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{{Infobox Italian comune
| name                   = Erice
| official_name          = Città di Erice
| native_name            = {{native name|scn|Èrici}}
| image_skyline          = Erice - Stefano Pannucci.jpg
| imagesize              = 
| image_alt              = 
| image_caption          = Erice and the Castle of Venus, with Trapani and the Tyrrhenian coast beyond.
| image_shield           = 
| shield_alt             = 
| image_map              = 
| map_alt                = 
| map_caption            = 
| pushpin_label_position = 
| pushpin_map_alt        = 
| coordinates            = {{coord|38|2|13|N|12|35|11|E|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates_footnotes  = 
| region                 = [[Sicily]]
| province               = [[Province of Trapani|Trapani]] (TP)
| frazioni               = Ballata, Casa Santa, Crocefissello, [[Napola (Erice)|Napola]], Pizzolungo, Rigaletta, San Cusumano, Torretta
| mayor_party            = 
| mayor                  = Daniela Toscano
| area_footnotes         = 
| area_total_km2         = 47
| population_footnotes   = 
| population_total       = 26,441
| population_as_of       = 31 December 2023
| pop_density_footnotes  = 
| population_demonym     = Ericini
| elevation_footnotes    = 
| elevation_m            = 751
| twin1                  = 
| twin1_country          = 
| saint                  = Maria Santissima di Custonaci
| day                    = Last Wednesday of August
| postal_code            = 91016
| area_code              = 0923
| website                = {{official website|http://www.comune.erice.tp.it/}}
| footnotes              = 
}}

'''Erice''' ({{IPA|it|ˈɛːritʃe|lang}}; {{langx|scn|Èrici}} {{IPA|scn|ˈɛːɾɪʃɪ|}}) is a {{lang|it|[[comune]]}} (municipality) contiguous with the provincial capital [[Trapani]], in western [[Sicily]]. Its historic core occupies the site of the ancient city of [[Eryx (Sicily)|Eryx]], one of the most significant archaeological and religious centres in pre-Roman western Sicily.<ref name="LietzZirone2017">{{Cite book | last = Lietz | first = Beatrice | chapter = Erice. Fonti storiche e archeologiche | editor1-last = Ampolo | editor1-first = Carmine | title = La città e le città della Sicilia antica: atti delle ottave giornate internazionali di studi sull'area elima e la Sicilia occidentale nel contesto mediterraneo (Pisa, 18–21 December 2012) | publisher = Quasar | year = 2022 | isbn = 978-88-5491-263-2 | language = it | id = hal-03908782}}</ref><ref name="DVC">De Vincenzo, Salvatore (2015). "The fortification wall of Eryx: A new definition of the settlement's construction phases and topographic development in light of recent excavations." ''Analysis Archaeologica'', vol. 1, pp. 103–116. [https://www.academia.edu/31499089/Academia.edu link]</ref>

Located on the summit of [[Monte Erice]], the city developed around a site that later became a prominent religious and military stronghold for the [[Carthaginians]] and [[Roman Republic|Romans]]. It retains its [[Middle Ages|medieval]] layout and architecture, with few modern interventions, and occupies a natural vantage point that historically offered strategic control over the [[Strait of Sicily]] and the western coastline.<ref name="Tusa2017">{{cite book |last=Tusa |first=Matteo |title=Erice: Planning for Life |year=2017 |publisher=Self-published |location=Erice |isbn=9788892667327 |language=en}}</ref>

The municipality includes both the hilltop centre and a number of modern lower districts, some of which extend to the [[Tyrrhenian Sea|Tyrrhenian]] coast, as well as small agricultural ''frazioni'' (hamlets) on the surrounding foothills.

Erice is a member of ''[[I Borghi più belli d'Italia]]'' (The Most Beautiful Villages of Italy), an association that recognises towns of notable historical and architectural interest.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erice |url=https://borghipiubelliditalia.it/borgo/erice/ |website=I Borghi più belli d’Italia |access-date=21 May 2025 |language=it}}</ref> It has at times been mentioned in the local media as a potential candidate for [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]] status.<ref>{{cite web |title=La splendida città di Erice (TP) continua a bussare alla porta dell'Unesco |url=https://www.guidasicilia.it/notizia/la-splendida-citta-di-erice-tp-continua-a-bussare-alla-porta-dell-unesco/11867 |website=Guidasicilia |date=10 September 2004 |language=it |access-date=21 May 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Erice si candida a diventare patrimonio dell'Umanità |url=https://www.agoravox.it/Erice-si-candida-a-diventare.html |website=Agoravox |date=8 November 2010 |language=it |access-date=21 May 2025}}</ref>

== History ==
=== Antiquity ===
{{Main|Eryx (Sicily)}}
The earliest occupation of the hilltop is debated, but settlement likely began in the early first millennium BCE.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Erice |encyclopedia=Enciclopedia dell’Arte Antica |publisher=Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana (Treccani) |language=it |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/erice_%28Enciclopedia-dell%27-Arte-Antica%29/}}
</ref><ref name="DVC" /> Under the [[Elymians]], who called the site ''Irka'', the community established fortifications and a sanctuary on the summit.<ref>{{cite web |title=La storia |website=Comune di Erice |language=it |url=https://www.comune.erice.tp.it/it/page/la-storia-b97e725d-6c20-4bec-bb2b-2e9666941975}}
</ref><ref name="DVC" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Erice: The Sanctuary of Venus Erycina |website=Freie Universität Berlin, Institut für Klassische Archäologie |url=https://www.geschkult.fu-berlin.de/e/klassarch/forschung/progetti/erice_venus/index.html}}
</ref>

With the arrival of the [[Phoenicians]] in western Sicily during the early Iron Age (attested by the early 8th century BCE at nearby Motya) and, later, [[Carthage|Carthaginian]] control (from the late 6th century BCE until the Roman annexation in 241 BCE), the settlement developed within a circuit now known as the [[Elymian-Punic Walls of Erice|Elymian–Punic walls]]. Excavations distinguish an Elymian phase and a Punic rebuilding, including squared blocks bearing Punic mason’s marks; the oldest quarter of the city preserves a capillary network of narrow, irregular lanes often interpreted as part of a defensive, escape-oriented layout.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Nigro |first=Lorenzo|year=2013|title=Before the Greeks: the earliest Phoenician settlement in Motya—recent discoveries by Rome «La Sapienza» Expedition|journal=Vicino Oriente|volume=17|pages=39–74|issn=0393-0300
|url=https://www.ancientportsantiques.com/wp-content/uploads/Documents/PLACES/Sicily-Malta/Motye/Motye-Nigro2013.pdf
|language=en}}</ref><ref name="OxfordPhoen">F. Spatafora, “Sicily,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean, ed. C. López-Ruiz & B. R. Doak (Oxford, 2022), overview of Phoenician presence and retreat to the west (Motya, Panormus, Soluntum).</ref><ref name="DVC" /><ref name="DeVincenzo2022">S. De Vincenzo, Guida archeologica di Erice (Viterbo, 2022), pp. 15–25 (Elymian and Punic phases; Punic mason’s marks).</ref><ref name="LiviusEryx">J. Lendering, “Eryx,” Livius.org (accessed 2025): notes on Carthaginian stronghold under Hamilcar and loss in 241 BCE.</ref><ref name="Tusa2017" />

The [[Ancient Greece|Greeks]] (attested from the 5th century BCE) and [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] (after the Roman annexation in 241 BCE) called the settlement ''Eryx''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Thucydides |title=History of the Peloponnesian War |volume=6 |chapter=2 |publisher=Loeb Classical Library |year=1914–1923 |translator=Charles Forster Smith |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Thuc.%206.2|quote=…οἰκοῦσι δὲ καὶ Ἔρυκα καὶ Ἔγεσταν Ἐλύμοι…}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Cicero |first=M. Tullius |title=In Verrem |volume=2.4 |section=72–74 |publisher=Loeb Classical Library |year=1928 |translator=H. Rackham |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0018%3Atext%3DVer.%3Aactio%3D2%3Abook%3D4|quote=…Veneris Erycinae… in aede Vetere Erycine…}}</ref> Within the largely irregular historic street network, Via San Francesco is a notably straight alignment; Caracciolo has interpreted it as evidence of very ancient planning.<ref name="Tusa2017" /> Excavations and surveys document several ancient construction phases at the sanctuary on the summit.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erice: The Sanctuary of Venus Erycina |website=Freie Universität Berlin, Institut für Klassische Archäologie |date=12 September 2022 |url=https://www.geschkult.fu-berlin.de/e/klassarch/forschung/projekte/erice_venus/index.html|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Tusa2017" />

