14 March 2024 – Erice

Miles driven today = 30

Total Miles to date = 2,349

The village of Erice sits on top of a 750 metre tall mountain.  There are 2 roads which zigzag their way up here and we were advised to take the SP31 which involved following the coastal road to Trapani and then heading uphill from there.  Unfortunately when we got to Trapani Google Maps threw one of its occasional wobbles and directed us down some very narrow one way streets.  We managed to extract ourselves with a little reversing maneuver but then found ourselves effectively doing an almost complete lap of the mountain and climbing up the road we were originally trying to avoid.  As it turned out the van coped admirably with the hairpins.  We just ended up burning a bit more diesel than we really needed to.

We got ourselves parked up with a few other motorhomes on a viewpoint which is immediately outside of the Porta Spada, one of three main gateways in Erice’s defensive walls.

On walking through the gate the first building we happened across was the Church of St Orsola, the gates of which were firmly locked.

We still had quite a climb to get up to the main central parts of the village.  Most tourist and residential traffic enters via the Porta Trapani on the other side of the hill so it was eerily quiet for a while.

Looking North East along the coast, there’s our old friend Monte Cofano.  Our home for the last two nights is hidden from view behind it.

In a more Easterly direction we can see the village of Valderice, which we passed through to get here, and the quarry scarred hills beyond.

The Church of St Giovanni had an interesting, almost mosque-like dome but again was firmly locked. 

The Castle of Venus was built by the Normans in the 12th Century on the site of a Roman Temple, which was in turn built on the foundations of an even older Temple dedicated to Venus Erycina, the Mediterranean Goddess of fertility.  

The Balio Castle & Towers form the main entrance to the Castle of Venus beyond but again these were closed for renovation, as were the adjoining gardens.  But there were still great views to be had from the courtyard balcony.

We had read Erice described as one of the most attractive villages in Italy.  It’s certainly interesting and is reckoned to be the oldest surviving recorded settlement in Sicily, but I would have to say we have seen nicer.  The original stonework seems to have been covered in ugly concrete on a lot of the buildings.

There are plenty of souvenir tat shops trying to eek a living from the relatively small number of tourists who are about at the moment.

Some of the back alleys could do with a spot of weeding.

There are at least 20 churches in the village but we only found about 3 which were open and they were all very plain and similar inside.

More steep cobbled streets.

We could only find one public toilet in the village and even that was all locked up so we made our way back to the van to use our own facilities.  When we headed back out for a bit more exploration some low cloud had moved in but it soon burnt off again.

We’d not yet made it to the Duomo which stands close to the Trapani Gate.  According to legend a church was first built here by Emperor Constantine in the 4th Century AD.  The current Church was built in 1314.

The 28 metre high Bell Tower also dates from the 14th Century.

The interior of the Church collapsed in 1858 so what we see here is almost entirely 19th Century reconstruction.

But I have never seen anything quite like the intricacy of the ceilings.

Here’s a close up.  Really quite astonishing!

One of the side chapels is given over to a museum with old pulpits, paintings and gaudy silverware.

Time for a macchiato and another one of those irresistible Sicilian Cannolis.

We wandered vanward once more along a footpath outside of the defensive walls.  These were first built as long ago as the 8th Century BC and maintained right the way on through Norman times.  They stretch for a total of 700 metres around the portions of the village which aren’t naturally defended by precipitous cliffs.

Most of the other vans who were parked here have gone now so we are left here staring out into the void with one remaining neighbour.  And they are Brits!  They are only the third British van we have seen since we have been in Italy and the first since Pompeii.  What’s more they are Glastonbury regulars so we had a good old natter about the pros and cons of today’s line up announcement before wishing them bon-voyage.  They are up early tomorrow with a ferry to catch.  We’ll just get up when the fancy takes us and wind our way back down that hill to Trapani when we are good and ready.

15 March 2024 - Trapani