Erice - The City
On Sicily’s westernmost coast, dominating the city of Trapani below it, the Egadi Islands to the southwest, and Monte Cofano to the east, stands the city of Erice, perched high atop the mountain of the same name.
Erice’s exceptional location on a plateau rising 751 metres above sea level contributes to a remarkable preservation of its medieval atmosphere, from the streets paved in marble to the stone walls enclosing flower-laden internal courtyards where family life unfolds undisturbed.   
A visitor who walks the winding streets of Erice is transported to a faraway past as varied as the many shades of gray seen in the stones of the city: the baroque style of an overhanging balcony, the Gothic majesty of the Chiesa Madre, the mighty
Norman architecture and  the 15th century lines of buildings all attest to Erice’s splendid history. The scene is further enchanted by the drifting fog that envelops the city and surrounding pine forest. 
 The magnificent panoramas that greet the eye from every vantage point are the backdrop for the overhanging rocks surrounding the cliffs of Erice .  These breathtaking views include the city of Trapani, the famous salt pans, the Egadi islands, and, further south, the city of Marsala.  On a clear day one can see as far away as the volcanic island of Pantelleria, the black pearl of the Canal of Sicily.  To the east lies the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Gulf of Castellammare, and the coastline leading to San Vito lo Capo and beyond…
 These are the horizons that remind the viewer of an ancient and wealthy Erice, from whom the inhabitants of Segesta asked to borrow the golden cups in order to impress the visiting Athenians and from whom assistance was sought in war against the Siracusans.  Erice, which became one of Sicily’s most extensive municipalities with a territory comprising San Vito lo Capo, Buseto Palizzolo, Custonaci, Valderice, Castellammare... Erice - Monte San Giuliano, is full of tradition, art, agriculture, and culture and, still today, unites the inhabitants of this beautiful corner of Sicily.

Legend of Venus Ericina
Erice’s origins - “Iruka” to the Elymians, “Erech” to the Carthaginians, “Eryx” to the Greeks and Romans - unquestionably an Elymian city, probably date back to the Sicanians and are forever indissolubly tied to worship of the goddess: back before it was dedicated by the Phoenicians to the goddess Astarte, that which was the “thèmenos”, the sanctuary of Aphrodite, the temple of Venus Ericina, had already been the place of the goddess of love.  A place that would have enticed populations from every part of the Mediterranean to this summit, and where, according to Diodoro Siculo, Erice, son of Bute, one of Jason’s Argonauts, and of Aphrodite herself, erected a temple dedicated to his mother and founded the city.
Through time, the worship of Venus Ericina, to whom passing sailors were particularly devoted, thanks also to the incredibly beautiful “Ierodule” – young, sacred prostitutes of the goddess who was the giver of voluptuousness, created together with her fame and her wealth. Tucidide refers to “the gifts offered to the Goddess, amphorae, goblets and a wealth of household effects” from pilgrims, and Didodoro Siculo attributed to Daedalus, having escaped from Crete, the creation of a golden ram dedicated to Aphrodite.  In any case, it’s clear that a place like Erice, in a geographic location so privileged for its incredibly wide visual, what’s more efficiently fortified and protected, had to have assumed the power that the interests of the populations that followed attributed to the sanctuary-fortress.
Among these were the Romans, who, having conquered the Carthaginians, “took possession” of the place and of the worship of the Venus - by then diffused in many Mediterranean cities - rebuilt the temple atop the ruins left by the war, bringing Erice back to its ancient splendour, and erected in Rome, first, a small temple on the Capitoline Hill and, in 181 BC, a larger one at Porta Collina, both dedicated to the Ericene goddess.  The consideration of the Empire for Erice was such to establish the placement, in order to protect the Ericine “thémenos”, of a city and its territory that would be cited by Virgil who wrote of Aeneas stopping in these places and wanting to bury his father Anchises near the sanctuary, before sailing to Lazio where he founded Rome:  this legend therefore united the Eliminain and Roman “kinship”, both descendants of Venus, mother of both Aeneas and Erice…
Governors, magistrates, high military figures offered gifts to her, contributing and enriching the temple treasure, diminishing the marine traffic and with that Sicily’s economic solidity, the worship already impoverished by the fact that that it was practised in what had become a military centre, was vanquished to the advancement of Catholicism.
After the Roman period, that of maximum splendour, followed Byzantines, Saracens - with these Gebel al Hamid - and Normans: Ruggero d’Altavilla named the village and the territory Monte San Giuliano, in honour of the Saint that had intervened, on horseback with a pack of dogs, fortifying his soldiers against the Arabs. Arabs who, with regret, left the fortress, and above all the women of Venus: “may Allah the merciful make them slaves of the Muslims” Ibn Giubayr wrote in 1185.

Norman Castle
On the remains of the sanctuary, the Normans built their castle, fulcrum of a defensive system that included the Balio towers - “Bajulo” the name of the magistrate who represented the King and resided with his court in the castle – which constituted the brought-about fortifications. The castle, built on the cliff of the “thèmenos” in the 17th century, was connected to the lower floor of the towers by a drawbridge, then substituted by the flight of steps that still today is travelled to reach it. In its interior were found - and also, unfortunately, lost - architectural elements of the historical course, essentially able to be attributed to the Medieval reconstruction of the fortress, in which also fragments of the ancient sanctuary were reused - as well as to the rebuilding of the temple in Roman times.

The garden and Balio towers
After the definitive decline of the role of the castle’s fortress, only ruins of the ancient Norman towers remained and the plain on which the Carthaginians had built the initial fortifications was abandoned to negligence. At the end of 19th century, Count Agostino Pepoli drew up an agreement with the City Council that reclaimed at his expense the entire area, and rebuilt the towers which would remain his property. The result of the initiative of the wealthy and cultured patron was the rebuilding of the pentagonal towers, destroyed in the 15th century, and of the crenellated courtyard protecting the internal area, as well as the realisation of the Balio public “English” garden. This, together with the small tower that Pepoli had built on the North-west slope of the castle cliff - today, after years of abandonment, awaiting restoration and appointed to the new its function of “Peace Observatory” - is unquestionably one of the symbols of Erice.