=== Medieval period ===
The modern settlement of Erice began in the [[Norman conquest of southern Italy|Norman]] period, when the summit was re-fortified as the Norman [[Castle of Venus]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Castello di Venere |url=https://cultura.gov.it/luogo/castello-di-venere
 |website=Ministero della Cultura (MiC) |date=5 May 2022
 |language=it |quote=La fortezza di epoca normanna è cinta da possenti mura collegate tramite un ponte levatoio alle Torri del Balio.}}</ref> In the same centuries the kingdom’s ventures in [[Kingdom of Africa|Ifriqiya]] (1148–1160s) heightened the strategic weight of western Sicily’s heights and sea lanes, with Erice again serving as a defensive stronghold over the [[Strait of Sicily]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Abulafia |first=David |chapter=The Norman Kingdom of Africa |title=Italy, Sicily and the Mediterranean, 1100–1400 |publisher=Variorum |year=1987 |pages=26–49}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Hernández |first=Sarah Davis-Secord |title=Dynasties Intertwined: The Zirids of Ifriqiya and the Normans of Sicily |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=2022 |chapter=5. The Norman Kingdom of Africa |pages=135–165 |doi=10.1515/9781501763489-010 |isbn=978-1-5017-6348-9 }}</ref> During this period the town came to be known as ''Monte San Giuliano'' (by tradition since the Norman conquest).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Monte San Giuliano |encyclopedia=Enciclopedia Italiana |publisher=Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/monte-san-giuliano_%28Enciclopedia-Italiana%29/
 |language=it |quote=Il nome attuale rimonta, secondo una pia tradizione, al tempo della conquista normanna.}}</ref> In later medieval sources it appears as a royal demesne (''città demaniale''): in 1413 its ''universitas'' petitioned for the royal appointment of a captain and castellan, underscoring direct crown control rather than feudal lordship.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Rosciglione |first=Rosa|title=La Sicilia di Ferdinando de Antequera. Il caso delle ''universitates'' siciliane|journal=RiMe. Rivista dell'Istituto di Storia dell'Europa Mediterranea|date=2013|volume=10|pages=419–464|language=it|url=https://rime.cnr.it/index.php/rime/article/download/187/327/|format=PDF|access-date=21 September 2025|quote=L’universitas di Monte San Giuliano … chiedeva un capitano fedele al re … e come castellano chiedevano l’invio di un catalano… libero da ogni influenza dei feudatari.
}}</ref>

The 12th-century traveller Ibn Giubayr described abundant springs, cultivated fields, vineyards, and a fortress accessible by a bridge. Monte San Giuliano held an intermediate status in the territorial hierarchy, positioned between a ''civitas'' and a ''casale'', and was classified as a ''terra'' (land).<ref name="Tusa2017" />

The Norman fortress anchored the upper citadel, with the [[Balio Towers]] serving as its fortified gateway. A second hub formed around the [[Chiesa Matrice, Erice|Mother Church]], and a third around the Palazzo Giuratorio, seat of the ''giurati'' (sworn civic magistrates). The town’s fabric coalesced around these three nodes, linked by the “Royal Road” (now Via Albertina degli Abati) and the “Great Road” (now Via Vittorio Emanuele II). Wealthy families consolidated plots by combining neighbouring properties.<ref name="Tusa2017" />

By the late 13th–14th centuries a parish network and several monastic houses reinforced this layout, further anchoring the three hubs (see [[#Religious significance|Religious significance]]).

=== Early modern and Bourbon period (16th–19th centuries) ===
[[File:Erice Sicily Italy 06.jpg|thumb|The [[Spanish Quarter (Erice)|Spanish Quarter]]]]
From the 1500s Sicily formed part of [[Habsburg Spain]] via the [[Crown of Aragon]], governed as a Spanish viceroyalty.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Kingdom of Aragon |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Kingdom-of-Aragon
 |quote=Thereafter Sicily was governed by viceroys… Aragon became part of Spain in 1479. |access-date=21 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Kingdom of Sicily |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Kingdom-of-Sicily
 |access-date=21 September 2025}}</ref> In 1713 the island passed to the [[House of Savoy]] under the Treaty of Utrecht; in 1720 Victor Amadeus II exchanged Sicily for Sardinia, transferring Sicily to the [[Habsburg monarchy]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=House of Savoy |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/House-of-Savoy|quote=By the Treaty of Utrecht (1713)… ruler of Sicily; in 1720 he exchanged Sicily for Sardinia. |access-date=21 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Italy: Reform and Enlightenment in the 18th century|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Italy/Reform-and-Enlightenment-in-the-18th-century|quote=In 1734… Charles… conquered the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily from Austria; earlier, in 1720, Victor Amadeus ceded Sicily to Austria. |access-date=21 September 2025}}</ref> In practice, society remained strongly aristocratic: feudal and ecclesiastical estates dominated landholding and local power well into the modern era, especially in Sicily, where large latifundia and church property were prominent.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Italy: The era of Enlightenment reform |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Italy/The-era-of-Enlightenment-reform|quote=…powerful feudal and ecclesiastical estates that controlled vast land and wealth… |access-date=21 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Russo |first=Joseph P.|year=1999|title=The Sicilian Latifundia |journal=Irish Journal of Sociology |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=5–25 |jstor=29776533|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29776533|access-date=21 September 2025|issn=0791-6035}}</ref>

Within this framework Erice prospered: its population rose from 7,657 in 1584 to about 12,000 by the late 1600s, and the town controlled much of the surrounding countryside. Many palaces and churches date to this period, and the patterned cobbled paving laid with small stones became a defining feature of the historic centre.<ref name="Tusa2017" /> To meet Spanish billeting obligations (''posata''), townspeople funded the [[Spanish Quarter (Erice)|Spanish Quarter]], a barracks begun on the town’s northern edge in the early 17th century and abandoned in 1632, after which troops were housed in the Castle of Venus.<ref name="FondazioneEriceArte">{{cite web |title=Quartiere Spagnolo |url=https://www.fondazioneericearte.org/quartiere-spagnolo/ |website=Fondazione Erice Arte |language=it |access-date=29 August 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Spanish Quarter |url=https://virtualtour.comune.erice.tp.it/en/quartiere-spagnolo |website=Comune di Erice – Virtual Tour |access-date=5 October 2025}}</ref>

In 1734 [[Charles III of Spain|Charles of Bourbon]] conquered Naples and Sicily; Bourbon rule continued thereafter, and in December 1816 the two kingdoms were formally unified as the [[Kingdom of the Two Sicilies]], which lasted until 1860–61.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Italy: Reform and Enlightenment in the 18th century |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Italy/Reform-and-Enlightenment-in-the-18th-century
 |access-date=21 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Kingdom of the Two Sicilies |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Kingdom-of-the-Two-Sicilies
 |access-date=21 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Ferdinand I |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ferdinand-I-king-of-the-Two-Sicilies
 |quote=…returned to Naples as Ferdinand I of the united kingdom of the Two Sicilies (December 1816). |access-date=21 September 2025}}</ref> Bourbon land policies redistributed parts of the ''demanio'' (public lands) through ''emphyteusis''—long leases that transferred cultivation rights while reserving ultimate ownership—encouraging new rural settlements such as [[Custonaci]] and [[San Vito Lo Capo]]. As administrative functions consolidated in [[Trapani]], noble families and residents relocated, and the hilltop town became increasingly depopulated and economically peripheral.<ref name="Tusa2017" /> 

