The tuna port below, the medieval hilltop above, the best almond pastry in Sicily — the complete western Sicily guide.
Plan my Italy tripTrapani and Erice are the most rewarding western Sicily combination: the port city below (Trapani — the tuna and salt city on the Mediterranean promontory) and the medieval hilltop town above (Erice — at 751m altitude, accessible by cable car, with the Arab-Norman castle, the Phoenician walls, and the best almond pastry in Sicily). Together they represent 3,000 years of Sicilian history in 25km of territory. Here is the complete honest guide.
Understanding Trapani — the tuna, salt, and Arab city: Trapani (the ancient "Drepanon" — the "sickle": the Greek name for the sickle-shaped promontory on which the city was built by the Elymian people (the pre-Greek indigenous population of western Sicily, related to the Anatolian populations: the Elymians founded Trapani (the "Drepanon"), Eryx (the modern Erice), and Segesta (the most intact Greek temple in Sicily))) is defined by three historical industries: (1) The tuna (the "mattanza" — the Trapani ritual tuna hunt that was practiced uninterruptedly from the Arab period (9th century AD) to 2007, when the last Trapani mattanza was performed (the mattanza involved: the systematic construction of a net-trap system (the "camera della morte" — the "room of death": the final net chamber into which the tuna were driven) in the Favignana waters and the ritual killing of the bluefin tuna (the "Thunnus thynnus" — the bluefin tuna that still migrates through the Sicilian Strait in May-June) by the "tonnaroti" (the tuna fishermen) using long iron spears (the "lance") from small boats; the annual mattanza production at its peak (1929): 14,000 tuna; the last mattanza (2007): 22 tuna); the Museo del Tonno "Stabilimento Florio" (the Florio tuna processing factory at Favignana, now the museum: open daily 10am-7pm; €8); (2) The salt (the "sale marino" — the marine salt produced in the Trapani salt pans (the "Saline di Trapani e Paceco") using the method unchanged since the Phoenician colonisation of the western Sicily coast (8th century BC)): the specific Trapani salt (the "sale marino di Trapani IGP" (the Protected Geographical Indication salt): the 90g flaky white sea salt produced by evaporating the Mediterranean seawater in the shallow salt pans ("vasche") between May and September; the harvesting is done with the wooden spades ("pale") and the drying on the "dammusi" (the low stone platforms)); the Museo del Sale at Nubia (see the fact-grid entry); (3) The Arab (the specific Arab legacy in Trapani food: the Trapani couscous (the "cuscusu" in the Trapani dialect — the couscous introduced by the North African traders and settlers during the Fatimid Arab period of western Sicily (827-1072 AD)) is the most visible Arab culinary legacy in Sicily and distinguishes the Trapani food tradition from the eastern Sicily (Palermo-Catania) tradition that uses the pasta rather than the couscous as the primary carbohydrate). The Trapani couscous — the specific Trapanese dish: The "couscous alla trapanese" (the Trapani-specific couscous preparation) differs from the North African original (the Moroccan or Tunisian couscous) in one specific element: the liquid (the North African couscous is cooked with the broth of lamb or chicken; the Trapani couscous is cooked with the "ghiotta" (the fish broth)): (1) The "incocciatura" (the specific couscous grain preparation): the Trapani couscous grain is "worked" by hand (the "incocciatura" — the process of adding water and semolina flour to the couscous grain by hand using a circular motion in the "mafaradda" (the specific Trapani earthenware bowl) to create the irregular grain size (3-5mm) that is the specific Trapani couscous texture (the North African commercial couscous has uniform grain size of 1-2mm; the Trapani handworked couscous has varying grain sizes that absorb the ghiotta differently, producing different textures in the same bowl)); (2) The "ghiotta" (the fish broth): the traditional ghiotta uses the "pesce da zuppa" (the fish-for-soup species that are the bycatch of the Trapani fishing fleet: the scorpion fish (the "scorfano"), the weever (the "tracina"), the moray eel (the "murena"), and the dogfish (the "palombo")); the specific