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The Greek called the island Aegusa but the island was named Favignana after the wind Favonio during the Middle ages. It looks like a big butterfly. Its waters still evoke historical and mythical episodes. They keep the secrets of ancient battles as the terrible Battle of Egadi in 241 b.C. fought at Cala Rossa by the Romans and the Carthagenians. Those who reach Favignana first notice the elegance and the lightness of Palazzo Florio, built around 1876. The island’s property has been linked to the Florio family from the second half of the 19th century till the first decades of this century. The building is certainly a symbol of the island. You can start your tour around the town from here and following the main street you will reach the heart of the island’s life, Piazza Madrice, where anything happens. Just outside the built-up areas, on the north-west side you can explore the S. Nicola area: in the caverns you will find the prehistoric graffiti and the engravings of the punic period or the ruins of ancient punic or christian tombs. Cala Rossa, seen from the sea or, suddenly, from the top of the rocks is a greaty emotional experience, a priceless gift of nature; Cala Azzurra, Grotta Perciata, the nice and white Burrone beach, Cala Stornello protected by the small island Preveto, Galera and Galeotta, Cala Rotonda inviting and cosy: these are the most patronised placed for invigorating bathes. Favignana soon calls for the visitor’s attention for its majestic tonnare Florio. Even nowadays by the end of May you can be woken by the sound of the sea hit by big strokes: they are the tunny fisherman who go to sea for the “mattanza”, tunny killing guided by the Rais. These men are consciuos of having carried out, once again, an ancient rite, like centuries ago, whose origins are difficult to trace. This rite, carried out every year in spring, is somehow sacred and it marks the island’s life, just as it brought about its richness. (English extract by “Oasi di mare”, Azienda Provinciale Turismo Trapani)
Those who come to Levanzo, must leave behind the uproars of the world. Here life flows peacefully and slow in a space-temporal dimension that has nothing in common with the bustle of the dry land. Those who love Levanzo, love the simplicity that is not superficiality, but, on the contrary, is the essence of life. Levanzo is a special island, and those who really love it are special people and must know their love will be forever. The town faces the sea, the houses onto the streets that is almost a terrace over the small port. If you go boating you will know and admire the northern part of the island, the mountainous coastline and its sheer drop from the rock to the sea, and beautiful Cala Tramontana. Passing Capo Grosso, southwards, you’ll reach Cala Calcara sheltered from Scirocco wind. If the sea is smooth you can easily reach by boat Grotta del Genovese, a prehistoric cave of immense scientific and cultural value discovered by chance in 1949 by a painter from Tuscany. It consists of a cave preceding a low and damp passageway leading into a cavern. Inside the cavern you can admire the rare priceless prehistoric paintings and graffiti showing hunting and fishing scenes.
Levanzo’s depths are a paradise for those who love diving. The sea is coloured by the shades of green and deep blue and it is rich of flora and fauna. It still keeps numerous archaeological findings dating back to the punic battles and the roman period. (English extract by “Oasi di mare”, Azienda Provinciale Turismo Trapani)
Hiera, sacred island, so called by the Greek. And today in Marettimo you can actually feel that ancient sacred atmosphere along the small silent streets of the nice town. Landing at Scalo Nuovo you soon feel dominated by the impending and majestic mountain. But Scalo Vecchio, on the opposite side, is the real fishermen’s harbour in Marettimo. Leaving the town and following a muletrack climbing up the mountain you can reach Case Romane and find some Roman ruins and small temple dating back, probably, to the first centuries of the christian era and testifying Marettimo was a seat of a Roman fortified place. At Punta Spinone you should stop and turn your eyes towards the sea and enjoy the splendour of Cala Marino. The beauty of the landscape of the area of the lighthouse of Punta Libeccio is impossible to forget. It is a beautiful experience to discover the peculiarities of Marettimo‘s flora with its numerous species of plants, some of which are absent in the rest of Sicily. Leaving the harbour and sailing northway you can see the high coastline and the Scoglio del Cammello, almost at the entrance of the Grotta del Cammello, which you can enter to reach the pepple beach at the end of the Cave. At the Grotta del Tuono there is another stop, on the northern coast of the island which ends with Punta Mugnone. Cala Bianca dominated by Capo Bianco (400 metres), Grotta Perciata, Cala Bombarda and going southward its homonymous cave, and Grotta del Presepio in which the rocks erosed by the wind and washed by the sea, have taken the shape of stalactite and stalagmite statues which popular fantasy has referred to as Christmas crib figures. In the southern part of the island, the high coastaline is verdant and it advances through small cove projections reaching the extremity of Punta Bassana. (English extract by “Oasi di mare”, Azienda Provinciale Turismo Trapani) |
