With its long sandy beaches, palm trees, cubic houses, and towns with kasbah-like cores, Sicily’s west is closer to North Africa than the Italian mainland, and has a very different feel to the rest of the island. It’s a palimpsest of Sicily’s past: there’s the ancient Phoenician settlement of Mozia; the magnificent Greek temples of Agrigento, Selinunte and Segesta; the exquisite medieval hilltown of Erice; the historic port of Trapani; and the feudal villages of the Belice Valley which inspired The Leopard. The landscape varies from the vine-planted hills of Alcamo to the the unspoilt coves and white pebbles beaches of the Castellammare gulf, and the region’s most famous dish is couscous!