In 1860, during the Sicilian phase of the [[Risorgimento]], Erice supplied volunteers to [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]]’s campaign. Local patriot [[Giuseppe Coppola]] led the town’s volunteers—"875 men from Erice", as a civic plaque records—and fought at the [[Battle of Calatafimi]] before helping expel the Bourbon garrison from Trapani. Among the Ericine fallen was the physician [[Rocco La Russa Peraino]], killed at the [[Ponte dell'Ammiraglio]] in Palermo on 27 May 1860; both men are commemorated by plaques in Erice.<ref name=TrapaniNostraCoppola>{{cite web |title=Giuseppe Coppola |url=https://www.trapaninostra.it/Foto_Trapanesi/Didascalie/Coppola_Giuseppe.htm |website=Trapani Nostra |language=it |access-date=3 October 2025}}</ref><ref name=EricePlaque>{{cite web |title=Commemorative plaque on Palazzo Municipale, Erice|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plaque_Palazzo_Municipale_Erice.jpg |website=Wikimedia Commons |access-date=3 October 2025}}</ref><ref name=Abba>{{cite web |last=Abba |first=Giuseppe Cesare |title=Storia dei Mille – La calata a Palermo |url=https://it.wikisource.org/wiki/Storia_dei_Mille/La_calata_a_Palermo |website=it.wikisource |language=it |access-date=3 October 2025}}</ref><ref name=Cataldo>{{cite web |last=Cataldo |first=Carlo |title=Epigrafi garibaldine nel Trapanese |url=https://www.trapaninostra.it/Libri_New/Epigrafi_garibaldine_nel_Trapanese.pdf |website=Centro Internazionale di Studi Risorgimentali Garibaldini |date=December 2005 |language=it |access-date=3 October 2025}}</ref> The suppression of monasteries by the Italian state after unification in the late 19th century further altered the town’s institutions and urban fabric.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erice – Biblioteca Comunale "Vito Carvini" |website=BiblioTP – Rete delle Biblioteche della provincia di Trapani (Regione Siciliana) |url=https://bibliotp.regione.sicilia.it/opac/library/erice/TPSER
 |language=it |quote=…i libri provenienti dai conventi, chiusi in seguito alla soppressione delle Corporazioni religiose, [furono destinati] a una biblioteca aperta al pubblico… Il nucleo bibliografico originario proviene, dunque, dall’unificazione delle biblioteche dei quattro conventi ericini… |access-date=21 September 2025}}</ref>

=== Villeggiatura and salons (c. 1870–1930s) ===
[[File:Erice - Castello di Venere - 202209140012 3.jpeg|thumb|330px|The [[Balio Gardens]] surround the [[Pepoli Turret]], [[Balio Towers]], and [[Castle of Venus]]]]
From the late 19th century Erice entered a new phase of prosperity shaped by the culture of ''villeggiatura''—the seasonal retreat of wealthy families to hill towns during the summer. The town’s altitude and cool breezes made it a favoured refuge from the heat of the lowlands, attracting not only residents of Trapani and Palermo but also expatriate Sicilian families from North Africa, including Tunis and Cairo.<ref name="Tusa2017" /><ref>{{cite web|title=Trapani nuova, anno 11, n. 18 (1969)|url=https://www.trapaninostra.it/Edicola/Trapani_Nuova_1969_anno_11_n_018.pdf|website=Trapani nuova – Rassegna mensile della Provincia di Trapani|publisher=Provincia Regionale di Trapani|language=it|quote=…Erice. Stazione climatica e turistica di primissimo ordine…
}}</ref>

Institutional life shifted at this time: civic functions moved from the medieval [[Balio Towers]] to the newly built [[Palazzo Municipale, Erice|Palazzo Municipale]], and a piazza was created in front of it as the town’s modern civic centre.<ref name="Tusa2017" /> The Balio complex was reimagined as a public garden under the patronage of Count [[Agostino Sieri Pepoli]], who leased the towers in the 1870s, laid out the landscaped [[Balio Gardens]], and constructed the neo-Gothic [[Pepoli Turret]] as a retreat for study and cultural exchange.<ref>{{cite web |title=Torretta Pepoli |website=Fondazione Erice Arte |url=https://www.fondazioneericearte.org/torretta-pepoli/
 |language=it |quote=La torretta Pepoli … intorno al 1870 la fece edificare all’interno dell’attuale giardino del Balio …}}</ref> The turret became a venue for cultural gatherings, hosting writers, scholars, and musicians of the period.<ref>{{cite web |title=Torretta Pepoli |website=Fondazione Erice Arte |url=https://www.fondazioneericearte.org/torretta-pepoli/
 |language=it |quote=…rifugio silenzioso… il conte Pepoli accolse gli uomini di cultura del tempo…}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Balio Gardens |website=Grandi Giardini Italiani |url=https://www.grandigiardini.it/lang_EN/280-visit-Giardino-del-Balio-event-tickets
 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Pepoli Tower – Erice |website=West of Sicily (Official DMO) |date=18 September 2024 |url=https://www.westofsicily.com/en/art-culture/pepoli-tower
 }}</ref> 

By the early 20th century, civic cultural infrastructure expanded: the [[Cordici Museum]] was founded in 1876 and later housed (from 1939) in the upper floors of the town hall, in rooms that had formerly served as the municipal theatre, while the [[Vito Carvini Municipal Library]] was formed from suppressed convent collections after unification.<ref>{{cite web |title=Museo "Antonio Cordici" |website=Comune di Erice |url=https://www.comune.erice.tp.it/it/vivere/754014
 |language=it |quote=…nel 1876… venne istituito ad Erice il museo civico… in seguito, nel 1939, nei piani superiori dello stesso palazzo (in quelli che furono del teatro comunale).}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Erice – Biblioteca Comunale "Vito Carvini" |website=BiblioTP – Rete delle Biblioteche della provincia di Trapani (Regione Siciliana) |url=https://bibliotp.regione.sicilia.it/opac/library/erice/TPSER
 |language=it }}</ref>

These decades also marked the beginnings of organised tourism, with the appearance of guesthouses and small hotels catering to seasonal visitors. The [[Grand Hotel Igea (Erice)|Grand Hotel Igea]], opened in 1927–28, attracted figures from Sicilian aristocratic, cultural, business, and political circles, and for many years was a symbol of tourism in Erice. Though the tradition of ''villeggiatura'' declined in the 20th century with changing patterns of mobility and leisure, the architecture and public spaces of this period remain distinctive features of Erice.<ref name="Tusa2017" />

In 1934 the town’s name was officially changed from Monte San Giuliano to Erice. During the Second World War, in 1943, a Luftwaffe operations post associated with ''[[Zerstörergeschwader 26]]'' and ''[[Jagdgeschwader 27]]''—units flying from nearby [[Trapani–Milo Airport]]—was positioned on the slopes of Monte Erice until Allied air raids forced its relocation. After the Allied landings in July 1943, elements of the 2nd Battalion, [[505th Infantry Regiment (United States)|505th Infantry Regiment]] (U.S. Seventh Army) advanced up Monte Erice; Italian forces occupying the ramparts surrendered after initial exchanges of fire.<ref name=Holland>{{cite book |last=Holland |first=James |title=Sicily '43: The First Assault on Fortress Europe |year=2020 |location=London |publisher=Bantam Press |pages=383 |isbn=978-1-7876-3293-6}}</ref> Erice ended the war largely unscathed, with its historic character intact.

=== Intellectualism (since 1962) ===
[[File:Streets of Erice, Sicilia, Italy , july 2023, KP477.jpg|thumb|150px|Ettore Majorana's Isidor I. Rabi Institute]]
[[File:Palazzo Sales in Erice.jpg|thumb|200px|Palazzo Sales, branch site of the IIS "Florio" school]]
The post-war decades brought new accessibility: a cable car linking Trapani to Erice—first opened in 1956 and re-inaugurated on 8 July 2005—made the hilltop readily reachable for day-trippers and routine travel between the lower districts and the historic centre.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erice, la ex stazione della funivia s'ha da recuperare |website=Telesud |date=30 October 2023 |url=https://www.telesudweb.it/30-10-2023/erice-la-ex-stazione-della-funivia-sha-da-recuperare
 |language=it |quote=Quella di Erice fu la prima funivia realizzata in Sicilia. Venne inaugurata nel 1956…}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Inaugurata la cabinovia Trapani–Erice |website=Regione Siciliana |date=6 July 2005| url=https://www2.regione.sicilia.it/turismo/trasporti/arcnews/nw%20060705%20s7.htm|language=it |quote=L’inaugurazione avvenne l’8 luglio 2005.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Cableway Trapani Erice |website=Funivia di Erice (official) |url=https://www.funiviaerice.it/en|access-date=21 September 2025 |quote=…covers the way in just 10 minutes…}}</ref>

