Valderice

Valderice

There is a town that stretches across the hills like a natural terrace, halfway between the sea of Trapani and the peak of Erice. From up here the eye roams freely: below lies the Gulf of Bonagia with its tuna fishery, opposite stands the profile of Monte Cofano, and in the distance the Egadi Islands seem to float on the water. This is Valderice: a green balcony overlooking western Sicily, made of hamlets, bagli and pine woods.

The last municipality to break away from ancient Erice, in the mid-twentieth century, Valderice gathers the rural soul of the Erice countryside — wheat, oil, wine, honey — and weds it to the sea of its fishermen. It is a land that does not shout, yet surprises those who cross it slowly: a scenic road, a tuna-fishery village, a mill turned museum, a pine wood with caves and an abandoned church.

The town between sky and sea: the hills of Valderice offer a privileged vantage point over the gulf and the mountain of Erice.
— From travel accounts of the Erice countryside

The town between sky and sea

Valderice was born from the slow settling of the fertile districts below Monte San Giuliano, the mountain of Erice: hamlets such as San Marco, Ragosia, Misericordia, Sant'Andrea, Crocci and Crocevie that, one after another, came down from the summit toward the valleys. It was the last municipality to gain independence from Erice, in the mid-twentieth century, under the name Paparella-San Marco, before taking its present name of Valderice in 1958. At around 240 metres of altitude and only a few kilometres from the provincial capital, the town enjoys a rare panoramic setting: from the Misericordia urban park the view opens over the entire Gulf of Bonagia.

Bonagia, the Tonnara and the sea

On the coast, just minutes from the town centre, lies the village of Bonagia, an old fishing settlement gathered around its tuna fishery. The Tonnara di Bonagia is one of the best-preserved historic plants in western Sicily: the tower, the house of the rais (the fishery's chief), the warehouses where the tuna was processed and the boats stored. The mattanza (the traditional tuna harvest) was practised here until 2003, and today the tower houses the Museum of the Tonnara and the Mattanza, with nets, tools, boats and a photographic exhibition recounting the stages of the fishing, set to the cialome, the fishermen's work songs. In the old chapel a wooden crucifix is kept, which the fishermen carry in procession once a year. All around are the beaches of Bonagia, Cortigliolo and Rio Forgia, a mix of sand, pebbles and clear water.

Valderice

Valderice

Valderice

Valderice

Valderice

The Mulino Excelsior and the rural soul

In the heart of the town, the Mulino Excelsior tells of another Valderice, the one of labour and wheat. Started in 1904 by the entrepreneur Vincenzo Gervasi, it ground wheat until the 1960s; recovered as an example of industrial archaeology, it now hosts cultural and food-and-wine exhibitions. All around, the land is dotted with bagli — the typical fortified farmsteads with a large inner courtyard — and country villas, evidence of an old farming civilisation of oil, wine and honey. To wander among the districts of Valderice is to read this rural weave still alive today.

Monte Cofano, Cornino and the coast

Valderice is also the gateway to one of the island's most beautiful stretches of coast. Following the shoreline northwards, beyond Bonagia, you reach in a few minutes the Cornino Bay and the imposing Monte Cofano, a limestone headland now a Nature Reserve, with trails poised above the sea and views reaching as far as the Egadi Islands and San Vito Lo Capo. Inland, instead, just fifteen minutes by car take you up to the medieval town of Erice, perched on the mountain and also reachable by the nearby cable car from Trapani: sea and summit, both within sight from the same hillside terrace.

Flavours and traditions of the Erice countryside

The table of Valderice is the generous one of the Trapani hinterland, where land meets sea. From the countryside come extra-virgin olive oil, wine, honey and the old grains that become bread and sweets; from the Bonagia coast come fish and tuna, the living memory of the tonnara. Nor are the flavours shared across the whole Trapani area missing — fish couscous and busiate with Trapani-style pesto (tomato, almonds, garlic and basil) — along with almond pastries. A frank, honest cuisine, made of country produce and ancient gestures.

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Frequently asked questions about Valderice

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