Photo 1: By cable car from Trapani to Erice 700 meters in altitude
Photo 2: The bell tower of the Duomo
Do you remember the movie Aquaman, that incredible fight over the rooftops and in the square where the bells and cornices fell, and Aquaman had to fight against enemies from Atlantis to save the princess? Those scenes were shot in Erice, an extraordinary town on the top of a mountain that rises very high a few steps from the sea. We are almost 800 meters above sea level and the view from here is unimaginable. But what does Hercules have to do with Erice and Aquaman? You will have to get to the bottom of this article and you will find out.
Photo 3: The Aragonese portal
Photo 4: Real Duomo
Photo 5: view from the bell tower
Last year, during our bike ride through north-western Sicily, we were unable to go up to Erice, due to the strong wind that prevented the operation of the cable car that leads from Trapani to the top of the mountain. This year, even if not by bicycle, we managed to get to the top through the cable car. Don’t expect to find what you see in the movie, it’s all very different and much more beautiful too. Erice was built, like Segesta, by the Trojans fleeing after the destruction of their city. Its position, completely dominant over the surrounding territory, has always allowed it to have control and political power over these areas. Hollywood has certainly stereotyped the concept of a Mediterranean country, so much so that it shows it on a small cliff with the sea below and not on a very high mountain. But certainly here in Erice the architectural atmosphere is not polluted by newly built artifacts, almost everything has remained as it appeared hundreds of years ago with a clear medieval layout and its streets are practically all uphill towards the castle where the temple of Venus Ericina, located on the cliff of Monte San Giuliano.
Photo 6: The bells
Photo 7: Real Duomo. Marble altar from the 1500s
Photo 8: Real Duomo. Marble altar of the '500 and the friezes on the ceiling
We enter Erice from the door of Trapani built on the walls and enter the alleys and all paved in stone, so shiny for all the passages of these centuries, that it is afraid of being able to slip. Luckily it is a sunny day and even in case of rain we are equipped with mountain boots. Perhaps someone has counted the churches of Erice, someone speaks of 100, we trust them and decide to visit only a few.
Photo 9: Real Duomo. the friezes on the ceiling
Photo 10: Real Duomo. Baptismal font of the '600
Photo 11: The princess phones Aquaman to find out why he is late! 
The first visit is to the Real Duomo and its tower. I climb 30 meters to the top of the Campanile Tower via the wooden staircase that goes up to the panoramic terrace. While photographing the landscape, I am taken by surprise by the sound of the bells near my ears that strike the hours making me take a great fright. I go down and enter the Duomo through the pronaos with the Aragonese-style columns. The cathedral is medieval on the outside, built in the early 1300s, but clearly neo-Gothic on the inside, and the thing that struck me the most are the ceilings with an Arabic relief decoration. In observing the medieval buildings, it should always be remembered that Sicily was an Arab territory for almost 3 centuries, from 800 to 1100, in turn expelled by the Normans, Aragonese and others and therefore also the architecture has always been influenced by the legacies of these cultures, in particular the Arab one, and this is one of the most fascinating peculiarities of Sicily .
Photo 12: Streets of Erice
Photo 13: Saint Martin’s Church
Photo 14: Wooden altar in the small museum of San Martino
Photo 15: Portal of the Church of San Martino
We head towards San Martino, also a church from 1300. The entrance portal is beautiful but I was particularly struck by the decorated wooden choir inside the sacristy, with an altar also in wood, probably all coming from some restoration. of some other church.
Photo 16: church of San Giuliano
Photo 17: Church of San Giuliano. detail of a “vara”
Photo 18: Church of San Giuliano. detail of a “vara”
Photo 17: Church of San Giuliano. The “vare” prepared to depict the Mysteries during the Holy Week procession
Photo 18: Church of San Giuliano. The old church of 1100.
We go up to the highest point of Erice, the church of San Giuliano. According to tradition, it is the oldest church in Erice and was built by Ruggero the Norman in 1080, but there is evidence of the existence of a much earlier church. It is the first church built after the Norman conquest and therefore the re-establishment of the Christian faith in Sicily. Rebuilt and enlarged several times, it was abandoned in 1900 due to a collapse. It was restored and reopened only in 2005. It houses the “vare”, wooden and papier-mâché sculptures of the Trapani tradition, depicting the “Mysteries” that are carried in procession by the various congregations of citizens during the Holy Week of Christians. The oldest “vare” date back to 1500. Just think that until a few years ago Erice was called Monte San Giuliano and therefore you can understand the importance of this church. The most fascinating discovery, however, is that of having also found the original church or perhaps the oldest existing part, a chapel of which some parts seem to date back to 1100.
Photo 19: View from the Castle towards Mount Cofano with San Vito lo Capo in the background
Photo 20: The castle of Venus
Photo 21: Typical Sicilian cart
Photo 22:The castle of Venus
We head towards the Balio garden, towards the abyss of the cliff where the castles also rise. The spectacle that unfolds before our eyes is incredible, there are no more words. A Sicilian cart attracts the attention of tourists. Here in ancient times also stood the temple of Venus Ericina. I expected to find columns and statues as depicted in the Aquaman movie, but none of that. Inside the Castle only some excavations with indications of where some ancient buildings were, but everything was destroyed, used as a quarry for the construction of other buildings and churches in the city. This is the fate of many ancient monuments, not least the Colosseum in Rome, which fortunately were not able to completely demolish.
Photo 23: Castello di Venere
Photo 24: View from The castle of Venus
And so I will not be able to put the bottle in the hand of the statue of Romulus and be able to look at the right path to follow, perhaps in my life! And here we find Hercules! In my opinion the authors of the film, being built around mythological facts such as that of the existence of Atlantis, wanted to bring the struggle between good and evil to Erice, where Hercules was challenged to a duel by the wrestler Erice and after defeating him and killed, he declared Erice a free city that was not to be held by any powerful, unless it was his direct heir who claimed the right to own it. Many tried, including Pirro, to boast direct descent from Hercules, but Erice almost always maintained this right, deriving from the myth of Hercules and his inheritance, to be a free city, thus determining the fortunes of its inhabitants.
Photo 25: Venus Castle. View of the Pepoli Tower
Photo 26: Seat of lovers
Photo 27: Venus Fountain in the Balio Gardens - Erice
Before taking the cable car to go down to Trapani, a secret that you won’t have to reveal to anyone! Do you have a love that is thwarted and cannot be seen when you talk to him? Bring your love with her parents to Erice and have them all sit on the lovers’ seat, taking care to sit you on one side and your love on the other and all the relatives in between. You can talk to your love by turning the word outside the bench and on the other side your love will listen without arousing suspicion in his relatives. Watch the video below!
Photo 28: Museum on the Elimi, ancient inhabitants of Erice, the Trojans of Sicily.
Photo 29: Museum on astral objects
Photo 30: Streets of Erice
Photo 31: Streets of Erice
Erice has many other wonders, even a beautiful museum in the Cloister of the former Convent of San Francesco with an exhibition on the Elimi, the ancient inhabitants of Erice with numerous finds from over 2500 years ago, and a few hours may not be enough, but you have to go back and let us swing a bit by the wind in the cable car, I think a storm is coming!
