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The small town Erice lies in the province Trapani, not far from the capital of the province. It lies high above sea level and it is a little jewel in this corner of Sicily. The medieval town centre is absolutely worth seeing and full of attractions. In spring, when the small town is wrapped up in clouds from time to time, a wonderful foggy atmosphere surrounds the town. However, the raised position also brought a disadvantage, which looks like a scar for the townscape. Because of its height the town is very suitable for cellular mobile telephone antennas and so these antennas protrude behind the medieval buildings and disturb the atmosphere.
Erice was founded by the Elymians, mountain people who also founded Segesta. It used to be a religious site which was devoted first to the fertile goddess and later to the Phoenician goddess Astarte, then to Aphrodite and finally to the Roman Venus. Some legends entwine around the town. One of them tells that once Eryx, a son of Poseidon, and Aphrodite founded the town. Eryx was defeated by Heracles in a fight. Heracles let him the reign afterwards, but Eryx had to make the concession to assign the reign to one of Heracles’ descendants. Later the Spartan Dorieus invoked this legend and wanted to conquer the town, but he was defeated by Carthaginians and Elymians and was killed on the battlefield. At the time of Arabs and Normans the well fortified Erice served as a sanctuary for the inhabitants of Trapani.
