Little building of furnished flats in Trapani
Apartments and Holiday Houses
Itineraries
From our apartments you can easily reach the most beautiful and famous beauties of Trapani’s province: Egadi islands, Segesta, San Vito Lo Capo, the salt-marks, etc.
Trapani: the harbor, the churches and its beauties
The ancient “Drepanon” offers to tourists a marvelous old town crowded with old buildings, walls, and observation towers. Famous all over the world for its coral and for the fishing of tunas, Trapani is today the Italian capital of sailing.
Located in the western part of Sicily, the town stands on the promontory of the ancient “Drepanon” (Greek word that means “sickle”, according to the shape of the town). Trapani is also named “The town of two seas”, as the northern coast is washed by the Tyrrhenian Sea, while the western coast is washed by the Mediterranean. Thanks to its natural position (overlooking the Mediterranean Sea) that helped the develop of the port, one of the most prosperous business in Trapani is the extraction and trade of salt. Other important activities were and still are:
- The fishing, in particular the one of tunas, for whom old fishermen used to practice the “mattanza” (a wild and atrocious technique) in different places called “tonnare”, located in the town (San Giuliano, San Cusumano, Isola di Formica) and in the province (Favignana, Bonagia, San Vito Lo Capo, Capo Granitola, Scopello);
- The extraction and trade of marble;
- The manufacture of corals.
Distance from La Lampara: 10 km, reachable in about 15 minutes. Further information
Erice, ancient Elymian capital
Erice is a famous medieval village known all over the world for the breathtaking landscapes, the desserts, the ceramics, and the “Ettore Majorana” Scientific Research Center. Erice was also the Elymians religious capital
According to Tucidide (Greek historian and writer), Erice was founded by the Trojan exiles who, escaping into the Mediterranean Sea, found here an ideal place for their settlement (giving birth to the Elymians). According to the Latin writer Virgilio, Aeneas touched twice the Erice soil: the first time for his father’s death, the second for games in his honor. But Aeneas is not the only Greek hero that wrote his name in the history of Erice: Hercules appears to have taken part in the greatness of the mountain, too.
Together with Segesta (historian claim they were founded in the same period), Erice was the main Elymian city; in particular, it was here that religious rites were celebrated. During the first Punic war, the Carthaginian general Amilcare ordered its fortification. Then he moved part of the citizens for the foundation of Drepanum, the modern Trapani. The Romans worshipped the “Erice Venus” that imitated the Greek goddess Aphrodite. Since 1963 it hosts the “Ettore Majorana” Scientific Research Center, dedicated to scientific studies and created by Dr. Antonino Zichichi.
Distance from La Lampara: 15 km, reachable in about 20 minutes. Further information
Segesta or the immortal glory of the Elymians
The ancient political capital of the Elymians (of Greek/Phoenician origins) still dominates the top of mount Barbaro. Its view offers the chance to enjoy a picturesque trip to the time of the Greeks, and Punic wars
Placed in the northwestern part of Sicily, in the province of Trapani (in the municipality of Calatafimi-Segesta), Segesta is a town full of history. The unfinished hexastyle Doric temple (late 5th century BC) is built on a hilltop just outside the ancient city of Segesta. It is one of the best-preserved Greek temple. The theater is located on the top of a mountain and is partly dug in its rocks.
Distance from La Lampara: 35 km, reachable in about 30 minutes (motorway). Further information
The Salt-marks nature reserve
The first who installed the basins for salt picking were the Phoenicians about 3000 years ago. Then came the windmills and the first half-industrial works. Now it is a magical place that offers amazing sunsets, among the most beautiful of the world.
Run by the Italian WWF, the salt-marks include a territory of almost a thousand hectares. The nature reserve is divided into a Zone A, [the reserve area (707 ha)] and a Zone B of Pre-Reserve (278.75 ha), standing on the border between the municipalities of Trapani and Paceco. The salty environment, hosts several shrubs or herbaceous species which adapted themselves to the extreme environmental conditions of the place. The area is also relevant for ornithological studies, since it is located in the route of migration of many birds towards Africa.
Distance from La Lampara: 5 km, reachable in about 5 minutes. Further information
Egadi Islands
They were for the Greeks the real limits of the known world. They also were an important commercial basis for the Phoenicians and Carthaginians. The Romans made them their defensive bulwark against Amilcare's and Hannibal Barca's armies. And so on, going through Arabian, Norman and Spanish people, whose tracks can be still found in inhabitants' surnames
The first and biggest island of the archipelago is Favignana, which has almost a butterfly shape. The ancients used to call it “ Favonia”, because of the wind that always blows its costs. The island is a microcosm to discover, with the old “Tonnara Florio” plants, the isolated “Saint Caterina” fortress, and the Cathedral square, the vital center of the island, both for islanders and tourists. And how could we forget the old tuff quarries, its inlets (like the wonderful Cala Rossa and Cala Azzurra with their crystal clear waters). Just a bit far, here it is Levanzo, the smallest island of the archipelago (just 10 kmq), and the closest to the port of Trapani. Among the peculiarities are the little white houses grouped near the little harbor full of colored fishing boats. Levanzo is a strip of land which preserves some of the oldest vestiges of human presence in Sicily. The figures of men and animals painted and scratched on the walls of Genovese Cave, bring us back up to the Mesolithic, with its obscure rites, and its mysterious and wild life. Marettimo, the farthest and the rockiest of the three islands, is very silent and peaceful. Here you can spend your days in the sea or walking along the paths bordered by luxuriant vegetation. As well as Levanzo, Marettimo is the ideal place for diving lovers, thanks to the different kind of seabeds which surround the island, and the hundreds of caves present along the coast.
