The city of Trapani
Trapani (Sicilian: Tràpani) is a city and municipality (comune) with 54,887 inhabitants, on the west coast of Sicily, in Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Trapani. Founded by Elymians, the city is still an important fishing port and the main gateway to the nearby Egadi Islands.
Historically, Trapani developed a thriving economy based on the extraction and trade of salt, benefiting from its strategic position projecting into the Mediterranean Sea, and from its port, which was once the commercial gateway for the ancient city of Eryx (modern-day Erice), situated atop the mountain that overlooks it. Today, its economy relies primarily on the service sector, fishing (historically tuna fishing using traditional methods known as mattanza), marble quarrying and exportation, commercial activities, and tourism.
The urban agglomeration includes approximately 80,000 residents, as it also encompasses the populous district of Casa Santa, administratively belonging to the municipality of Erice.
The comune of Trapani consists of two discontiguous parts separated by the comune of Paceco. The northern part includes much of the city and some rural area; the much larger southern part includes the area of Marausa, half of Trapani-Birgi Airport and a large rural area. The comune does not include the north-eastern suburbs of the urban area, such as Casa Santa, which are part of the comune of Erice. The comune of Trapani has a population of 70,000 but the entire urban, including those parts in the comune of Erice, has over 90,000 residents.
Much of Trapani's economy still depends on the sea and fishing and canning are the main local industries. Coral is also an important export, along with salt, marble, and marsala wine. The nearby coast is lined with numerous saltworks formed by the evaporation of seawater situated majestically along the coast road between Trapani and Marsala.
The city is also an important ferry port, with links to the Egadi Islands, Pantelleria, Sardinia, France and Tunisia. It also has its own airport, the Trapani-Birgi Airport.
Trapani is one of the traditional locations of the mattanza tuna fishing technique, alongside: (San Giuliano, San Cusumano, Isola di Formica, Favignana, Bonagia, San Vito Lo Capo, Scopello, Capo Granitola). Today, this technique is forbidden but the fishing port is very active and hosts 142 small and medium fishing boats, for a total of 2805 GRT (gross tonnage).
The old fish market, renovated in 1998, is now used for cultural events and a new one, large and modern, more functional to fishing activities has been located near the port. It represents the only market in the Province and its recent restructuring, with European funds, places it at the forefront in the national level both in terms of marketing and product traceability.
Between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Trapani fishermen began to practice coral fishing, and coral craftmen started to develop its processing succeeding throughout the Mediterranean. A network of prestigious commissions was consolidated throughout Europe and it was thus possible to produce ever richer and more elaborate works. Today, however, fishing has almost completely disappeared, while coral processing is limited to few craftsmen.
Windmills and saltworks are evidence of industrial archeology. Saltworks are located in the area of Natural Reserve of Saline di Trapani and Paceco managed by the WWF and characterized by a remarkable flora and fauna. Thanks to the protection guaranteed by the Reserve, the activity of the saltworkers and the production of salt have increased, favoring the return and reproduction of dozens of species of migratory birds, including the pink flamingo.
The old city of Trapani dates from the later medieval or early modern periods; there are no more remains of the ancient city and many of the city's historic buildings are designed in the Baroque style.
The Church of Sant'Agostino (14th century)
The Church of Santa Maria di Gesù (15th–16th centuries)
Basilica-Sanctuary of Maria Santissima Annunziata (also called "Madonna di Trapani") originally built in 1315–1332 and rebuilt in 1760. It houses Museo regionale Agostino Pepoli and a marble statue of the Madonna of Trapani, which might be attributed to the work of Nino Pisano.
Fontana di Tritone ("Triton's Fountain")
The Baroque Palazzo della Giudecca or Casa Ciambra.
The cathedral (built in 1421, but restored in the 18th century by Giovanni Biagio Amico). It includes a painting of "Annunciation" attributed to Anthony van Dyck.
Church of Maria SS. dell'Intria, an example of Sicilian Baroque.
