Erice is situated on the top of Mount San Giuliano, at 571 metres above sea level. Its name is derived from the Sicilian-Italian Eryx, which means Mount. The area extraordinarily beautiful, and naturally defended , was inhabited( in the caves) in Palaeolithic and Neolithic times.

It was the city of the Elymians, then under the influence of Carthage (its temple which was famous in ancient times dedicated to the cult of fertility and love was dedicated the goddess Astarte by Carthage, Aphrodite by the Greeks and Venus Ericina by the Romans) and later contended by the Greeks for its immense riches.

It was destroyed during the First Punic War by Carthage which transferred its inhabitants to Drepanon (Trapani) In 248 BC Erice was conquered by the Romans, who restored the temple’s ancient splendour and dedicated it to the Goddess Venus.
It then followed the destiny of the rest of the island, it was Byzantine, then Arab, then Norman. The Normans re-populated the city and built the famous castle. In Medieval times, churches and convents were built, and since then , except for a few baroque buildings this fortified town has remained the same.

Inside the city walls (which still has three gates from Medieval times) you can admire the Cathedral, built in the 14th century, The Norman Castle, Saint Martin’s church, also Norman, the church of Saint Domenic (today seat of the Scientific Centre, Ettore Majorana) the Civic Museum and the whole of this lovely little Medieval town.