The ruins of Mozia
Mozia is a Sicilian site located on the island of San Pantaleo which can be reached by embarking from Marsala.
The ruins of the Phoenician city of Motya , unique in their kind, occupy the whole island and can be easily reached with a comfortable walk. Once you get to the ruins, you can go around the island in about an hour .
What see
Whitaker Museum
Along the path that climbs towards the ruins you will find the house of Joseph Whitaker , once a private home and now transformed into a museum in front of which is placed an aristocratic bust of its founder Joseph Whitaker . The museum houses some finds excavated on the island, the cool rooms house a beautiful collection of jewelry, arrowheads, terracotta figurines and household artifacts dating back to the 8th century BC
The museum's pride is the magnificent 5th century BC marble sculpture , the Giovanetto di Mozia , depicting a young man in a sensual and casual pose with a tunic that adheres to the body, showing off his athletic muscular structure.
The ruins
the ruins of the site begin immediately outside the museum. Opposite 100 m on the left is the Casa dei Mosaici , a Greek house on a phoenix foundation, consisting of two houses containing faded black and white floor mosaics made with sea pebbles. Continuing along the path you pass the south gate, one of the main ones, dating back to the 5th century BC, interesting for the remains of the battlements, and you arrive at the cothon , a small artificial dry dock built along the walls of the ancient city.
The north gate, once imposing and now reduced to a pile of steps and ruined walls, marked the beginning of a causeway built by the Phoenicians in the 6th century BC that connected the island to the mainland, the road today is submerged by water .
To the left of the gate, along the shore, are the necropolis and the Tophet , a Phoenician-Punic sanctuary. The sanctuary has returned numerous urns containing the ashes of animals sacrificed to the Phoenician gods. A short distance from the door towards the interior of the island is the site of Capidazzu , with the foundations of a large building, probably a temple, while between the door and Capidazzu there is a Punic industrial district which was dedicated to the production of pottery. ceramics and it is here that the statue of the Giovanetto di Mozia was brought to light.
The salt pans and the salt museum
In the shallows between Trapani and Marsala a series of salt pans sparkles, from which salt has been extracted since the Phoenician era. At certain times of the day, when the light changes, the salt flats take on a pink hue, while in the distance Marettimo looms up wrapped in mist. One of the three mills on the mainland in front of Marettimo has been transformed into a salt museum, the Saline Ettore and Infersa where you can find local food and crafts or follow the salt extraction process.