Distance from La Lampara: from 20 (to Levanzo) to 75 minutes (to Marettimo), by hydrofoil. Maggiori informazioni
Mothia and the Stagnone, the places of the ancient Carthage
In the middle of a charming lagoon area, the biggest Phoenician colony in Sicily, is also famous for its naturalistic interest
Mothia was founded at the end of VII century B.C. on the island of San Pantaleo, located in the centre of a large lagoon, known today as 'Stagnone'. Thanks to its location, particularly favorable to maritime trade, Mothia soon became one of the most prosperous Western Phoenician colonies. The more outstanding public works date back to the second half of VI century B.C., namely the fortifications, a submerged road which was used to link the island to the mainland, near Birgi, the cothon (or drainage basin and harbor) and the main sanctuaries, in particular the tophet, where the burnt remains of offerings and sacrifices in honor of the god Baal Hammon were collected. Over one thousand carved steles where discovered here, undoubtedly the most significant evidence of Phoenician Punic sculpture. The ancient town’s industrial area features several omega-shaped furnaces, in every way similar to the more ancient pottery furnaces used in Phoenicia.
Distance from La Lampara: 10 km, reachable in about 10 minutes. Further information
Marsala, city of wine and ancient Punic capital
The town is full of history and charm, and it is known all over the world for its liqueur-like sweet wine, and for its tradition in cultivations and wine-making. Marsala saw the landing of Garibaldi and his army, the first step towards the Italian unification. It was also the Phoenician Capital of Sicily
Marsala occupies the site of Lilybaeum, the main stronghold of the Carthaginian in Sicily, founded by Himilco in 396 BC after the abandonment of Mothia. Neither Pyrrhus nor the Romans were able to reduce it by siege, but it was surrendered by the latter in 241 BC at the end of the First Punic War as a condition of the peace treaty. The modern town takes the shape of the Roman camp within the earlier city, one of the gates of which still existed in 1887. The main street (the Cassaro) perpetuates the name castrum. Now Marsala is the biggest agricultural, industrial, and trade center in Trapani province.
Distance from La Lampara: 20 km, reachable in about 25 minutes Further information
San Vito Lo Capo
Red ground, coral beach, blue sea and wonderful food, it’s also famous for the fish Cous Cous. San Vito Lo Capo is considered one of the last paradise of Italy
The municipality of San Vito Lo Capo was born in the late eighteenth century in the territory of Erice. It is located at the bottom of Mount Monaco, in the bright bay between Capo San Vito and Punta Solanto. Several natural hollows still offer the chance to find a lot of traces of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic age. Enveloped in the mystery is the existence of a old small village called Conturrana. It was a huge cliff which detached from the mountain and it is located 500 feet away from the shore. In this place probably, in the late fifth century, there was a little village. Nowadays the church is the centre of the town. Once this Sanctuary had a defensive function against the corsairs. Up to 30 or 40 years ago only few fishermen houses could be seen, while now San Vito Lo Capo is a typical nice Mediterranean town.
Distance from La Lampara: 40 km, reachable in about 45 minutes. Further information
Sea , Mediterranean scrub and parfums: Zingaro Nature Reserve
A dive into the local nature of Western Sicily: dwarf palms, red earth, dolomite rocks and a deep blue sea which marks its boundaries. Zingaro, the first founded reserve in Sicily, is one of a few naturalistic terrestrial and marine paradise in Europe
Zingaro reserve has an area of 1650 hectares, a coast line of about 7 Km, composed by a rocky coast of stones of the Mesozoic era, full of several little caves and characterized by a cliff of 913 meters (Speziale Mountain). Zingaro reserve enchants for its harsh beauty, for its intense colors in every season, for its white little caves set in a turquoise sea, for the omnipresent dwarf palms, the luxuriant Mediterranean scrub, the wild olive trees and the majestic carob trees. Even if the Zingaro is a terrestrial reserve, the sea is a relevant feature since it is part of the landscape and an essential complement of the nature. The coast side is an alternation of high rocky walls and little caves which sink in the blue sea. The little caves are all paved with cobbles and they look like clear niches hollowed in a side of the dolomite walls. The submarine landscape is full of colours and shapes. The tunnels and the submerged caves are several and interesting (like Colombaccio cave, located close to the east boundary with an entrance of about two meters, which reaches all the other caves like Craperia Cape, Craperia Cave, Mustia Cave, Ficarella Cave).
Distance from La Lampara: 50 km, reachable in about 60 minutes. Further information