Holiday apartment in Mazara Del Vallo: culture, coast and special experiences

Mazara Del Vallo combines maritime expanses with remarkable culture and unusual discoveries. The city lies in the area of the Strait of Sicily and overlooks the Strait of Sicily.

Culture among museums, churches and traces of the past

The Museo del Satiro houses the Dancing Satyr, a masterpiece of Hellenistic art. The Museo Diocesano preserves sacred artworks, liturgical objects and archaeological finds that provide an overview of the city's religious and cultural history. The Museo Diocesano has ramps for visitor access. The Cathedral of San Salvatore was built between 1086 and 1093 on the ruins of an earlier basilica. In the second half of the 17th century, Don Pietro Castro rebuilt it in the Sicilian Baroque style, with a basilica floor plan and a Latin-cross layout.

The Church of San Nicolò Regale features a square floor plan, three apses and a dome on a cube-shaped drum. Traces of late Roman mosaics from the imperial period were found beneath the church in 1933. The Norman Arch also refers to an earlier era: it was a pointed-arch entrance to a castle built by Roger I d'Altavilla after the city was freed from Arab rule in 1072. The arch was demolished in 1880; the site was transformed into today's public garden, Villa Jolanda. The Norman Arch should therefore not be understood as a surviving structure; today's public garden, Villa Jolanda, occupies the transformed site.

Historic centre and craft experiences

One route leads through the historic centre of Mazara Del Vallo, commonly known as the “Casbah”, as well as through the Jewish quarter with its seven majolica panels. The Casbah preserves an old street layout of Islamic origin. At the Rubino family workshop, clay and terracotta have been processed by skilled craftspeople since 1900. The Stazzùni experience allows you, after a guided tour, to work with clay using suitable tools and make a small souvenir of your own in a converted former limestone quarry.

Beach, wind and marine observations

Tonnarella Beach is a sandy beach with a very wide shoreline along the Fata Morgana promenade. When it is windy, the waters of Tonnarella are used by surfing and kitesurfing enthusiasts, who find suitable conditions there for these water sports. These water sports are explicitly dependent on windy conditions.

There are also special subjects to discover beneath the surface. During the “Discovering the abysses” excursion, Posidonia oceanica, starfish and various schools of fish can be observed. Once the required number of participants has been reached, the excursion leads to a diving centre with an instructor.

Natural area of importance for migratory birds

Lago Preola e Gorghi Tondi is a WWF oasis and an integral regional reserve with several natural, saline karst lakes that are of strategic importance for migratory bird populations.

Other destinations in the same region: Tre Fontane, Tre Croci, Salemi, Pantelleria, Marinella, Selinunte, Petrosino, Rilievo.

For the higher-level travel overview: Trapani.