In 1962 the physicist [[Antonino Zichichi]] founded the [[Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture]] in Erice, establishing a year-round centre for international scientific schools and meetings.<ref>{{cite web |title=The history of EMFCSC |website=Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture |url=https://ettoremajoranafoundation.it/the-history/
 |access-date=21 September 2025 |quote=…the formal establishment (1962) and the first activity (1963)…}}</ref> The Majorana Foundation has hosted residential schools and workshops that attracted scholars from around the world, including Nobel laureates such as [[Paul Dirac]], [[Steven Weinberg]], and [[Carlo Rubbia]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Erice Statement |url=https://ettoremajoranafoundation.it/the-erice-statement/
 |website=Ettore Majorana Foundation |access-date=21 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Zichichi |editor-first=Antonino |title=Understanding the Fundamental Constituents of Matter |series=The Subnuclear Series |volume=14 |publisher=Springer |location=New York |year=1978 |doi=10.1007/978-1-4684-0931-4 |isbn=978-1-4684-0933-8 |quote=Proceedings of the 14th International School of Subnuclear Physics (Erice, 23 July–8 August 1976), which included lectures by S. Weinberg.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Marston
 |first1=P. G.
 |last2=Desportes
 |first2=H.
 |last3=Morpurgo
 |first3=Mario
 |last4=Komarek
 |first4=P.
 |last5=Van Hulst
 |first5=K.
 |last6=Hackley
 |first6=D.
 |last7=Young
 |first7=J. L.
 |last8=Kibbe
 |first8=K.
 |title=21st International School of Subnuclear Physics, Erice, Aug 1983 — contributions |url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/153256
 |website=CERN Document Server |date=1984
 |volume=45
 |issue=C1
 |pages=C1–637
 |publisher=CERN |language=en |access-date=21 September 2025}}</ref>
Courses have ranged across disciplines—from particle physics to ethics, microelectronics, and nutrition—and have produced declarations such as the [[Erice statement]] on the responsibilities of science.<ref>{{cite web |title=International Schools |url=https://ettoremajoranafoundation.it/international-schools/
 |website=Ettore Majorana Foundation |access-date=21 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Attività del 2022 (Activities, 2022) |url=https://ettoremajoranafoundation.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Fondazione-Majorana-Attivita%CC%80-del-2022.pdf
 |website=Ettore Majorana Foundation |language=it |quote=41st Course: Ethics, public offices, and the ethical conduct of office holders |access-date=21 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=International School of Solid-State Physics |url=https://ettoremajoranafoundation.it/scuola/international-school-of-solid-state-physics/
 |website=Ettore Majorana Foundation |quote=…microelectronics, particle detectors… |access-date=21 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=2015 NUTRACEUTICALS — Scientific Programme |url=https://siia.it/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/2015-NUTRACEUTICALS-Scientific-programme-v07.15.pdf
 |publisher=Società Italiana dell’Ipertensione Arteriosa |quote=Talks on Mediterranean diet and health at EMFCSC, Erice |access-date=21 September 2025}}</ref>
The Foundation’s science-for-peace vocation has been acknowledged internationally; the Erice initiatives drew the attention of world leaders including [[Ronald Reagan]], [[Mikhail Gorbachev]], [[Pierre Trudeau]], [[Olof Palme]] and [[Sandro Pertini]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Erice International School of Subnuclear Physics |url=https://agenda.centrofermi.it/event/105/contributions/793/attachments/392/591/bologna.pdf
 |website=Centro Fermi |quote=…attracted in the eighties the attention of world leaders such as Deng Xiaoping, Gorbachev, Reagan, Pierre Trudeau, Olof Palme and Sandro Pertini. |access-date=21 September 2025}}</ref>

The [[Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Ignazio e Vincenzo Florio]] (a state hospitality and catering school; IPSEOA “Florio”) opened ''Officucina'' teaching labs at Palazzo Sales (the former [[Santa Teresa, Erice|Santa Teresa]] monastery) in 2019 and expanded its learning spaces in 2024 under Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). The ''Officucina'' are purpose-built culinary laboratories—professional teaching kitchens designed for food innovation projects and hands-on training.<ref>{{cite web |title=L'Istituto Alberghiero di Erice inaugura il nuovo laboratorio "Officucina", l'Innovazione del Cibo tra sapori e saperi |website=Prima Pagina Marsala |date=23 May 2019 |url=https://www.primapaginamarsala.it/listituto-alberghiero-di-erice-inaugura-il-nuovo-laboratorio-officucina-linnovazione-del-cibo-tra-sapori-e-saperi
 |language=it |access-date=22 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Erice, inaugurata l'Officucina all'Istituto Florio |website=Telesud |date=1 March 2024 |url=https://www.telesudweb.it/01-03-2024/erice-inaugurata-lofficucina-allistituto-florio
 |language=it |access-date=22 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Erice, inaugurati i Laboratori "Officucina" all'Istituto Superiore "Florio" |website=TP24 |date=4 March 2024 |url=https://www.tp24.it/2024/03/04/scuola/erice-inaugurati-i-laboratori-officucina-all-istituto-superiore-nbsp-florio/200921
 |language=it |access-date=22 September 2025}}</ref>

In the 2020s the school expanded its facilities in the historic centre, opening boarding facilities (''convitto'') in the former [[San Carlo, Erice|San Carlo]] monastery and the former [[Grand Hotel Igea (Erice)|Grand Hotel Igea]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Inaugurato ieri a Erice nell'ex convento San Carlo il convitto dell'Istituto Florio |website=I.I.S. “I. e V. Florio” – Erice |date=26 September 2021 |url=https://www.istitutoflorioerice.edu.it/inaugurato-ieri-a-erice-nellex-convento-san-carlo-il-convitto-dellistituto-florio/|language=it}}
</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Consegnato l'ex convento San Carlo di Erice all'Istituto superiore "Ignazio e Vincenzo Florio" |website=Comune di Erice |date=28 September 2021 |url=https://www.comune.erice.tp.it/it/news/consegnato-l-ex-convento-san-carlo-di-erice-all-istituto-superiore-ignazio-e-vincenzo-florio
 |language=it}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Consegnati alloggi per studenti dell'ex Hotel Igea all'Istituto "I. e V. Florio" di Erice |website=Comune di Erice |url=https://www.comune.erice.tp.it/it/news/consegnati-alloggi-per-studenti-dellex-hotel-igea-allistituto-i-e-v-florio-di-erice
 |language=it}}</ref> The school hosts public demonstrations and masterclasses led by visiting chefs and notable alumni. Guests have included American television chef [[Marc Murphy (chef)|Marc Murphy]], Michelin-starred chef Giuseppe Costa of ''Il Bavaglino'', and television chef Fabio Potenzano; the institute has also hosted an [[Erasmus Programme|Erasmus+]] bakery and chocolate masterclass with Belgian chefs Stijn Van Kerckhoven and Gilles Discart.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erice, l'Istituto Alberghiero ospita lo chef Marc Murphy, ristoratore di New York City |website=TP24 |date=23 September 2018 |url=https://www.tp24.it/2018/09/23/scuola-e-universita/erice-listituto-alberghiero-erice-ospita-chef-marc-murphy-ristoratore-york/124845
 |language=it |access-date=22 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Seconda Masterclass di cucina all'Istituto "Florio" di Erice con lo chef stellato Giuseppe Costa |website=Loft Cultura |date=1 March 2022 |url=https://loftcultura.it/2022/03/01/enogastronomia/seconda-masterclass-di-cucina-allistituto-florio-di-erice-con-lo-chef-stellato-giuseppe-costa/
 |language=it |access-date=22 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Erice, inaugurata l'Officucina all'Istituto Florio |website=Telesud |date=1 March 2024 |url=https://www.telesudweb.it/01-03-2024/erice-inaugurata-lofficucina-allistituto-florio
 |language=it |access-date=22 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=L'Istituto "Florio" ospita una masterclass su bakery e cioccolateria con due chef belgi |website=I.I.S. “I. e V. Florio” – Erice (official) |date=4 February 2024 |url=https://www.istitutoflorioerice.edu.it/listituto-florio-ospita-una-masterclass-su-bakery-e-cioccolateria-con-due-chef-belgi/
 |language=it |access-date=22 September 2025}}</ref>

==Religious significance==
===Pre-Christian origins===
{{Main|Eryx (Sicily)}}
By the fifth century BCE, the indigenous [[Elymians]] living on the mountain had a sacred place on the summit.<ref name="Thuc6.2">{{cite web |last=Thucydides |title=History of the Peloponnesian War — Book 6.2 |url=https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.1st1K-eng2:6.2/ |website=Perseus Digital Library (Scaife Viewer) |access-date=19 September 2025}}</ref><ref name="Thuc6.46">{{cite web |last=Thucydides |title=History of the Peloponnesian War — Book 6.46 |url=https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.1st1K-eng2:6.46/ |website=Perseus Digital Library (Scaife Viewer) |access-date=19 September 2025}}</ref> Later in the century, in 415 BCE, people from nearby [[Segesta]] led Athenian visitors up to see it and showed them silver bowls, ladles and incense burners as proof of wealth.<ref name="Thuc6.46" /> Greek writers in the late fifth century BCE refer to it as “the temple of [[Aphrodite]] at [[Eryx (Sicily)|Eryx]]”.<ref name="Thuc6.46" /> Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love and beauty. “Eryx” is the Greek name for the mountain. 

