ERICE, TRAPANI

Erice - The history of Erice is bound to legends of heroes and divinities, from the presumed founder Erice to the mother Venus and Aeneas and Heracles.

Curious symbolic interpretations have also been based on its perfectly triangular urban layout; inside a great ring of walls, the medieval district unfolds in an intricate weave of cobbled streets that open into passageways and flower-filled courtyards creating a setting of great historic and artistic interest that has remained unchanged over the centuries.

The centre of the triangle is occupied by the church of San Pietro with an annexed monastery, the home of the Ettore Majorana cultural centre, which every year hosts an important international scientific congress.

In the Town Hall, the Cordici Museum exhibits archaeological finds from the Erice necropolis, including an outstanding head of Aphrodite dating from the 4th century BC.

The main religious building is the 14th-century Mother Church, beside which rises a separate bell-tower of the same period.

Towering inside the Balio garden is the Pepoli castle and the rock on the extreme southeast edge is surmounted by the Venere castle, built between the 12th and 13th century on the site of the ancient temple of Venere Ericina.