Erice trip planner

Erice is a medieval crafts town with truly ancient roots high perched above Sicily's western coast

Erice is the most enchanting and stoniest medieval city you'll find in Sicily. It's often compared with a Tuscan or Umbrian hill town, but this ancient seat of mystical power is pure Sicilian, established over 3,000 years ago by the native Sicani with the city laid out by the Elymians in a magical triangle shape.

From its thrilling mountaintop setting, two sheer cliffs drop 2,478 feet to open up vistas across the plains of Trapani and down the west coast of Sicily.

On a clear day, you can even see Cape Bon in Tunisia, but this Sicilian aerie is more often shrouded in a mist that only adds to the mystique (or, especially in winter, the misery, when temperatures can really plummet below Sicilian norms and snow or hail is not uncommon).

Erice's quiet beauty has put it firmly on the package tour map, and caused the prices to spike to some of Sicily's highest outside Taormina.

But an afternoon wandering the medieval streets and drinking in the vistas will help you readily see beyond the tourism industry to fathom why, for thousands of years, people have flocked here to worship at the temple of one of the ancient world's most famous and powerful Earth goddesses, known to the Romans as Venus Erycina.

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