The Village of Erice

The tour of the charming little Italian villages continues, today The Golden Scope brings you in Sicily, an island which, thanks to its geographical location in the Mediterranean Sea has been the heart of many ancient civilizations.

Erice, the village that we visit today, was founded, according to the historian Thucydides greek, by Trojan exiles who, fleeing across the Mediterranean, decided to settle there mingling with the local population. Later there were the Arabs, the Normans, the Spaniards, each of these civilizations contributed to its development.

The charming old town, which has only 512 permanent inhabitants, is located on the homonymous Mount Erice in more than 700 meters above sea level and this prime location offers visitors the wonderful views.

Walking through its streets, it is fascinating to think that the ancient Greeks believed that from Mount Erix the goddess Aphrodite protected sailors and the Phoenicians, who worshiped Astarte the goddess of fertility, built a temple in her honor.

The ancient Romans believed instead that Venus of Erice protected, from the sacred peak of Mount, who went to the sea in the night and for this reason they lit a large fire that served as a beacon for sailors of the time ….

I would not to appear this article as a treaty of ancient history but, it is very difficult to describe the charm of Erice… I think that these few lines, with the photos, is the only way to pay homage at this wonderful Sicilian village.

Precious gem of this village is the Castle of Venus with the adjacent Balio, a beautiful garden where you can enjoy wonderful views: on one side the Tyrrhenian coast with the Gulf of Trapani and the other, the port of Trapani and the Aegadian, but, it’s possible, on a clear day, to see the coast of Africa, too.

The legend tells that the castle was built by the Normans with the material from the Roman Temple of Venus Ericina, and in this aspect we see the true essence of Erice, a crossroads of culture and history of Mediterranean people.

T H E   V I D E O

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