Later Greek writers wove the summit site into their stories. Diodorus Siculus (1st century BCE) recounts a tale that the craftsman Daedalus built a wall on the crag by the temple and even fashioned a golden ram for the goddess at Mount Eryx.<ref name="Diod4.78">{{cite web |last=Diodorus Siculus |title=Library of History 4.78 |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4D*.html |website=LacusCurtius |access-date=19 September 2025}}</ref> Strabo (early 1st century CE) notes the temple’s wide renown and says that in earlier times many attendants had been dedicated there by people from Sicily and from abroad.<ref name="Strab6.2.6">{{cite web |last=Strabo |title=Geography 6.2.6 |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/6B*.html |website=LacusCurtius |access-date=19 September 2025}}</ref> Together these accounts show how famous the hilltop sanctuary was in Greek writing.

=== Roman veneration ===
In Roman usage the goddess was called [[Venus Erycina]] (“Venus of Eryx”).<ref name="Livy22">{{cite web |last=Livy |title=History of Rome — Book 22 |url=https://www.yorku.ca/pswarney/Texts/livy-22.htm |website=York University |access-date=19 September 2025 |quote=…a temple to Venus Erycina…}}</ref><ref name="DAR-PortaCollina">{{cite web |title=Venus Erycina, Aedes (Extra Porta Collinam) |url=https://www.digitalaugustanrome.org/records/venus-erycina-aedes-extra-porta-collinam/ |website=Digital Augustan Rome |access-date=19 September 2025}}</ref> A Roman coin from 57 BCE shows the sanctuary as a small temple with four front columns, set on a rocky summit within a walled precinct.<ref>{{cite web |title=Denarius of C. Considius Nonianus (RRC 424/1) |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_2002-0102-4309 |website=British Museum |access-date=19 September 2025 |quote=Mountain, on which stands temple (of Venus at Eryx), surrounded by wall with gate.}}</ref><ref name="DAR-PortaCollina" /> Coin images are not architectural plans, but they suggest how Romans pictured the hilltop shrine.

Rome later founded two public temples in her honour—one on the [[Capitoline Hill]] (dedicated 215 BCE) and another outside the [[Porta Collina]] on the [[Quirinal]] (vowed 184 BCE; dedicated 181 BCE). Both temples used the epithet "Erycina" ("of Eryx").<ref name="Livy22" /><ref name="DAR-PortaCollina" /> The Sicilian sanctuary stayed important: in 25 CE the people of [[Segesta]] asked Emperor [[Tiberius]] to restore the old temple on the mountain, and he agreed.<ref name="TacAnn4.43">{{cite web |last=Tacitus |title=Annals 4.43 |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Tacitus/Annals/4C*.html |website=LacusCurtius |access-date=19 September 2025}}</ref>

=== Early Christianisation ===
[[File:On the Top of the World.jpg|thumb|330px|The [[Castle of Venus]], on the ancient sanctuary site]]
{{See also|Castle of Venus}}
From late antiquity onward the old sanctuary declined as the summit was reused. A small church dedicated to ''Santa Maria della Neve'' (often rendered “Our Lady of the Snows”) was probably built within the former sacred area during the time of the Norman castle (11th–12th centuries); its ruins are still visible inside the [[Castle of Venus]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Il Castello di Venere |url=https://www.fondazioneericearte.org/il-castello-di-venere/ |website=Fondazione Erice Arte |language=it |access-date=19 September 2025 |quote=Dopo un lungo periodo di declino… nell’area venne edificata una piccola chiesa dedicata a Santa Maria della Neve, forse in concomitanza con la costruzione del castello da parte dei Normanni (XI–XII sec.).}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Erice: Il Castello |url=https://www.trapaninostra.it/libri/Giuseppe_Abate/Trapani/Trapani-98.pdf |website=Trapani Nostra (PDF) |language=it |access-date=19 September 2025 |quote=Forse in concomitanza con la costruzione del Castello da parte dei Normanni nell’area venne edificata una piccola chiesa dedicata a Santa Maria della Neve.}}</ref>

From the 13th and 14th centuries, Erice (then known as Monte San Giuliano) saw new churches and monasteries founded with royal and baronial support. The town’s main church, the [[Chiesa Matrice]] (''Chiesa di Maria Santissima Assunta''), was built in 1314 under [[Frederick III of Sicily|King Frederick III]] of Aragon, reportedly reusing material from the ancient temple of Venus Erycina.<ref>{{cite web |title=Chiesa di Maria Santissima Assunta |url=https://chieseitaliane.chiesacattolica.it/chieseitaliane/AccessoEsterno.do?mode=guest&type=auto&code=45848 |website=Conferenza Episcopale Italiana – Chiese Italiane |language=it |access-date=19 September 2025 |quote=La chiesa fu edificata dal Re Federico III di Aragona nel 1314 con materiale proveniente dal tempio della Venere Ericina.}}</ref> Baronial families backed new monasteries and churches. The [[Chiaramonte family]] are linked with the [[Santissimo Salvatore, Erice|Santissimo Salvatore]] Benedictine house, set up in their former palace around 1290; the [[Ventimiglia family]] backed the [[Spirito Santo, Erice|Spirito Santo]] (San Francesco) convent, authorised by a papal bull of [[Pope Urban V]] in the 1360s.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ruins of the monastery of the SS. Savior |url=https://www.westofsicily.com/en/art-culture/ruins-of-the-monastery-of-the-ss-savior |website=West of Sicily |date=18 September 2024 |access-date=19 September 2025 |quote=Originally the building was the palace of Count Chiaramonte, who gave it in 1290 to the Benedictine nuns.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=SS. Salvatore |url=https://www.ericelamontagnadelsignore.it/santissimo-salvatore/ |website=Erice – La Montagna del Signore |date=23 May 2023 |language=it |access-date=19 September 2025 |quote=L’edificio era nel XIII secolo il palazzo della nobile famiglia Chiaramonte. Le monache benedettine vi si insediarono alla fine del 1200.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Castronovo |first=Giuseppe |title=I Conventi di Erice — Appendice I: Bulla Fundationis Conventus S. Francisci Montis S. Iuliani |url=https://www.trapaninostra.it/Libri_New///I_Conventi_di_Erice_Memorie_di_Giuseppe_Castronovo.pdf |website=Trapani Nostra (PDF) |date=1872 |language=la |access-date=19 September 2025 |quote=…dilecti filii nobiles viri Franciscus de Viutimilia, et Joannes de Claromonte… (Urban V bull naming the nobles petitioning to found the convent at Monte S. Juliani).}}</ref> The pope also issued an edict at Avignon in 1365 to found the nearby [[San Pietro, Erice|San Pietro]] church.<ref name="Tusa2017" />

Erice is linked in Carmelite tradition with several figures. Blessed [[Luigi Rabatà]] (1443–1490) is generally said to have been born at the site of the Church of [[Sant'Isidoro, Erice|Sant'Isidoro]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Beato Luigi Rabatà |url=https://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/90044 |website=Santi e Beati |language=it |access-date=19 September 2025 |quote=Luigi Rabatà nacque a Monte San Giuliano, l’odierna Erice, intorno all’anno 1443.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Bl. Aloysius Rabatà, Priest |url=https://ocarm.org/en/item/105-bl-aloysius-rabata-priest |website=Order of Carmelites (O.Carm.) |access-date=19 September 2025 |quote=Most claim he was born in Erice (Sicily)… Another witness claims his birthplace as Monte S. Giuliano.}}</ref> Nineteenth-century local historians also report that the palace later adapted as the [[Spirito Santo, Erice|Spirito Santo]] convent was traditionally considered the birthplace of [[Albert of Trapani|Saint Albert of Trapani]].<ref name="Castronovo1872">{{cite book |last=Castronovo |first=Giuseppe |title=I conventi di Erice oggi Monte S. Giuliano in Sicilia |year=1872 |publisher=Tip. E. Costa |location=Palermo |url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=RqWP6HozPzwC&pg=GBS.PA2 |language=it |access-date=23 August 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=La Chiesa dello Spirito Santo |url=https://www.ericelamontagnadelsignore.it/spirito-santo/ |website=Erice, la Montagna del Signore |date=23 July 2023 |language=it |access-date=21 August 2025}}</ref> Modern Carmelite scholarship, however, generally places Albert’s birth in Trapani rather than Erice.<ref>{{cite web |title=Albert of Trapani: A Saint of Yesterday for Today |url=https://ocarm.org/en/item/2264 |website=Order of Carmelites (O.Carm.) |access-date=19 September 2025 |quote=A tradition confirmed by various documents says that Albert was born in Trapani around the middle of the thirteenth century.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Padre Emanuele Boaga, "Sant' Alberto di Trapani" |url=https://www.trapaninostra.it/libri/Daniela_Marino/La_costruzione_del_profilo_agiografico_di_Sant_Alberto/La_costruzione_del_profilo_agiografico_di_Sant_Alberto-05.pdf |website=Trapani Nostra (PDF) |language=it |access-date=19 September 2025 |quote=A lungo si è discusso sul suo luogo di nascita se Trapani o Erice, ma… pare sia nato a Trapani.}}</ref>