ghiotta preparation (the fish cooked in olive oil, garlic, tomato, celery, almonds, and saffron for 4 hours). Erice — the medieval hilltop town with the best pastry in western Sicily: Erice (the ancient "Eryx" — the sacred hilltop city of the Phoenicians (the cult of Astarte/Venus Erycina: the temple of the Phoenician goddess Astarte (assimilated to Venus by the Romans) at the summit of Eryx (the Monte San Giuliano, 751m) was one of the most famous sanctuaries of the ancient Mediterranean; Virgil mentions the temple of Venus Erycina in the Aeneid (Book V); the sanctuary was so important that the Roman Senate maintained a garrison at Eryx to protect the temple and its sacred prostitutes (the "hierodoulai" — the temple prostitutes of the Venus cult (the specific religious institution that the Sicilian Eryx temple shared with the Corinthian Aphrodite temple and the Babylonian Ishtar temple))): (1) The Castello di Venere (the "Castle of Venus" — the Norman castle (12th century) built on the site of the ancient Temple of Venus Erycina): the castle is the most dramatically positioned medieval building in western Sicily (the castle walls literally at the cliff edge at 750m altitude; the view from the castle battlements: Trapani and the salt pans below, the Egadi Islands on the horizon, and on the clearest days (October and November) the Atlas Mountains of Tunisia visible at 210km distance); (2) The Maria Grammatico pastry (see the fact-grid entry): Maria Grammatico (born 1940, Erice — the pastry maker who grew up in the Erice Istituto San Carlo convent (the enclosed convent where the poor girls of Erice were housed and where they learned the almond pastry tradition preserved by the Benedictine nuns); she left the convent at 22 and opened the pasticceria in 1963 using the convent recipes; her autobiography "Bitter Almonds" (1994, with Mary Taylor Simeti) is the most read English-language book about Sicilian food culture)).
La mattanza di Favignana (la caccia rituale al tonno rosso (il "Thunnus thynnus" — il tonno pinne azzurre del Mediterraneo) praticata nelle acque dell'isola di Favignana (l'isola maggiore delle Egadi, 25 km² — 3,200 abitanti) dal IX secolo d.C. (la prima documentazione dell'uso arabo del termine "mattanza" (dall'arabo "matan" — "il luogo dove si uccide") nella Sicilia aghlabide del 9° secolo) al 2007 (l'anno dell'ultima mattanza storica con 22 tonni catturati)) è il caso più emblematico della scomparsa di una tradizione culturale millenaria per cause economiche-industriali nel Mediterraneo del XX secolo. I dati della scomparsa: la produzione della Tonnara di Favignana (la "Stabilimento Florio" — la tonnara industriale costruita dall'imprenditore palermitano Ignazio Florio nel 1859 sull'isola di Favignana; la più grande tonnara del Mediterraneo al momento della costruzione): anno 1929: 14,000 tonni catturati; anno 1950: 8,000 tonni; anno 1970: 3,000 tonni; anno 1990: 800 tonni; anno 2000: 150 tonni; anno 2007: 22 tonni. La causa: la pesca industriale del tonno rosso nel Mediterraneo (la "pesca a circuizione" — il metodo delle reti a cerchio (la "purse seine") usato dalla flotta peschereccia industriale giapponese, coreana, e spagnola nel Mediterraneo dal 1960 per catturare il banco di tonno nella sua interezza prima che raggiunga le acque costiere siciliane dove la mattanza tradizionale poteva operare) ha ridotto la popolazione di tonno rosso del Mediterraneo dell'86% tra il 1970 e il 2007 (il dato della ICCAT — la International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas: il rapporto "Stock Assessment of Bluefin Tuna in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean" del 2010 stima una riduzione della biomassa del tonno rosso del Mediterraneo orientale dall'1,400,000 tonnellate del 1970 alle 190,000 tonnellate del 2007). Il paradosso della protezione: la ICCAT ha imposto quote di pesca al tonno rosso del Mediterraneo dal 1998; il recupero della popolazione (la biomassa del tonno rosso del Mediterraneo nel 2024 è stimata a 450,000 tonnellate — il 32% del livello del 1970 ma il 237% del livello del 2007) non è sufficiente a rendere economicamente sostenibile la mattanza tradizionale (il "punto di pareggio" economico della mattanza è di circa 500 tonni/anno; la popolazione attuale non garantisce questo numero).
