebrated on 19 January.
The image of Our Lady appeared in a dream to Father Leonardo Savina, a friar of the Order of Augustinian Hermits: she urged him to dig at the quarry to find the ancient Simulacrum on which to build a Church. A simulacrum that was hidden by the Christians of Lilyba in order to protect it from persecution. It was only in 1518, following a collapse, that the statue, a small sculpture 18 cm high, was found.