Tourism

With a coastline of some thousand kilometres, Sicily offers the visitor the greatest imaginable variety of marine environments: wide sandy beaches, sheer cliffs, remote tiny beaches, world famous resorts, an interior enriched by the remains of ancient civilizations and the survival of centuries-old traditions.

Tears of lava, limestone plains swept by the wind, sunny lands the colour of bronze: one by one the islands decorate the Sicilian coast like a string of pearls on the neck of a beautiful woman. There are fourteen of these daughters of Sicily, not including Motya, which at low tide is sometimes linked to the coast of Marsala.

Fourteen paradises of untouched beauty. Some have an African charm, such as the Pelagie, in the province of Agrigento, and Pantelleria in the province of Trapani. Others, the uncontested mistresses of the sea and its secrets, Levanzo, Favignana, and Marettimo, form the archipelago of the Egadi in the sea off Trapani.

Further north, in splendid isolation, is Ustica, the island of Circe, with its unspoilt marine reserve. And in the Aeolian islands, in the province of Messina, water meets fire. Here nature still dictates. Its rhythms, and travellers can let themselves be enchanted by the magic spell of the fishermen and farmers who inhabit these isles, the last custodians of the ancient Mediterranean traditions. The choice is yours - between the lively throngs on the Aeolian islands, the peace and quiet Pelagie, and the perfumes of the Egadi.

The sea is perennially the colour of sapphire, the domain of dolphins and swordfish. And so it has been since the dawn of time.

 

 A brief description of those most interesting sights and settings not already mentioned in the chapter on `Tourist Itineraries', must begin with resorts on the south-east coast.

Beyond Merzanemi on the Gulf of Noto, lie Portopalo di Capo Passero and the beginning of a sandy littoral that stretches glistening in the distance, swept by Mediterranean winds.

The most interesting centres include Pozzallo, Donnalucata, the ruins of ancient Camarina (6th century BC.), Gela (with a visit to Capo Soprano and the archaeological area), Falconara, Porto Empedocle, near Agrigento, the remains of Eraclea Minoa, Sciacca (also a spa), the exceptional archaeological complex of Selinunte, with splendid Doric temples, and the famous fishing town of Mazara del Vallo.

Beyond picturesque Marsala, famous for its wine, the ancient Phoenician city of Mozia (on a small island) and the Trapani littoral, the visitor reaches the north coast of Sicily, where it immediately forms the Gulf of Castellammare, where some of the tonnare are still in use (tuna fishing is a traditional activity here), then Terrasini, Isola delle Femmine, Mondello (the Palermo beach), S. Flavia, Termini Imerese, amidst luxuriant vegetation, and Cefalu, known for its great Norman cathedral (12th century).