Erice

Erice is a medieval village rich in traditions and history. Walking through the streets of the village, there are many features that make it unique in its kind, particular is the urban aspect enhanced by buildings of considerable value with cobbled streets, narrow alleys that allow a single person to pass, craft shops typical with finely decorated ceramics, colorful rugs and exquisite sweets made with almond and candied fruit. Once you are in this delightful village, you cannot fail to taste: the Genoese, sweet pastry with cream filling, the mustazzoli, aromatic hard and crunchy biscuits, the riposto sweets, filled with cedar preserves and richly decorated with pastel colored icing, almond bites, Lenten, beautiful and ugly and fragrant Martorana fruits. Erice offers a series of historical-cultural itineraries that fully satisfy the visitor and for nature lovers, the area offers the possibility to admire the naturalistic landscape through trekking paths.

Of ancient origins, Erice located at m.751 above the sea level, seems to have been founded by the Elimi, a people probably coming from Greece and settled in western Sicily around the eighth century. B.C. Religious center of fundamental interest for the presence of the sacred thémenos, the pagan sanctuary dedicated to the goddess of love, was, due to its strategic importance the goal and objective of conquest of other peoples such as the Carthaginians who strengthened the walls built by the Elimi and made the city practically inaccessible and impregnable, so much so that with Syracuse and Enna, as handed down by Strabo (VII century BC), Iruka became one of the three most important Sicilian strongholds from a military point of view.
The walls were enlarged by the Punic as per the results of the archaeological excavations conducted by the Freie Universitat of Berlin which identified the ancient city near the Tourist Village.
Over time, Erice took on different names: Erix, Iruka, Gabel-el-Hamid, Monte San Giuliano and Erice. Called Gabel-el-Hamid by the Arabs, with the Norman conquest Erice rises again. Described with great emphasis by the Arab geographers Edrisi (1100-1166) and then Ibn Gubayr (1145-1217) as an area rich in waters - Giubayr speaks of 400 springs - changes denomination once again: it will become Monte San Giuliano (S. Giuliano Hospital, protector of sailors and travelers) by order of King Roger II, as a thank you for the help given by San Giuliano to the Norman troops, on the occasion of the victorious siege and the subsequent liberation of Erice, within whose walls the Arabs had barricaded themselves .
Equipped by Frederick II of Swabia with a privilege of 1241 of a vast territory, Excelsa et Fedelissima Civitas was appealed for fidelity to the royal crown. In 1936 it definitively assumed the current name.