Routes
Staying at our residence you can easily reach all the most beautiful and famous in the province of Trapani the Egadi Islands, Segesta, San Vito Lo Capo, the Saline. etc..
 

Trapani, its port, its churches and its jewels
The ancient Drepanum offers visitors a charming old town populated by ancient baronial palaces, city walls and watchtowers. Famous throughout the world for its coral and the weight of the tuna Nowadays Trapani is also the capital of the Italian sailing.
It is located in the western part of Sicily and is situated on the same promontory of Drepanon, greek word meaning sickle, because the shape of the promontory on which stands the city. It 'also known as the "City of the two seas" because the coastal area north of the city is washed by the Tyrrhenian Sea, while the east of the city is bathed by the Mediterranean Sea. It has developed over time a flourishing economic activity due to the extraction and salt trade, benefiting its natural position, on the Mediterranean Sea and its famous harbor that once served as an outlet for the most popular on Mount Eryx located overlooking Trapani. Other activities were and are still flourishing fishing, especially tuna, for which we used the classical technique of the massacre site in the various traps in and around the city (San Julian, San Cusumano, Formica Island) and in the province (Favignana, Bonagia, San Vito Lo Capo, Scopello, Cape Granitola), the extraction and trade of marble, the work of the coral.

Distance from the Residence Hibiscus: 10 km, takes around 15 minutes. More


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Erice, the ancient capital Elima
Erice is famous throughout the world for its charming village, the landscapes, the gentle, its ceramics and scientific research center "Ettore Maiorana". Erice was once the religious capital of the legendary Elymian people.
According to Thucydides, was founded by Trojan exiles, who fled in the Mediterranean Sea have found the perfect place to settle, according to the legend, then the Trojans would have given life to the people of the Elimi. Virgil quotes nell'Hibiscus with Aeneas, who touches it twice: first for the death of his father Anchises, a year later for games in his honor. Virgil in Canto V recounts that in an age more remote stands there Hercules himself in the famous fight with the giant Erice, precisely in the place where the basket then challenged the young and the elderly and presumptuous Dares Entellus. In ancient times, along with Segesta, which seems coeval with the foundation, was the most important city of the Elimi, in particular, was the center where religious rites were celebrated. During the First Punic War, the Carthaginian general Hamilcar I ordered the fortification, and defended Lilybaeum here. Later moved to part of the foundation of Drepanon Erice, Trapani today. The Romans revered the "Venus Ericina", the first goddess of Roman mythology in the likeness of the Greek Aphrodite. Since 1963 is the seat of the Ettore Majorana Centre for Scientific Culture, dedicated to scientific studies, established on the initiative of Professor Antonino Zichichi.

Distance from the Residence Hibiscus: about 15 miles, takes about 20 minutes. More


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Segesta, the immortal glory of the Elimi
The ancient capital of the People's Political Elimo, clearly greek origin / Phoenician, which still dominate the top of Mount Barbaro, giving visitors a fascinating trip to the time of the Greeks, and the Punic Wars.
Segesta is a historic city no longer inhabited, founded by the Elimi and located in the northwestern part of Sicily. The old town lies on Mount Barbaro, in the municipality of Calatafimi-Segesta, about ten km from Alcamo and Castellammare del Golfo. Of particular beauty are the temple in Doric style, and the theater, partly dug into the rock of the hill.

Distance from the Residence Hibiscus: about 35 km, takes around 30 minutes by car (highway). More


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Saline Nature Reserve
Phoenicians were the first who installed the tanks for the collection of salt, almost 3000 years ago. Then came the windmills and the first half-industrial. Today is a magical, breathtaking sunsets, one of the most picturesque in the world.
Established by decree of the Regional Land and Environment 257 11 May 1995, the Regional Natural Reserve Saline di Trapani and Paceco management was entrusted to the Italian Association for the WWF. The site is one of the most important coastal wetlands in western Sicily, largely occupied by salt grown in the traditional manner, with marshes and fields cultivated in marginal areas, its biological meanings are multiple, involving aspects of wildlife (birds, fish, arthropods ), flora, vegetation. To these are added those landscape values, ethno-anthropological, architectural, historical.

Distance from the Residence Hibiscus: 5 km, takes about 5 minutes. More


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Egadi Islands
For the Greeks represented the limits of the known world. For the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians, were important commercial basis. The Romans made their defensive bulwark against the armies of Hannibal and Hamilcar Barca. And so on, going by the Arabs, the Normans and the Spaniards, whose traces are found in the surnames of the inhabitants.
The first, the largest, with its vague shape of a butterfly, is Favignana, which the ancients said Favona. The island is a microcosm to explore, with the old Tonnara Florio, the remote fortress of St. Catherine, and the Cathedral square, pulsing life of the islanders and s'anima daily walks in the evening the guests. And yet the old quarries of tufa and its inlets and transparent blue water - like the wonderful Cala Rossa and Cala d'Azur. Just a little 'over there, there is Levanzo, the smallest of the three and also the closest to the port of Trapani, with its white houses nestled on the harbor filled with colored fishing boats. Levanzo is a piece of land that houses some of the oldest evidence of human presence in Sicily: rock the figures of men and animals painted and scratched on the walls of the Grotta del Genovese, bring us back to the Mesolithic, with its obscure rites , its wildlife and mysterious. Marettimo, the farthest and the most rocky island is quiet and peaceful, where the days spent at sea or walking along the paths bordered by luxuriant vegetation. As Levanzo, is ideal for diving enthusiasts, thanks to the different depths of the coast and above all thanks to hundreds of caves.