By the 1730s, Erice had at least thirty churches, along with six convents and three monasteries.<ref>{{cite web |last=Adragna |first=Vincenzo |title=Monte San Giuliano: Chiese e clero |url=https://www.trapaninostra.it/libri/Vincenzo_Adragna/Monte_San_Giuliano_Chiese_e_Clero/Monte_San_Giuliano_Chiese_e_Clero-03.pdf|website=Trapani Nostra |language=it |page=25 |quote=«Monte San Giuliano… è decorata da trenta chiese… si divide in quattro parrocchie… la nobilitano sei conventi… l’ornano tre monasteri…» |access-date=19 September 2025}}</ref> Municipal “riveli” (tax censuses) from 1836–1839 record 204 declarations; clergy were the largest single group among registrants—38 priests, 6 parish priests, 6 canons, an archpriest, a friar, a vicar, 3 clerics and 3 nuns—and many two-storey “solerate” houses are listed as residences with rooms that often included a small domestic chapel.<ref name="Tusa2017" />

=== Modern devotion ===
Erice remains a religious destination. The Diocese of Trapani has renovated and reopened churches as part of the project ''Erice – la Montagna del Signore'' (Mountain of the Lord), which aims both to conserve and restore the town’s church heritage and to keep the churches open longer “for the faithful and for visitors”.<ref>{{cite web |title=Il Progetto – Erice la Montagna del Signore |url=https://www.ericelamontagnadelsignore.it/progetto/ |website=Erice la Montagna del Signore |language=it |access-date=19 September 2025 |quote=…tutela, la conservazione, il restauro e la valorizzazione…; la custodia e una più prolungata apertura delle stesse chiese per favorirne la conoscenza da parte dei fedeli e dei visitatori.}}</ref> The churches are presented together as a “museo diffuso” (a distributed museum) and are open to visits on a ticketed schedule.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erice – la Montagna del Signore (home) |url=https://www.ericelamontagnadelsignore.it/ |website=Erice la Montagna del Signore |language=it |access-date=19 September 2025 |quote=Il MEMS si caratterizza per la tipologia del “museo diffuso” oppure, in altri termini, di “territorio-museo”.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tariffe e Orari |url=https://www.ericelamontagnadelsignore.it/tariffe-e-orari/ |website=Erice la Montagna del Signore |language=it |access-date=19 September 2025}}</ref>

Pilgrimage today often focuses on the Sant’Anna shrine on the lower slopes of the mountain. The footpath known as the ''Sentiero di Sant’Anna'' climbs from the valley cable car station up to the Santuario di Sant’Anna and on to Porta Trapani at the town gate; diocesan groups sometimes organise pilgrimages along these paths.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sentiero di Sant'Anna (trail map, route to Porta Trapani via the Santuario) |url=https://www.piediincammino.it/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Sentiero-601-Erice-Sicilia.pdf |website=Piedi in Cammino (PDF) |language=it |access-date=19 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Sentiero di Sant'Anna |url=https://www.valderice.online/event/sentiero-di-santanna/ |website=Valderice Online |language=it |access-date=19 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Pellegrinaggio giubilare tra i sentieri di Erice |url=https://www.diocesi.trapani.it/content/view/2132/440/ |website=Diocesi di Trapani |language=it |date=22 April 2016 |access-date=19 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Santuario Sant'Anna (Erice) |url=https://gcatholic.org/churches/italia/101108 |website=GCatholic |access-date=19 September 2025}}</ref> 
Near the summit, the woodland below the Castle of Venus (''Bosco dei Runzi'') is being restored and signed as part of the municipal ''Bosco Sacro'' (Sacred Wood) project, reopening paths around the historic core; it is a municipal green belt rather than a distinct pilgrimage site.<ref>{{cite web |title=Il Bosco Sacro di Erice – Il progetto |url=https://boscosacroerice.it/il-progetto/ |website=Bosco Sacro Erice (Comune di Erice project) |language=it |access-date=19 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=In cammino per i sentieri del "Bosco Sacro" della montagna di Erice |url=https://www.telesudweb.it/29-07-2024/in-cammino-per-i-sentieri-del-bosco-sacro-della-montagna-di-erice |website=Telesud |language=it |date=29 July 2024 |access-date=19 September 2025}}</ref>

In the [[Balio Gardens]], the “Venus and the Bee” fountain (dated 1933) nods to the old cult in modern form.<ref>{{cite web |title=Giardino del Balio – Grandi Giardini Italiani |url=https://www.grandigiardini.it/280-visita-Giardino-del-Balio-biglietti-eventi |website=Grandi Giardini Italiani |language=it |access-date=19 September 2025 |quote=…la Fontana di Venere con la sua Ape datata 1933…}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Un giardino e la Shoah. L'Ape del Balio di Erice |url=https://www.tp24.it/2021/03/08/cittadinanza/un-giardino-e-la-shoah-l-ape-del-balio-di-erice/161165 |website=TP24 |date=8 March 2021 |language=it |access-date=19 September 2025 |quote=…bassorilievo con l’APE ed una data, 1933.}}</ref> At the town's [[Cordici Museum]] (''Museo Archeologico Storico-Artistico “Antonino Cordici”''), an immersive video installation titled ''Venere Ericina'' tells the story of the ancient Erice cult to a generative fertility divinity—identified by the Romans as Venus—dating back to the Elymian period and continued by later colonisers; the projections cover the room’s walls and floor.<ref>{{cite web |title=Video installazione immersiva "Venere Ericina" |url=https://www.spacespa.it/esperienze/video-installazione-immersiva-venere-ericina/ |website=Space S.p.A. |language=it |access-date=19 September 2025}}</ref>

<gallery mode=packed style="text-align:left">
File:Erice Chiesa di San Giuliano BW 2025-04-30 12-51-50.jpg|[[San Giuliano, Erice|San Giuliano]]
File:Oratory of the Most Holy Sacrament in Erice.jpg|[[Santissimo Salvatore, Erice|Santissimo Salvatore]]
File:Church of Saint Peter in Erice.jpg|[[San Pietro, Erice|San Pietro]]
File:Church of Saint John the Baptist in Erice.jpg|[[San Giovanni Battista, Erice|San Giovanni Battista]]
File:Church of Saint Antonio the Abbot in Erice.jpg|[[Sant'Antonio Abate, Erice|Sant'Antonio Abate]]
File:Chiesa di San Cataldo, Erice.jpg|[[San Cataldo, Erice|San Cataldo]]
File:Church of Saint Ursula in Erice.jpg|[[Sant'Orsola, Erice|Sant'Orsola]]
File:Church of San Martino in Erice.jpg|[[San Martino, Erice|San Martino]]
File:Church of Saint Albert in Erice.jpg|[[Sant'Alberto, Erice|Sant'Alberto]]
File:Saint Isidore's Church in Erice.jpg|[[Sant'Isidoro, Erice|Sant'Isidoro]]
</gallery>

{{See also|List of historic buildings in Erice}}

=== Jewish community (medieval) ===
In the 1400s Erice had a substantial Jewish community that helped drive the town’s growth. There were artisans such as blacksmiths, cotton workers and leather tanners, along with doctors and goldsmiths; together their work made the community largely self-sufficient in everyday goods.<ref name="Tusa2017" /> The Jewish quarter (''giudecca'') lay mainly between the parish church of [[Sant'Antonio Abate, Erice|Sant’Antonio Abate]] and the [[Spanish Quarter (Erice)|Spanish Quarter]], extending east toward the “Fontanella” and down to a long-vanished stretch of the old town wall.<ref name="Tusa2017" /> 

In 1492, following the expulsion ordered by [[Ferdinand II of Aragon|Ferdinand the Catholic]], the quarter was largely abandoned and fell into ruin as families left or converted.<ref name="Tusa2017" /><ref>{{cite web |title=12 gennaio 1493. Memoria della cacciata degli ebrei dalla Sicilia |url=https://www.unipa.it/12-gennaio-1493.-Memoria-della-cacciata-degli-ebrei-dalla-Sicilia/ |website=Università degli Studi di Palermo |language=it |date=11 January 2023 |access-date=19 September 2025}}</ref> The small church [[Madonna di Custonaci, Erice|Madonna di Custonaci]] was formerly a synagogue before its conversion to a chapel, a fact once attested by a plaque that has since been lost.<ref name="telesud">[https://www.telesudweb.it/24-08-2020/erice-inaugurata-la-cappella-di-maria-santissima-di-custonaci ''Erice, inaugurata la Cappella di Maria Santissima di Custonaci''], Telesud, 24 August 2020.</ref>

== Geography ==
===Setting and topography===
Erice is located approximately 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the regional capital, [[Palermo]]. Its historic centre sits at an elevation of about 750 metres (2,460 ft) atop Monte Erice, while the wider comune extends to the coastline, encompassing a varied topography of mountainous, hilly, and coastal terrain.

