Things To Do in Erice

Whether you come up to Erice by road or cable car, you will arrive at Porta Trapani, one of three entrance gates of the city (the other two are Porta Spada and Porta Spagnola, farther north). The 12th-century Porta Trapani is imbedded in the Elymian-Punic walls, an extensive defense barrier laid out by the Elymians (the ancient inhabitants of western Sicily) around 1200 B.C. and later fortified by the Carthaginians from North Africa to guard the city from attackers coming from the west.

Steep, cobblestone Via Vittorio Emanuele leads past churches and monasteries to the town’s high point and central square Piazza Umberto I. From there, Via Guarnotti leads through Piazza San Giuliano to the beautiful Giardino del Balio, surrounding the Norman-era Castello di Venere. A cliffside promenade beneath the castle affords the most spectacular views in western Sicily, all the way to Tunisia, a distance of 170km (106 miles), on a clear day. The gardens are always open.

Sicily’s Pastry Capital

Erice is renowned throughout Sicily for its pastries, refined by cloistered nuns from the 14th to the 18th century. Maria Grammatico, raised in the nearby San Carlo convent, became famous in Italy when she wrote her autobiography, Bitter Almonds. Her crunchy almond cookies, rum- or orange-filled marzipan balls, and confections fashioned from chocolate-covered almond paste at Pasticceria Grammatico (Via Vittorio Emanuele 14; tel. 0923/869-390) are a modern legend. Pasticceria San Carlo (Via S. Domenico 18, tel. 0923/869-586) does not enjoy the same celebrity status, but the offerings are also beautiful and tempting. Both can supply you with a mixed assortment of cookies and other treats to fortify a walk around town.

Along the West Coast

Riserva Naturale dello Zingaro & San Vito Lo Capo

The tiny town of Scopello, 35km (21 miles) directly east of Trapani, is the beginning of the most beautiful stretch of coastline in Sicily, running north for 12km/7[bf]1/2 miles up to the dramatic bluffs of San Vito Lo Capo. Beaches here can be impossibly crowded in summer, but they’re paradisiacal, alternating sand and pebble strands washed by waters as clear and warm as the Caribbean. At the edge of Scopello, the Tonnara di Scopello—an abandoned 13th-century tuna-processing plant—is an especially idyllic spot to swim, a sparkling cove surrounded by wind-sculpted rocks. Much of the land is set aside as the Riserva Naturale dello Zingaro (tel. 0924/35108), the first designated wildlife area in Sicily, covering nearly 1,600 hectares (3,954 acres) of Mediterranean maquis and coastline. Within the reserve, the Grotta dell’Uzzo, a cave that served as a dwelling in Paleolithic times, is now a refuge for six different types of bats (off-limits to all but sanctioned naturalists). Motorized vehicles are prohibited within the reserve—the only transport is by mule.

The Salt Marshes

Stretching from Trapani to Marsala along route SP21, the salt pans skirting the coast have been harvested since antiquity. For millennia, salt was used as a preservative for perishable food and for the Romans as payment for mercenaries (the word “salary” is from the Latin salaries meaning “soldier's allowance for the purchase of salt”). The area is now protected as the Riserva Naturale Orientata Saline di Trapani e Paceco (tel. 0923/867-700), covering 1,000 hectares (2,471 acres). The horizon is broken by red-and-white stone windmills, and in the late afternoon migrating birds perform spectacular in-flight choreographies.

Salt of the Earth

When the Carthaginians first landed in the area from North Africa they saw the potential for salt production and created basins from which to harvest the valuable commodity. The process exploits the high level of salinity in the seawater and the wind and sun that contribute to the evaporation process. In mid- to late winter, water is pumped into the pans through a canal. Over the next few months the water is left to evaporate, when it assumes a reddish color dense with mineral pigment. Around July, just as the water reaches a sluggish consistency, the salt is raked, harvested, and brought onto dry land to complete the exsiccation process. What look like little salt huts line the road, covered in protective terracotta tiles. Once completely dry, the salt is cleansed of debris and packaged.