Western Sicily - Sicily - page 191

Sleeping

6 Hotel Elimo B3

7 Hotel San Domenico C1

Eating

8 Caffè Maria B2

9 Maria Grammatico B2

Sights & Activities

Virgil once compared Eryx to Mt Athos for its altitude and spiritual pre-eminence. Not
that the town resembles a sanctuary today - temples and convents have given way to car-
pet shops selling the town's famous frazzate (bright rugs made from colourful rags) and
innumerable souvenir stalls. Still, Erice is about wall-hugging alleys, votive niches and
secret courtyards, all of which are best appreciated in the evenings and early mornings
after the battalions of day-trippers leave.

Erice Monuments Circuit
(admission €5; 10am-6pm Apr-Jun & Oct, 10am-8pm Jul & Aug, 10am-7pm Sep, 10am-12.30pm Nov-Feb,
10am-4pm Mar) A single ticket grants admission to the town's five major ecclesiastical attrac-
tions: the Campanile and Treasury at the Duomo, the wood sculptures at San Martino
OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP , the Gruppa Misteri (Good Friday group sculptures) at San Giuliano
OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP and the marble sculptures at San Giovanni OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP .
Buy your ticket at any of the churches.
Of Erice's 60-odd churches, the Duomo OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP is the most interesting. It
was built in 1312 by order of a grateful Frederick III, who had sheltered in Erice during
the Sicilian Vespers uprising (1282-1314). The church's interior was remodelled in the
neo-Gothic style in 1865, but the 15th-century side chapels were conserved. Views from
the top of the 28m-high Campanile, with its mullioned windows, are impressive.

CHURCH

Castello di Venere
OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP

CASTLE