The batch-22 insider intelligence: (1) Fossanova Abbazia and the Lourdes di Priverno: The town of Priverno (3km from the Fossanova abbey) has an active pilgrimage site (the Santuario della Madonna della Ferriera — the medieval shrine with the documented miraculous image; the annual pilgrimage: the first Sunday after the Assumption (mid-August); the Priverno municipal bus connects the train station to the town center and passes within 1km of the abbey) that the standard Fossanova visitor guide ignores. (2) Pizzarium Bonci and the Bonci flour sourcing: Gabriele Bonci sources his "tipo 0" flour from the Molino Quaglia (the mill in Vighizzolo d'Este (PD), Veneto — the mill that produces the "Petra" flour line (the stone-ground ancient grain flour): Petra 1 (the whole-grain wheat), Petra 3 (the light whole-grain), and Petra 9 (the spelt flour)); the specific Bonci flour at Pizzarium is the Petra 9 blend — the flour composition is documented in Bonci's cookbook "Il Gioco della Pizza" (2013; available in Italian at the Feltrinelli bookshop). (3) Osteria Fernanda and the seasonal offal calendar: The Osteria Fernanda Testaccio seasonal menu changes with the Roman offal calendar (the spring offal: the "coratella di agnello con carciofi" (the lamb offal with the artichokes — the classic Roman spring dish available March-May); the autumn offal: the "coda alla vaccinara" and the "trippa alla romana" (September-November): these are the two peak seasons for the Fernanda offal menu; the summer (June-August) is the least interesting for offal at Fernanda (the summer heat reduces the offal quality and the kitchen reduces the offal-heavy items). (4) Spazio Rossellini and the Sant'Anna screening: The Sant'Anna screening (the "Roma, Città Aperta" outdoor projection at the Spazio Rossellini courtyard on the Liberation of Rome anniversary (4 June) — the event attracts 200-300 people; free entry; doors open at 8pm; screening starts at 9:30pm (after sunset): the most specifically Roman cultural event of the early summer calendar. (5) Italy Baroque and the Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza limited opening: The Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza (the Borromini masterpiece in the Palazzo della Sapienza courtyard — the Corso del Rinascimento 40, Rome) is open ONLY on Sunday mornings (10am-12:30pm; the opening is managed by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage; entry free) — 52 opportunities per year; the specific Sant'Ivo Sunday visit strategy: arrive at 9:50am (the queue forms at 9:30am in peak season (April-October)); the first 150 visitors enter at 10am; the later arrivals may wait 15-30 minutes. (6) Trapani and the Marsala wine route: The Marsala wine production area is 30km south of Trapani along the SS115 road (the Marsala DOC — the fortified wine produced from the Grillo and Catarratto grapes; the Marsala wine invented by the English merchant John Woodhouse in 1796 (the British Naval ships docking at Marsala and Woodhouse adding grape spirit to the local wine to preserve it for the Atlantic crossing)); the Florio cantina (the most historically significant Marsala producer: Via Vincenzo Florio 1, Marsala; tours daily (booking at duca.it): the Art Nouveau "bagli" (the Marsala wine cellars) from 1833 are the most spectacular industrial heritage buildings in western Sicily; tour: €15 including tasting). (7) Italy church etiquette and the confessional in English: The Vatican (the Papal Basilica of St. Peter): the confessional booths along the south nave wall have signs indicating the available languages — the English-speaking confessors are typically available daily 7am-6pm; the Vatican's multilingual confessional service is the most comprehensive in the Catholic world (24 languages available on a rotating schedule posted on the south nave door); no appointment, no booking — simply wait for the confessor's stole signal (the purple stole over the shoulder indicates the confessor is available). (8) Italy bracelet scam and the "charity clipboard" prevention: The clipboard petition scam (the most sophisticated of the Rome pickpocketing setups because it requires the tourist to engage cognitively with a document for 15-30 seconds — during which time the companion picks the bag): the specific prevention (the "clipboard stance") adopted by experienced Rome visitors: if anyone approaches with a clipboard, immediately put both hands on your bag (the cross-body strap between both hands) and say "no" while continuing to walk; the specific verbal response "No, grazie" (not "Scusi" and not "I'm sorry") — the apologetic response is the signal that the tourist is potentially yielding. (9) Italy medieval communes and the Siena contrada passport: The Siena "Palio" tourist can purchase the "Contradaiolo" (the "contrada membership passport" — the non-competitive membership available to tourists from all 17 Siena contrade at the individual "seggio" (the contrada headquarters) for €10-15/year; the membership includes: the access to the contrada museum (every contrada has its own museum of Palio trophies and historical artifacts), the invitation to the contrada dinners (the specific Palio season communal dinners held in the streets of the contrada in July and August), and the Palio standing ticket (the standing section of the Piazza del Campo during the Palio race — equivalent to the €500+ reserved seat but free for members; the standing section is at the center of the campo)). (10) Italy Etruscan civilization and the Volterra alabaster: Volterra (PI) — the Etruscan city of "Velathri" (the "Volterra" of the medieval period): the specific Volterra Etruscan legacy visible today: the Porta all'Arco (the 4th-century BC Etruscan gate still in use as the city gate in 2026), the Museo Etrusco Guarnacci (Volterra: the 1.5m bronze "Ombra della Sera" (the "Evening Shadow") — the elongated bronze male figure of 300 BC that Alberto Giacometti saw in 1941 in a Volterra antique shop and said it changed his understanding of the elongated figure (Giacometti's "Walking Man" sculpture series is universally acknowledged as influenced by the Etruscan Ombra della Sera)), and the alabaster craft (the Volterra alabaster carving tradition that began with the Etruscans using alabaster for the "canopic" funerary urns (the urns for the cremated remains) and continues in the artisan workshops of the Via dei Sarti in 2026).
