The territory of San Vito Lo Capo was already inhabited 8 thousand years ago by man in the Mesolithic; subsequently it was the crossroad of marine traffics in the centuries immediately before and after the birth of Christ, and still goal of pilgrims since the beginning of  Christianity. The community was born in 1952 and the town was built around  the Sanctuary. The legend tells that young Vito, patrizio mazarese, son of a high civil employee of Rome, had to escape from his city with Crescenzia and his founder Modest, that had converted him to Christianity, to withdraw himself from the persecution ordered from Diocleziano; after two days of navigation, a storm forced Vito’s ship to take refuge from the wind, in a gulf sheltered by a cape known by the sailors as Egitarso or Egitallo, and here the three tried to convert the inhabitants. The passage of Vito and Crescenzia provoked great emotion among the people of the Aresa, and around the year 300 the first chapel was dedicated to him.

Today, the town is very nice, the streets are clean, straight and parallel. One of the main attraction of San Vito is the marvellous sea and the wonderful beach, nearly three kilometres of golden sand. The sea promenade allows walking a few meters from the shoreline, and also the road that goes to the high lighthouse.

East of the town begins the Gulf del Secco, one of the most attractive places of this territory. A noble and ancient construction is there to recall that this tuna fishing installation was one of the most beautiful in the island. This tuna fishing complex was one of the most well-known: the biggest tunas were captured here. This splendid place deserves a vist, for its rocky coasts and its uncontaminated sea.

(English extract by “San Vito Lo Capo, Terra di cielo e di mare”, translation by Leo Campo)

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