Distance from the Residence Hibiscus: from 20 (for Levanzo) 75 minutes (for Marettimo) by hydrofoil. More


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Mothia and the Lagoon, the sites of ancient Carthage
The largest and most important Phoenician colony in Sicily, in the middle of a charming lagoon area of ​​great natural interest.
The island, extending for 45 hectares, has an almost circular shape and is located in the middle of the stretch of sea known as the Lagoon of Marsala (now a regional nature reserve), enclosed in the Sicilian coast north of Marsala and Long Island. There are two other islands, or the Santa Maria and the School, the latter, mentioned by Cicero in the Verrines, has small traces of the Roman era. On the island the sea level has risen about two feet from the Phoenician era. The subsoil consists of a soft limestone, shale, yellow, topped by a thin layer of limestone hard enough. Access to the island should be only the dock, which in addition to connecting to the mainland Mozia, allows you to visit the other islands of the Lagoon. On the island there is a ban on landing. Formerly there was a submerged causeway, now no longer feasible because of the algae. As there is still one that runs from Cape St. Theodore the extreme northern tip of Long Island, not far from where the ship was found in Marsala Punic.

Distance from the Residence Hibiscus: about 10 miles, takes about 10 minutes. More


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Marsala wine towns and ancient Punic capital
Known worldwide for its wine and liquor for its tradition in the cultivation and vinification, Marsala is a town rich in history and charm. It was the site of Garibaldi's landing in Sicily and, in pre-Roman, the Phoenician Capital in Sicily.
Marsala is a town of 82,322 (source: ISTAT, February 2007) inhabitants in the province of Trapani, on Sicily's western coast, is the fifth most populated town in Sicily, the largest city in Italy 63.ma (See Top 100 common for Italian residents), as well as the major center of agricultural, industrial and commercial center of the province of Trapani. In the 250 square miles of extension has a rich cultural heritage and landscape. Aspires for decades to become Capital of the Province. It rises on the ruins of Lilybaeum, city of Carthage and its territory includes the Regional Natural Reserve of the Islands of the Lagoon of Marsala. Its foundation is closely tied to that of Mozia, one of the islands of the archipelago, founded in the VIII BC, which was an important Phoenician cities.

Distance from the Residence Hibiscus: about 20 miles, takes about 25 minutes More


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San Vito Lo Capo
Red Earth, coral beach, blue sea and very good food, especially famous for the Cous Cous fish. San Vito Lo Capo is one of the last remaining paradises in Italy.
The municipality of San Vito Lo Capo was born in the late eighteenth century, the territory of Erice, the slopes of Mount Monaco, in the bright bay between Capo San Vito and Punta Solanto. Traces of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic are found in numerous natural caves, which are houses, which overlook the sea. Remains shrouded in mystery is the existence of an ancient village, Conturrana a huge cliff 500 steps from the shore detached from the mountain. Here, probably around the end of the fourth century. BC, there was a little town. Today the town is built around the shrine of St. Vitus, an imposing church, which looked "military" because of his past for defense against pirates. The few houses of the fishermen who roamed up to 30-40 years ago have gradually become more and more, making the ancient village now a lovely town, village-Mediterranean

Distance from the Residence Hibiscus: about 40 miles, takes about 45 minutes. More


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Sea, Mediterranean and fragrances: the Zingaro
A dip in the nature of Western Sicily: dwarf palms, the red clay, dolomite rocks and deep blue sea which marks its boundaries. The Gypsy, the first reserve established in Sicily, is perhaps one of the few havens remaining natural land and sea in Europe.
The Gypsy has an area of ​​1650 hectares, a coastline of about 7 km, formed by a rocky coastline of limestone of the Mesozoic era, numerous coves and characterized by cliffs from a height of 913 meters. (Monte Speziale) lead rapidly to the sea.

The Gypsy captivates for its rugged beauty for its intense colors in every season, for the white caves set in a turquoise sea, the ubiquitous dwarf palms, lush Mediterranean vegetation, olive trees and majestic the tenacious carob where you see the graceful forms of farmhouses. The Gypsy terrestrial reserve it is closely linked to the sea, which is not only the geographical boundary but the constant background of the landscape and the essential complement of natural features.

The coast is an alternation of high cliffs that plunge into the blue bays and sloping gently towards the sea. The pebbly coves all seen from the sea have the appearance of clear niches hollowed in the side walls of the Dolomites.

The underwater landscape is full of colors and shapes. Many and interesting are the tunnels and underwater caves (Cave of the Pigeon near the limit of the east entrance located at 2 mt. Jutting out into a room 30 meters wide. Corvina cave near the tip Craperia, cave Craperia, Musta cave, cave Ficarella).