Trapani City Planning

The weather was not as good today, February 5, as was yesterday when we went bicycling. So it seemed a good day to do indoor site seeing in Trapani. I wore my long underwear and brought my hat and gloves because museums and churches tend to be freddo (FREHD-doh)!

Greg, being a City Planner, wanted to see the view of the city from the tip of the sickle, at the entrance to the port. (The name Trapani, comes originally from the Phoenician word for sickle, Drepanon.) The surf was hitting the jetty with serious intent, reminding us that the next storm was coming soon.

It was somewhat overcast with a few drops of rain mixed in the brisk wind. From the point of contiguous land farthest to the south at a circular building called Lazzaretta, we saw what looked to us like ruins in pretty good condition of the Castello della Colombaia. We were not sure what Lazzaretta was. I attempted to interpret the Italian sign based on a smattering of Spanish. I  thought it meant something to do with sanitation. I imagined having a sewer plant out here on the promintory. Maybe not. The waterfront side is the Lega Navale, which likely has something to do with the navy? From this viewpoint, we had a view of the old city and the port full of fishing boats, some of which were so rusted out and bare that I could not imagine taking them to sea!

Around the bend we found a beautiful view of the ocean crashing against the medieval city wall, called the bastione. We wandered toward the tower and found a protected cove, surely a place where parents would bring young children to swim in the summer. Beside it was a wreck of a place that Greg said was a church. You could tell by the cross above it and there was a sign swinging in the archway, S.Liberale. The tourist map reports this to be the Chiesa di San Liberale. Surely a significant place but there was no mention of it in the Rough Guide.

Greg wanted to drive to the other point, where a 17th century tower stands, called the Torre di Ligny. We curved around the port which is only about 4 blocks, following signs that may have told us we were going the right way on a one way street or the signs might have been telling us that we could not park on this street. Hard to know without knowing, as Sheila would say. We found a parking spot. Yet another sign showed a car being towed. One would think that would mean we should not park there but all these other cars were there. So we joined the crowd.

The road toward the tower is a pedestrian walkway. It looks like it had been a dock where ships might have moored along side it in a time long passed. The Tower itself is not very tall with an old wooden door. It was locked, as the tour book said it would be. Inside it is supposed to have a collection of prehistoric finds from the Trapani area and photographs of drawings from the Grotto del Genovese on the island of Levanzo. The view as we turned back toward town was of a narrow spit of land with one row of building on each side in many colors, spreading out in both directions as the land allows. It is the perfect welcoming entrance to city with much to be discovered.