Kalat

Erice

On the top of the omonymous mountain (751 mt), in a wonderful landscape position, Erice has always had a great strategical importance and it was the residence of the sanctuary of the goddess of fertility and love, famous in all the Mediterranean. The christianity and the fall of the Roman empire made Erice loose these important memories. Now the Castle is standing upon the remainings of the Venus Temple that can still be seen nowadays. Joined to the castle are the towers and the "Balio" gardens . As many other medieval centres, important during the Norman Age, it has very narrow and winding streets and houses with inner courtyards where people really live their social life. Nowadays the city is still surrounded by extraordinary Cyclopean walls restaured during the Punic Age as the Phoenician letters written on the stones show. Very important tourist centre, it still saves the charme and the atmosphere of an extraordinary artistically interesting medieval centre with more than 60 churches . In summer there is a medieval music festival with artists known all over the world. Erice is also famous for its international cultural and scientific activities in the Centro Ettore Majorana. Obliged visits are the Cordici Museum, the Duomo (1314) with the bell tower and the extraordinary panorama from the "Quartiere Spagnolo", (the Spanish Zone), unfinished fort of the XVII century. Nowadays the town still saves its old aspect. The houses have often some architectonic elements of the XV century and more often some of the XVI-XVII ones. According to the very old custom still alive in many Mediterranean countries, almost each house has a courtyard . In Erice it's difficult to see children playng in the streets, linens stretched out between the external walls, or people sitting in front of their house chatting or working. It's the courtyard which provoke the austerity and the dignity of the city and allow the families to have their privacy.

The Erice origin is very old. The majority think that the Elymians were the first to inhabit it, but it could be probable that the Sicani firstly inhabited the mountain centre, where some Neolithic remainings have also been found. Erice was a religious centre but its strategical position was well considered by the first populations: the Chartaginians strenghtened the city walls to make it difficult to be attacked. The attempts to conquer the mountain and its fort-temple were often unsuccessful, like the one made by Doriero from Sparta in 508 b.C.. He failed and this didn't allow him to save the territories he had previously conquered.In 397-398 B.C., Erice fell in the hands of the Chartaginians and later of the Greeks from Siracusa lead by Dionisio.During the first Punic war, being a Chartaginian possession, Erice represented a great obstacle for the Romans' victory against the Chartaginians.Under the Romans ,Erice decayed from a military point of view. Eleven years passed before that history spoke again about Erice. Under the Byzantines the mountain city even lost its council autonomy. Under their domination ,the various surroundings belonging to the Erice territory had wealth and flourished, but the old Erice was almost totally abandoned. During the late Norman Age, the city flourished again. The Norman Erice was entrusted to Saint Julian and Monte S. Giuliano was its new name, kept until 1936. The following dominations: the Swabian, the Angevin and the Aragonese ones,were good for the city. Under the Swabians, Erice acquired a new territory which extended until Scopello, near Castellammare Del Golfo. In 1314, during the last part of the Vespri war started in 1282, The Aragonese Roberto D'Angiò who had attacked Trapani from the sea, stayed for a long time in Erice.From XV to XVIII century the Erice social and economic life wasn't different from that one of the little and middle Sicilian cities. In 1798 the population, mainly concentrated in the city, as in the plain there were pirate attacks,was made up of 8172 people. The agricoltural and sheep-rearing productions were important and the most part of their returns went to the chief town, the unique inhabited centre. Its cultural life was very important from an historical, literary and religious point of view. In 1816, the Two Sicilies Reign was formed and the following new laws established a new centralized modern state, So, Erice lost its old privileges and was considered a second class chief town. On the contrary Trapani became Città Capo Valle (The Head of the Valley City). By then the most part of people was living in the houses near Erice or in the villages belonging to its territory such as: S. Vito Lo Capo, Custonaci, Buseto Palizzolo and Valderice. In the agricoltural and sheep-rearing territory, the two activities connected had been famous from the ancient times for their goods, especially dairy-goods. While tuna fishing was abundant in San Vito Lo Capo and Bonagia. Quarries of very noble marble were in Custonaci, capo San Vito, Pietra Incarnata and at the foot of Erice Mountain. The marbles coming from these caves were used for noble houses and churches in Erice , Trapani , Palermo (Casa Professa, Palazzo Butera), in Rome (Saint Peter sacristy) and in the Caserta Royal Palace. The old function of administrative chief town was diminished by the concessions of the autonomies from the first Sicilian Region Governments. The first village which became a council was Custonaci, in 1948, followed by Buseto Palizzolo in 1950, S. Vito Lo Capo in 1952 and Valderice (Paparella -S. Marco) in 1955. So now Erice has changed its role of chief-town in that one of a tourist, climate , residential and cultural centre (because of the already mentioned Ettore Maiorana Scientific Centre). Today the city finds its real significance and reasons for existence in its new and larger functions.