TRAPANI - Trapani, located on a peninsula that juts out towards the Mediterranean, situated in the western end of Sicily, "is therefore twice as long as it is wide, and twice as wide in the east than as it is in the west ..." Trapani was thus described in the “Historia di Trapani” by the illustrious historian of the sixteenth century, “il Pugnatore”; it is said that the ancient Drepanum arose from the myth involving Ceres, goddess of the harvest who, in the desperate search for her abducted daughter Persephone, dropped the scythe that she had been holding in her hand right in the place where Trapani now stands. Founded by the ancient Elymians, the city is today the capital of the province and has always attracted travellers due to its mixture of many different attractions. Walking the streets you can see eighteenth-century palaces, impressive churches and shops of the young coral workers, the new blood of an ancient art that until recently seemed to have been forgotten and that since the second half of the 1500s, had made the city famous for its precious works in coral. Continuing towards the characteristic Piazza del Mercato del Pesce (Fish Market Square) called Bocceria in ancient times, one can catch a glimpse of daily street life, full of color and light.

ERICE - Erice rises 750 metres above sea level, for centuries men fought over this place. It was most likely founded by the mysterious Elymians, who organized their villages in inaccessible places on steep mountains, to be safe from possible enemy incursions. Called Iruka by the Sicanian- Elymians, Erech by the Punics, Eryx by the Greeks and Romans, Gebel -Hamid by the Muslims, Erice was renamed by the Normans as Mount S.Giuliano, in order to stop the pagan worship of Venus which had made the mountain famous all over the world; before this the mountain had been a place of worship and love with great sacrificial summer feasts that crowds of pilgrims flocked to. The village of Erice (renamed Erice in 1934) forms an equilateral triangle, where flowered courtyards enclosed within the walls of small houses open out onto cobbled, patterned streets. The Castello di Venere – Castle of Venus stands on the highest point of the village, upon the ruins of the temple, next to the Balio gardens. Erice is a great tourist attraction and is known as the "city of science". It is enlivened by local crafts shops where you can admire painted ceramics, hand woven carpets, and try traditional almond pastries.

MOZIA - The coast from Trapani to Marsala leads offers an extraordinary view, in which one can admire the salt pans and the reserve of the "Isole dello Stagnone" – "Stagnone Islands", a vast lagoon of 2000 hectares, including San Pantaleo (ancient Mozia), la scuola, Santa Maria and Isola Grande, a marine lagoon on which the islands, all private property except the smallest, have a succession of environments: salt marshes, salt marshes, freshwater pools, reeds, evergreen scrub. The natural vegetation differs according to the distance from the sea; along the coast you can find a large amount of seagrass and marine marigolds, which are present only in western Sicily. The wetlands of the Stagnone provide a home to millions of birds migrating from Africa (Herons, Black-winged Stilts, Avocets, kestrels). In the heart of the lagoon is the island of Mothia, an ancient Phoenician colony dating back to the eighth century BC, a trading center connecting routes to Spain and central Italy. Due to its excellent geographical position, in the centre of the Mediterranean, it became object of interest for the Greeks and Carthaginians who were fighting for dominance in Sicily. It was involved in these battles and finally destroyed in 397 BC when Dionysius the Elder, tyrant of Syracuse conquered Mozia and forced the inhabitants to flee the island, seeking refuge in the nearby Lylibeo. Mozia is an example of the perfect balance between landscape and monuments, during the 20th century, archaeological excavations were undertaken which brought to light many Phonecian artifacts and the statue of the "Youth with Tunic", which was discovered in 1979. All these artifaces are preserved in the Whitaker Villa which was made into a museum. In this magnificent Mediterranean garden some of the most beautiful places to admire are the necropolis, the mosaics, the "Tophet", a sacred area, where human sacrifices in honor of Baal and Astarte took place, the "Choton", a small artificial harbour probably used for loading and unloading goods, the "casa dei mosaici" – "mosaics house" and the numerous remains that enrich the island.

SEGESTA - Municipality of the Province of Trapani, Calatafimi is located on a hillside 300 metres above sea level, built in the twelfth century around the castle of Eufemeo, a Byzantine stronghold, it takes its name from the Arabs name for it: Kalat Al Fimi; under the Aragonese, who rebuilt the town and constructed a surrounding wall, it consolidated its strategic role. With the Counts of Modica, becomes feudal property and, with the victory of Garibaldi against the Bourbons (May 15, 1860) in Pianto Romano, its its name became part of history. Today Calatafimi, renamed Calatafimi - Segesta, still retains the image of an old farming village, the birthplace of Francesco Vivona, a great interpreter and translator of the Aeneid. It is worth visiting not only for its artistic heritage, but especially for the festival of SS. Crocifisso"celebrated in memory of some miraculous events linked to an ancient crucifix, which takes place every five years in May. The roots of the festival go back to 1728 when, disobeying the orders of the viceroy Caracciolo, the city workers with the protection of the church, succeeded in maintaining and continuing their customs.

SELINUNTE - Situated on a plateau about 30 metres above sea level, Selinunte takes its name the wild parsley called Selinon. It was founded by colonists from Megara Hyblaea led by the Oikistes Pammilos in the seventh century BC. Subsequent immigration of megaresi sicelioti settlers occurred both in the last decades of the seventh and for the entire sixth century until the beginning of the 5th century B.C. Selinunte attempted to found colonies in western Sicily (Eraclea Minoa). When, in the early fifth century war, broke out between the Greeks and the Carthaginians in Sicily, which ended with the battle of Himera in 480, Selinunte, oddly, preferred an alliance with Carthage. Selinunte had numerous and strong disagreements with Segesta up to 409, the year of its destruction by the Carthaginians themselves. Selinunte so found itsself subjected to the dominion of the Carthaginians, who fortified and rebuilt it, in the area where the acropolis once stood: there are the archaeological remains of an inhabited area with a mixture of Punic and Greek characteristics. The Carthaginian domination lasted until the Punic War. Carthage, in order to defend itself from Romans attacks, decided to concentrate its forces in Lylibeo, moving the population of Selinunte there, and destroying and abandoning the city. A major earthquake in the tenth or eleventh century, possibly reduced the ancient monuments in the city to a heap of ruins. In the second half of the sixteenth century, the city was rediscovered by the historian Thomas Fazello. In 1823 the British began archaeological excavations. A comprehensive program of study and research of the archaeological park and the construction of a museum is currently underway.

MARSALA - The origins of Marsala, a place of great artistic culture, were linked to those of Mothia when the people of Mozia escaped the massacre by Dionysius the Elder, tyrant of Syracuse, and founded the city. Today's Marsala stands on the promontory of the ancient Lilybeum was described as "resplendent urbs" as early as 76 BC by Cicero then superintendent of Lilibaeum and its history can be seen in rich remains of the presence of the Punic, Roman, Arab, and Norman domination. The name-Marsa Allah - God or the Port of Port of Ali, dates back to Arabic (IX century). Here at the end of the1700s on the initiative of a British entrepreneur John Woodhouse, the first factories for the production of "Marsala" wine were set up enriching the city with new and thriving commercial activity, guaranteeing the wine a great worldwide success at that time. The landing of Garibaldi and the Thousand in 1860, gave the city a leading role in the process of setting up national unity. The aerial bombardment of the 11 May 1943 brought death and destruction, this sacrfice gained the city the Gold Medal for civic value. A prestigious agricultural and industrial centre, Marsala is the destination of many visitors to discover itinerary which wind their way from the archaeological sites in the historic centre with the presence of churches, museums, to the "Salt and wine roads"