Church of Badia Nuova, a small Baroque church.
Castello di Terra, a ruined 12th-century castle, today police office.
Ligny Tower, a 17th-century watchtower housing Phreistory museum.
Regional Museum Agostino Pepoli - Located in the 14th-century Carmelite convent, adjacent to the Sanctuary of Basilica-Sanctuary of Maria Santissima Annunziata, it is one of the most important Sicilian museums. It houses acollection of decorative arts, sculptures (including works by the Gagini), cribs and coral jewelry, and an art gallery that includes, among others, paintings by Titian and Giacomo Balla.
Museum of Prehistory - It is housed inside the seventeenth-century Torre di Ligny, on the extreme western point of the city, and preserves important prehistoric evidence of human presence in the area, as well as finds (artifacts, amphorae, anchors, a Punic helmet) from the sea of Trapani.
Museum of Contemporary Art San Rocco - Housed inside Palazzo San Rocco, in the historic center.
DiArt, diocesan collection of permanent religious art, housed in the episcopal seminary of Raganzìli in Casa Santa locality.
Diocesan Museum, in the Church of Sant'Agostino
Optical Illusions Museum
Specus Corallii designed by architect Antonino Cardillo.
The city is renowned for its Easter related Holy Week activities and traditions, culminating between Good Friday and Holy Saturday in the Processione dei Misteri di Trapani, colloquially simply the Misteri di Trapani (in English the Procession of the Mysteries of Trapani or the Mysteries of Trapani), a day-long passion procession organized and sponsored by the city's guilds, featuring twenty floats of wood, canvas and glue sculptures, mostly from the 17th and 18th centuries, of individual scenes of the events of the Passion.
The Misteri are among the oldest continuously running religious events in Europe, having been played every Good Friday since before the Easter of 1612. Running for at least 16 continuous hours, but occasionally well beyond the 24 hours, they are the longest religious festival in Sicily and in Italy. Important also to the cult of the Madonna of Trapani.
The city gives its name to a variety of pesto – pesto alla trapanese – made using almonds instead of the traditional pine nuts in Ligurian pesto.
Historically, Trapani developed a thriving economy based on the extraction and trade of salt, benefiting from its strategic position projecting into the Mediterranean Sea, and from its port, which was once the commercial gateway for the ancient city of Eryx (modern-day Erice), situated atop the mountain that overlooks it. Today, its economy relies primarily on the service sector, fishing (historically tuna fishing using traditional methods known as mattanza), marble quarrying and exportation, commercial activities, and tourism.
The urban agglomeration includes approximately 80,000 residents, as it also encompasses the populous district of Casa Santa, administratively belonging to the municipality of Erice.
The comune of Trapani consists of two discontiguous parts separated by the comune of Paceco. The northern part includes much of the city and some rural area; the much larger southern part includes the area of Marausa, half of Trapani-Birgi Airport and a large rural area. The comune does not include the north-eastern suburbs of the urban area, such as Casa Santa, which are part of the comune of Erice. The comune of Trapani has a population of 70,000 but the entire urban, including those parts in the comune of Erice, has over 90,000 residents.
Much of Trapani's economy still depends on the sea and fishing and canning are the main local industries. Coral is also an important export, along with salt, marble, and marsala wine. The nearby coast is lined with numerous saltworks formed by the evaporation of seawater situated majestically along the coast road between Trapani and Marsala.
The city is also an important ferry port, with links to the Egadi Islands, Pantelleria, Sardinia, France and Tunisia. It also has its own airport, the Trapani-Birgi Airport.
Trapani is one of the traditional locations of the mattanza tuna fishing technique, alongside: (San Giuliano, San Cusumano, Isola di Formica, Favignana, Bonagia, San Vito Lo Capo, Scopello, Capo Granitola). Today, this technique is forbidden but the fishing port is very active and hosts 142 small and medium fishing boats, for a total of 2805 GRT (gross tonnage).
