How to reach Erice
By car there are two possibilities:
- drive along the Autostrada del Sole from Milan-Bologna-Florence-Rome-Naples-Villa San Giovanni (Reggio Calabria). Then take the ferry-boat from Villa San Giovanni to Messina and drive on to Erice (350 km from Messina);
- take the ferry-boat either from Genova or from Naples to Palermo, and then drive on to Erice (about 120 km from Palermo). The places on the ferry-boats from Genova or Naples should be booked in advance.
By train:
From Milan-Rome via Messina you can reach Trapani directly.
By plane:
To Palermo or Trapani airports. For arrival at September 16 and departure at September 22 the Majorana Foundation will provide local transport arrangements, see 'Accommodation and transport'.
Weather
In September the weather is pleasant in Erice, but cooler than in the rest of Sicily since it lies at 750 meters above sea level. Be prepared that mornings and evenings might be chilly.
Poetic touch
According to legend, Erice, son of Venus and Neptune, founded a small town on top of a mountain (750 metres above sea level) more than three thousand years ago. The founder of modern history - i.e. the recording of events in a methodic and chronological sequence as they really happened without reference to mythical causes - the great Thucydides (~500 B.C.), writing about events connected with the conquest of Troy (1183 B.C.) and the escape on the sea towards the West, said that the Elymi - founders of Erice - were survivors from the destruction of Troy. This inspired Virgil to describe the arrival of the Troyan royal family in Erice and the burial of Anchise, by his son Enea, on the coast below Erice. Homer (~1000 B.C.), Theocritus (~300 B.C.), Polybius (~200 B.C.), Virgil (~50 B.C.), Horace (~20 B.C.), and others have celebrated this magnificent spot in Sicily in their poems. During seven centuries (XIII-XIX) the town of Erice was under the leadership of a local oligarchy, whose wisdom assured a long period of cultural development and economic prosperity which in turn gave rise to the many churches, monasteries and private palaces which you see today.
In Erice you can admire the Castle of Venus, the Cyclopean Walls (~800 B.C.) and the Gothic Cathedral (~1300 A.D.). Erice is at present a mixture of ancient and medieval architecture. Other masterpieces of ancient civilization are to be found in the neighbourhood: at Motya (Phoenician), Segesta (Elymian), and Selinunte (Greek). On the Aegadian Islands - theatre of the decisive naval battle of the first Punic War (264-241 B.C.) - suggestive neolithic and paleolithic vestiges are still visible: the grottoes of Favignana, the carvings and murals of Levanzo.
Splendid beaches are to be found at San Vito Lo Capo, Scopello, and Cornino, and a wild and rocky coast around Monte Cofano: all at less than one hour's drive from Erice.