In 2025, [[World Wide Fund for Nature|WWF Italy]] and the [[Club Alpino Italiano|Italian Alpine Club]] (CAI) proposed the creation of a national park—the ''Parco Nazionale delle Isole Egadi e del Litorale Trapanese''—that would extend along the Trapani coastline to include the coastal strip of Erice.<ref>{{cite web |title=Parco Nazionale delle Isole Egadi e del Litorale Trapanese, il WWF presenta le sue proposte |url=https://www.wwf.it/area-stampa/parco-nazionale-delle-isole-egadi-e-del-litorale-trapanese-il-wwf-presenta-le-sue-proposte/ |website=WWF Italia |date=15 October 2025 |language=it |access-date=29 October 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=WWF rilancia il Parco nazionale del litorale trapanese (TeleSud) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8DhMVhyp9k |website=YouTube |publisher=TeleSud Trapani |date=October 2025 |language=it |access-date=29 October 2025}}</ref>
[[File:Erice Municipal Districts.svg|thumb|An infographic showing the different districts that make up the comune of Erice, Sicily]]

===Districts and urban structure=== 
The comune comprises 12 officially recognised ''frazioni'' (hamlets or districts): Adragna, Baglio Rizzo, Ballata, Casa Santa, Crocefissello, Lenzi, Napola, Pizzolungo, Rigaletta, San Cusumano, Specchia, and Torretta.<ref>{{cite web |title=Stradario del Comune di Erice |url=https://www.comune.erice.tp.it/it/page/stradario-comune-di-erice |website=Comune di Erice |access-date=21 May 2025 |language=it}}</ref> Historically, the municipal territory also included neighbouring towns such as Valderice and San Vito Lo Capo, but its present boundaries were finalised in 1955.

Until the mid-20th century, Erice’s territory was primarily rural, with an economy based on agriculture, grazing, and scattered farm settlements. From the 1950s onward, rapid and largely unregulated urban expansion reshaped the lower districts. Casa Santa emerged as the municipality’s administrative and commercial hub, while the historic centre transitioned into a centre for tourism.<ref name="Tusa2017" />

===Climate, land use and vegetation===
{{Main|Monte Erice}}
Erice experiences a [[Mediterranean climate]], with heat moderated by its elevation.<ref>{{cite web |title=In Erice, Italy, a world of mist and stone |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/travel/2013/06/08/erice-italy-world-mist-and-stone/4WogckqWggozZsKzuvRPXK/story.html |website=The Boston Globe |date=8 June 2013 |access-date=22 May 2025}}</ref> Summers are warm and dry, while winters are cool and wetter. The hilltop location of Erice results in more frequent fog and lower average temperatures than the coastal areas, contributing to a microclimate distinct from nearby Trapani.

Much of the area around the historic centre is wooded with Mediterranean species such as [[Aleppo pine]] (Pinus halepensis), holm oak (Quercus ilex), and [[cypress]], interspersed with underbrush of myrtle, heather, and broom. Two particularly notable green spaces include the Sacro Bosco—a semi-natural sacred grove with mythological and monastic associations—and the Bosco dei Runzi, a forested area on the northeastern slope known for its biodiversity and shaded walking trails.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erice Vetta – Il bosco e il Sacro |url=https://www.cepolina.com/Erice-natura.htm |website=Cepolina |access-date=22 May 2025}}</ref>

== Economy and tourism ==
===Public services and institutions===
Key public facilities that serve both Erice and Trapani are located in the lower district of Casa Santa. These include the Sant’Antonio Abate Hospital, the [[Stadio Polisportivo Provinciale]], and the Polo Territoriale Universitario di Trapani, a satellite campus of the University of Palermo.<ref name="hospital">{{Cite web|title=Ospedale Sant'Antonio Abate|publisher=ASP Trapani|url=https://www.asptrapani.it}}</ref><ref name="unipa">{{Cite web|title=Polo Territoriale Universitario di Trapani|publisher=UniPa|url=https://www.unipa.it/amministrazione/politerritoriali/poloterritorialetrapani/luoghi.html}}</ref>
[[File:Vineyard on Monte Erice.jpg|thumb|A vineyard on the slopes of Monte Erice]]
===Agriculture===
The hillsides around the comune support viticulture under the official Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) designation [[Erice DOC]], established in 2004, which allows the cultivation of both native varieties such as Nero d’Avola and Grillo, and international ones like Syrah and Chardonnay.<ref>{{cite web |title=Disciplinare di Produzione - Erice DOC |url=https://www.politicheagricole.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/3330 |website=Ministero dell’Agricoltura |access-date=22 May 2025 |language=it}}</ref> The Erice area is noted for its production of high-quality extra virgin olive oil, primarily from the Nocellara del Belice and Cerasuola cultivars, which are well-adapted to the region's arid summer conditions.<ref>{{cite web |title=Olio Extravergine di Oliva della Sicilia Occidentale |url=https://www.slowfood.it/olio-extravergine-di-oliva-della-sicilia-occidentale/ |website=Slow Food Italia |access-date=22 May 2025 |language=it}}</ref> These traditional crops form the basis of a rural economy closely linked to Erice’s microclimatic diversity, which also supports limited cultivation of almonds and figs on the lower slopes.

===Tourism and hospitality===
Heritage conservation has underpinned Erice’s visitor economy since the late 20th century, beginning with works on the ancient city walls in the 1970s and continuing with a €2 million consolidation project approved in 2023 under Italy’s PNRR programme. The Balio Gardens were restored between 2019 and 2024, and additional works—such as the renewal of the San Nicola sports field and Porta Spada gymnasium—have improved recreational infrastructure with a combined investment of over €3 million.<ref>{{cite web |title=Approvato in linea amministrativa il progetto dei "Lavori di restauro e consolidamento delle Mura Elimo-Puniche della Città di Erice" |url=https://www.comune.erice.tp.it/it/news/119798/approvato-in-linea-amministrativa-il-progetto-dei-lavori-di-restauro-e-consolidamento-delle-mura-elimo-puniche-della-citta-di-erice |website=Comune di Erice |date=19 June 2023 |language=it |access-date=23 May 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Erice, lo storico Giardino del Balio torna al suo antico splendore |url=https://trapani.gds.it/articoli/economia/2023/11/18/erice-lo-storico-giardino-del-balio-torna-al-suo-antico-splendore-d0d735da-105d-4648-acd7-0670df6c5eae/ |website=Giornale di Sicilia |date=18 November 2023 |language=it}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Campo San Nicola e palestra Porta Spada, al via i lavori delle opere pubbliche finanziate con fondi PNRR (€1.450.000,00 e €1.714.524,85) |url=https://www.comune.erice.tp.it/it/news/119794/campo-san-nicola-e-palestra-porta-spada-al-via-i-lavori-delle-opere-pubbliche-finanziate-con-fondi-pnrr-1-450-000-00-e-1-714-524-85 |website=Comune di Erice |date=15 November 2023 |language=it |access-date=23 May 2025}}</ref>

