Page 108 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Sicily

106  SICIL Y AREA B Y AREA

The street is lined with
18th-century patrician
residences such as Palazzo
Riccio di Morana and Palazzo
Fardella Fontana. Almost directly
opposite the 1621 Baro que
façade of Santa Maria d’Itria
are the steps leading to San
Domenico, built in the 14th
century and restructured in the
18th. Inside the church is the
sarcophagus of Manfred, natural
son of Frederick II (see p33).
Boats anchored at the port of Trapani P Corso Vittorio Emanuele
This is the main street in the old
p Trapani E Museo Pepoli town, lined with late Baroque
Via Conte Agostino Pepoli 200. buildings and San Lorenzo
Road map A2. * 70,000. Tel 0923-553 269. Open 9am–1:30pm
k Vincenzo Florio a Birgi (0923-842 Mon–Sat, 9am–12:30pm Sun & hols. Cathedral, which has a fine
502). V 892021. g 0923-871 922. & (free first week of the month). portico. The main features of the
n Town hall, phone enquiries only interior are the painted ceiling,
(0923-877 048/49). ( Thu. _ This museum was opened in stucco decoration and, in the
Processione dei Misteri (Good Friday). 1906 in the former Carmelite right-hand altar, a Crucifixion
monastery, thanks to Count attributed to Van Dyck.
The town was built on a Agostino Pepoli, who donated
narrow, curved promontory his private collection. A broad R Santuario di Maria
(hence the name, which polychrome marble staircase Santissima Annunziata
derives from the Greek word leads to the first floor, which Via Conte Agostino Pepoli. Tel 0923-
drepanon, or sickle) that juts has archaeological finds, 12th– 539 184. Open winter: 7am–noon,
out into the sea opposite the 18th century Sicilian painting, 4–7pm including hols; summer:
Egadi Islands. In ancient times jewellery and cera mics. The art 7am–noon, 4–8pm (7am–1pm,
Trapani was the port town produced in Trapani is interesting: 4–8pm hols). ∑ madonnadi
for Erice (see pp104–5). It wooden 16th-century angels, an trapani.org
flourished under the Cartha- 18th-century coral and alabaster Known as the Madonna di
ginians and languished under nativity scene, jewellery, clocks Trapani, this church was built by
the Vandals, Byzantines and with painted dials, tapestries the Carmelite fathers in 1224.
Saracens. The economy has with coral and majolica from The portal and part of the rose
always been linked to the Santa Maria delle Grazie. window are the only original
sea and reached its peak in elements remaining, as the
the 1600s and 1700s with P Via Garibaldi rest of the church is Baroque,
shipyards and tuna fishing. This is the street that leads to the thanks to restoration effected
The town now extends beyond old town. It begins in Piazza in 1714. Inside are the Cappella
the promontory to the foot Vittorio Veneto, the heart of dei Pescatori, the Cappella dei
of Monte San Giuliano and the town, with Palazzo d’Ali, Marinai, and the Cappella
the edge of the salt marshes. now the Town Hall. della Madonna di Trapani
The Salt Marshes
The Stagno and Trapani salt
marshes were exploited in
antiquity and reached the height
of their importance in the
19th century, when salt was
exported as far away as Norway. A workman at the Stagnone salt marsh
The long periods of sunshine
(five or six months a year) and the
impermeable nature of the land made these marshes very
productive, although activity has declined in the last 20 years.
At one time, windmills supplied energy for the Archimedes screws
used to take water from basin to basin; some of them have now
been restored. At Nubia the Museo delle Saline (Salt Marsh Museum;
www.museodelsale.it) is now open, and the Stagnone area is a
Windmills, used for draining water from fully fledged nature reserve. The seawater will be protected from
the basins pollution, and the age-old tradition of salt extraction will survive.

For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp202–3 and pp211–13

106-107_EW_Sicily.indd 106 11/3/16 2:09 PM
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.4)
Date 25th April 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm