Egadi Islands

Isole Egadi

There are three islands floating off Trapani, so close that from the Torre di Ligny you can see them outlined on the horizon, yet each one a world apart in character. They are called Favignana, Levanzo and Marettimo, and together they form the Egadi Islands: an archipelago that was once Carthaginian and Roman, that lived for centuries on tuna and stone, and that today is ringed by the clearest, most protected sea in western Sicily.

Those who arrive by hydrofoil, half an hour from the coast, find a world unlike the mainland: the butterfly of Favignana with its tufa quarries and coves of impossible blue, tiny Levanzo hiding a cave painted twelve thousand years ago, the green, wild mountain of Marettimo pierced by four hundred caves. And beneath the keels of the boats lies the largest marine protected area in Europe, with its meadows of posidonia and its untouched seabeds.

Fifty-four thousand hectares of protected sea, the largest marine reserve in Europe: in the Egadi the water is not a backdrop, it is the heart of everything.
— Egadi Islands Marine Protected Area

An archipelago off Trapani

The Egadi are three main islands — Favignana, Levanzo and Marettimo — plus the islets of Formica and Maraone, scattered across the stretch of sea between Trapani and Marsala. Inhabited since prehistoric times, they were the setting of the naval battle that in 241 BC ended the First Punic War in Rome's favour. For centuries their economy revolved around two resources: tuna, caught through the ancient ritual of the tonnara, and calcarenite, the "tufa" quarried by hand that built the houses of the islands and of half of western Sicily. Today the Egadi live above all on an extraordinary sea, but that history is still carved into their rocks and stones.

Favignana, the butterfly on the sea

The largest and most famous of the Egadi is Favignana, nicknamed the "butterfly" for the shape of two wings that Mount Santa Caterina divides when seen from above. It is the island of the tufa quarries: for centuries quarrymen extracted the calcarenite by hand, leaving in the interior vast open-air amphitheatres with vertical walls, now transformed into sunken gardens. On the northern side lies Cala Rossa, where the stone pillars left by the quarrymen frame one of the most beautiful seas in Italy. And then there is the Florio Tuna Factory, the imposing nineteenth-century plant built by Ignazio Florio, for a long time the most important in the Mediterranean for processing tuna, now restored as a museum and symbol of the island.

Levanzo, the smallest and the painted cave

The smallest of the three is Levanzo: a handful of white houses facing a little harbour, no car horns, only the sound of the sea. Yet behind that simplicity the island guards a treasure rare in the whole Mediterranean: the Grotta del Genovese, discovered by chance in 1949 and decorated with prehistoric engravings and cave paintings. The carvings date to the final phase of the Palaeolithic, the black and red paintings to the Neolithic: deer, cattle, horses, fish, human figures and even the tuna, witnesses to ten thousand years of history. It is one of the most important complexes of rock art in Italy and can be visited only with an authorised guide.

Marettimo, the wildest

The westernmost and most distant is Marettimo, the wildest and most mountainous of the Egadi: intensely green, covered in Mediterranean scrub, with a small fishing village and no cars at all. Its coastline is pierced by more than four hundred sea caves — the Grotta del Cammello, the Grotta del Tuono, the Grotta della Pipa — which can be explored only by boat. Inland, a network of footpaths climbs quickly through the scents of the scrub to panoramic viewpoints and archaeological remains, such as the Castle of Punta Troia, perched on a headland sheer above the blue. Secluded coves like Cala Bianca reward the effort of reaching them with their unspoilt beauty.

Tuna, the tonnara and the protected sea

For centuries life in the Egadi was marked by the tonnara and the mattanza, the ancient and spectacular technique for catching bluefin tuna that each spring gathered men and boats. Today that memory is preserved in the museums, while the sea around the islands has become the Egadi Islands Marine Protected Area, established in 1991 and, with its roughly 54,000 hectares, the largest in Europe. Here grow some of the most extensive meadows of posidonia in the Mediterranean, a nursery of marine life, and the seabeds offer some of the finest diving and snorkelling in the area. Not to be missed:

Egadi Islands

Egadi Islands

Egadi Islands

Egadi Islands

Egadi Islands

Egadi Islands

Getting to the Egadi

The Egadi Islands are reached by hydrofoil or ferry from the ports of Trapani and Marsala, with daily departures all year round and frequent crossings in high season. From Trapani the hydrofoil reaches Favignana in about half an hour (the ferry in around an hour); Levanzo is a few minutes from Favignana, while Marettimo, the most distant, requires a longer crossing. On the islands you move on foot, by bicycle or with small electric vehicles — on Marettimo cars do not circulate at all. In summer it is best to book your crossing in advance and always check the operators' up-to-date timetables.

When to go

Frequently asked questions about the Egadi Islands

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