The old fish market, renovated in 1998, is now used for cultural events and a new one, large and modern, more functional to fishing activities has been located near the port. It represents the only market in the Province and its recent restructuring, with European funds, places it at the forefront in the national level both in terms of marketing and product traceability.
Between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Trapani fishermen began to practice coral fishing, and coral craftmen started to develop its processing succeeding throughout the Mediterranean. A network of prestigious commissions was consolidated throughout Europe and it was thus possible to produce ever richer and more elaborate works. Today, however, fishing has almost completely disappeared, while coral processing is limited to few craftsmen.
Windmills and saltworks are evidence of industrial archeology. Saltworks are located in the area of Natural Reserve of Saline di Trapani and Paceco managed by the WWF and characterized by a remarkable flora and fauna. Thanks to the protection guaranteed by the Reserve, the activity of the saltworkers and the production of salt have increased, favoring the return and reproduction of dozens of species of migratory birds, including the pink flamingo.
The old city of Trapani dates from the later medieval or early modern periods; there are no more remains of the ancient city and many of the city's historic buildings are designed in the Baroque style.
The Church of Sant'Agostino (14th century)
The Church of Santa Maria di Gesù (15th–16th centuries)
Basilica-Sanctuary of Maria Santissima Annunziata (also called "Madonna di Trapani") originally built in 1315–1332 and rebuilt in 1760. It houses Museo regionale Agostino Pepoli and a marble statue of the Madonna of Trapani, which might be attributed to the work of Nino Pisano.
Fontana di Tritone ("Triton's Fountain")
The Baroque Palazzo della Giudecca or Casa Ciambra.
The cathedral (built in 1421, but restored in the 18th century by Giovanni Biagio Amico). It includes a painting of "Annunciation" attributed to Anthony van Dyck.
Church of Maria SS. dell'Intria, an example of Sicilian Baroque.
Church of Badia Nuova, a small Baroque church.
Castello di Terra, a ruined 12th-century castle, today police office.
Ligny Tower, a 17th-century watchtower housing Phreistory museum.
Regional Museum Agostino Pepoli - Located in the 14th-century Carmelite convent, adjacent to the Sanctuary of Basilica-Sanctuary of Maria Santissima Annunziata, it is one of the most important Sicilian museums. It houses acollection of decorative arts, sculptures (including works by the Gagini), cribs and coral jewelry, and an art gallery that includes, among others, paintings by Titian and Giacomo Balla.
Museum of Prehistory - It is housed inside the seventeenth-century Torre di Ligny, on the extreme western point of the city, and preserves important prehistoric evidence of human presence in the area, as well as finds (artifacts, amphorae, anchors, a Punic helmet) from the sea of Trapani.
Museum of Contemporary Art San Rocco - Housed inside Palazzo San Rocco, in the historic center.
DiArt, diocesan collection of permanent religious art, housed in the episcopal seminary of Raganzìli in Casa Santa locality.
Diocesan Museum, in the Church of Sant'Agostino
Optical Illusions Museum
Specus Corallii designed by architect Antonino Cardillo.
The city is renowned for its Easter related Holy Week activities and traditions, culminating between Good Friday and Holy Saturday in the Processione dei Misteri di Trapani, colloquially simply the Misteri di Trapani (in English the Procession of the Mysteries of Trapani or the Mysteries of Trapani), a day-long passion procession organized and sponsored by the city's guilds, featuring twenty floats of wood, canvas and glue sculptures, mostly from the 17th and 18th centuries, of individual scenes of the events of the Passion.
The Misteri are among the oldest continuously running religious events in Europe, having been played every Good Friday since before the Easter of 1612. Running for at least 16 continuous hours, but occasionally well beyond the 24 hours, they are the longest religious festival in Sicily and in Italy. Important also to the cult of the Madonna of Trapani.
The city gives its name to a variety of pesto – pesto alla trapanese – made using almonds instead of the traditional pine nuts in Ligurian pesto.
31-35, F