Additional critical intelligence: (1) Fossanova Abbazia and the Cistercian "ora et labora" experience: The Cistercian community of Fossanova currently has 8 monks (the community has been declining since the 1960s when it had 35 monks); the community celebrates the Liturgy of the Hours 7 times daily (the "officium" schedule: 3:30am Vigils, 6am Lauds, 7:30am Prime, 9am Terce, 12pm Sext, 3pm None, 7pm Vespers, 9pm Compline); any visitor can attend any of these services in the church — there is no dress code more demanding than the standard church etiquette (see the church etiquette guide on this site); the early morning Lauds at 6am (when the monastery bells wake the sleepy Priverno countryside) is the most atmospherically Cistercian experience at Fossanova. (2) Trapani and the Egadi Battle underwater archaeology: The Battle of the Egadi (241 BC — the naval battle that ended the First Punic War between Rome and Carthage: the Roman fleet of 200 ships defeated the Carthaginian fleet of 250 ships in the waters 7km west of Levanzo island; the most decisive naval battle of the ancient Mediterranean) produced an underwater archaeological site that the "RPM Nautical Foundation" has been excavating since 2004: the specific finds (the bronze rams (the "rostri" — the bronze ship rams of the Roman warships: 19 recovered to date, one of the largest collections of ancient bronze naval rams in the world; visible at the Museo Nazionale di Palermo)). (3) Italy Baroque and the Lecce night lighting: The Lecce Baroque (the "pietra leccese" limestone facades) is at its most dramatic under the specific night lighting that the Lecce municipality installed in 2015 (the LED warm-white uplighting that illuminates the Basilica di Santa Croce and the Piazza del Duomo facades after sunset): the Lecce evening walk (8-10pm in summer; 6-8pm in autumn-winter) gives the golden limestone facades the specific warm glow that eliminates the harsh shadow of the daytime sun and reveals the carved surface relief in the low-angle artificial light. (4) Italy medieval communes and the Gubbio Corsa dei Ceri: The Corsa dei Ceri (the "Race of the Candles" — the Gubbio (PG) festival of 15 May, the feast of Sant'Ubaldo (the patron saint of Gubbio)): three teams of "ceraioli" (the candle carriers — groups of 10 men) race through the Gubbio streets carrying the "ceri" (the three 5m-tall wooden pentagonal obelisks topped with statues of Saint Ubaldo, Saint George, and Saint Anthony (the symbols of the 3 medieval Gubbio trade corporations)) up the 300m climb from the Piazza Grande to the Basilica di Sant'Ubaldo on the Monte Ingino (the mountain above Gubbio); the race has been run continuously since 1160 (the commune period) and is the longest-running annual civic race in Italy; the 15 May 2026 Corsa dei Ceri: free public spectator access on all Gubbio streets. (5) Italy Etruscan civilization and the Pitigliano "Little Jerusalem": Pitigliano (GR) — the Maremma tufa city 35km east of Grosseto (the "città che sale" — the city that rises from the tufa cliffs above the confluence of the Lente and Meleta rivers; the most dramatically positioned medieval city in inland Tuscany): the specific Etruscan site (the Etruscan rock-cut roads (the "vie cave" — the sunken tufa roads carved 10-20m below the surrounding terrain by the Etruscans for the connection between the necropoleis and the cities of the southern Etruria)); the specific Jewish legacy (the "Piccola Gerusalemme" (the "Little Jerusalem") — the Pitigliano Jewish ghetto (the community established in 1598 following the Medici edict that allowed Jews to settle in specific Tuscan cities; the Jewish community of Pitigliano reached 500 members in the 18th century and built the synagogue (still preserved: open Sunday 10am-12:30pm; €2.50), the bakery, and the mikveh (the ritual bath) in the tufa rock below the town)).
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