Recent studies have called for more inclusive and sustainable heritage strategies to address long-term challenges such as depopulation, inaccessibility, and seasonal tourism pressures. Proposals include the creation of accessible walking routes, a wellbeing park near the ancient walls, and improved visitor resources such as digital guides and interpretive signage. These efforts aim to balance conservation priorities with broader goals of health, community engagement, and inclusive cultural access.<ref name="conservation">{{cite conference | last1 = Abbate| first1 = Giuseppe | last2 = Germanà | first2 = Maria Luisa | last3 = Savarese | first3 = Raffaele |last4 = Trapani | first4 = Ferdinando | title = From Conservation to Revitalization. Ambiguous and Critical Conditions in the Heritage Conservation Experiences of Erice | book-title = Conservation of Architectural Heritage | year = 2022 | pages = 239–258 | publisher = Springer | chapter = 1}}</ref>

Erice’s 1 km wide sandy beach, Spiaggia di San Giuliano, features seasonal beach clubs, a dedicated Lido Smile, which provides accessible bathing services for people with disabilities, and a cycling path, which forms part of a roughly 3 km coastal route, linking it westward to Trapani’s Dante Alighieri beach.<ref name="lidosmile">{{Cite web|title=Co-progettazione di servizi per la balneazione accessibile|publisher=Comune di Erice|url=https://www.comune.erice.tp.it/it/news/1856704}}</ref><ref name="ciclabile">{{Cite web|title=Trapani, la pista ciclabile…|publisher=TP24|url=https://www.tp24.it/2024/09/21/cittadinanza/trapani‑la‑pista‑ciclabile‑della‑discordia/208901}}</ref> 

The Giardino dello Sport (Sports Garden), inaugurated in 2019 directly across from the San Giuliano beachfront, is one of the largest seafront sports parks in southern Italy. It features a large green area, a children's playground, a multi-purpose indoor facility, and various outdoor courts and fields for team and racket sports, as well as a fitness zone and full amenities including changing rooms, toilets, and refreshment areas.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erice, l'ex Campo Bianco diventa il "Giardino dello Sport": spesa di circa 3,5 milioni di euro |url=https://trapani.gds.it/articoli/sport/2019/01/02/erice-lex-campo-bianco-diventa-il-giardino-dello-sport-spesa-di-circa-35-milioni-di-euro-3648daa2-ea58-44c3-9fea-7671ecf0f36b/ |website=Giornale di Sicilia |date=2 January 2019 |language=it}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Giardino dello Sport |url=https://virtualtour.comune.erice.tp.it/en/giardino-sport |website=Comune di Erice Virtual Tour |access-date=18 June 2025}}</ref>

These and other seasonal initiatives have contributed to a sharp rise in visitors. A 2025 study by the Centro Studi Conflavoro projected a 25.7% increase in summer tourism to Erice compared with 2024, as part of a broader forecasted boom in Italian hill towns and rural borghi. The same study estimated that Sicily would account for 14.7% of domestic tourist presences, making it the second most popular Italian region after Puglia. The study attributed Erice’s success to its elevated location, offering cooler temperatures during the peak travel months, along with its medieval charm, panoramic views, and appeal to tourists aged 46–60 seeking authentic and temperate destinations.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sicilia regina dell'estate 2025, Erice tra i borghi più amati |url=https://www.telesudweb.it/27-06-2025/sicilia-regina-dellestate-2025-erice-tra-i-borghi-piu-amati |website=Telesud |date=27 June 2025 |access-date=28 June 2025 |language=it}}</ref>

== Landmarks ==
{{Main|List of historic buildings in Erice}}
Key sites in Erice’s historic centre include:

* [[Elymian-Punic Walls of Erice|Elymian-Punic Walls]]: Ancient fortifications that once protected Eryx. They are considered among the most significant surviving examples of early Mediterranean defensive architecture, incorporating Elymian, Punic, and medieval construction phases.<ref name="DVC" />
* [[Castle of Venus]]: A Norman-era fortress built on the site of an ancient sanctuary dedicated to Venus Erycina, a Roman adaptation of the Greek goddess [[Aphrodite]]. The area has been associated with religious activity since antiquity and features archaeological remains from Elymian, Roman, and medieval periods.<ref>{{cite web |title=Il Castello di Venere |url=https://www.fondazioneericearte.org/il-castello-di-venere/ |website=Fondazione Erice Arte |language=it |access-date=18 May 2025}}</ref>
* [[Chiesa Matrice, Erice|Chiesa Matrice]]: The main church of Erice built in the 14th century during the reign of [[Frederick III of Sicily|King Frederick III]]. There are many other churches, monasteries, and oratories in the city, include the churches of [[San Giuliano, Erice|San Giuliano]] and [[San Giovanni Battista, Erice|San Giovanni Battista]].<ref name="Tusa2017" />
* [[Cordici Museum]]: A civic museum housed in a former Franciscan convent, founded in 1876 to conserve artworks and archaeological finds from suppressed religious institutions and local collections. Its holdings include Elymian and Roman artifacts, sacred art, ethnographic objects, and Garibaldian-era weapons.<ref>{{cite web |title=Polo Museale "A. Cordici" |url=https://www.fondazioneericearte.org/polo-museale-a-cordici/ |website=Fondazione Erice Arte |language=it |access-date=18 May 2025}}</ref>
* [[Balio Towers]]: A group of medieval towers that served both defensive and administrative functions following the [[Norman conquest of southern Italy]]. They were the residence of the Bajulo, a royal official responsible for civil justice and taxation, and formed a gateway to the Castle of Venus.<ref name="Tusa2017" />
* [[Pepoli Turret]]: A neo-Gothic retreat built between 1872 and 1880 by Count Agostino [[Pepoli]] as a place for study and cultural gatherings. Situated on a rocky outcrop east of the Balio Gardens, it blends medieval, Moorish, and Liberty architectural elements. Restored in 2014, it now serves as a multimedia museum and the “Observatory of Peace and Lighthouse of the Mediterranean”.<ref>{{cite web |title=Torretta Pepoli |url=https://www.fondazioneericearte.org/torretta-pepoli/ |website=Fondazione Erice Arte |language=it |access-date=19 May 2025}}</ref>
* [[Balio Gardens]]: Public gardens created in the 19th century by Count Agostino Pepoli on former grazing land adjacent to the Balio Towers. The gardens feature Mediterranean and exotic plantings, fountains, monuments, and viewpoints over Trapani and the surrounding coastline.
* [[Eugene P. Wigner Institute (Erice)|Eugene P. Wigner Institute]]: A historically significant former convent turned conference venue that also hosts art exhibitions and cloister performances.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Ettore Majorana Foundation – the Wigner Institute|url=https://virtualtour.comune.erice.tp.it/en/istituto-wigner|website=Erice Virtual|publisher=Comune di Erice|language=English|access-date=10 October 2025}}</ref>

<gallery mode=packed style="text-align:left">
File:Porta Spada Erice.jpg|[[Elymian-Punic Walls of Erice|Elymian-Punic walls]]
File:Erice BW 2012-10-10 14-16-34.JPG|[[Castle of Venus]]
File:Erice - Chiesa matrice et campanile.JPG|[[Chiesa Matrice, Erice|Chiesa Matrice]]
File:Polo Museale A. Cordici.jpg|[[Cordici Museum]]
File:Erice BW 2012-10-10 14-16-25.JPG|[[Balio Towers]]
File:Erice - Italy (15035305535).jpg|[[Pepoli Turret]]
File:The Parterre at the Balio Gardens.jpg|[[Balio Gardens]]
File:Eugene Wigner Institute courtyard.jpg|[[Eugene P. Wigner Institute (Erice)|Eugene P. Wigner Institute]]
</gallery>

== Transport ==
===Road and air connections===
Erice is accessible by road from Trapani, connected via SP31 and SP3. The A29 motorway provides onward links to Palermo to the east. 

Air travel is served by two nearby airports: [[Vincenzo Florio Airport]] (Trapani–Birgi), located about 29 km (18 mi) south of Erice, and [[Falcone–Borsellino Airport]] (Palermo), approximately 90 km (56 mi) away.<ref>{{cite web |title=Trapani Airport |url=https://www.airgest.it/en/ |website=Airgest |access-date=21 May 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Palermo Airport |url=https://www.aeroportodipalermo.it/ |website=GESAP Palermo Airport |access-date=21 May 2025}}</ref> A new railway station at Trapani-Birgi Airport, part of a broader €13 billion in Sicilian rail infrastructure funded by Italy's National Recovery and Resilience Plan, will connect the airport to Trapani and Palermo via the restored and electrified Palermo–Trapani line.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ecco come sarà la nuova stazione all'aeroporto di Trapani |url=https://www.tp24.it/2024/08/18/aeroporto-di-trapani/ecco-come-sara-la-nuova-stazione-all-aeroporto-di-trapani/207709# |website=TP24.it |date=18 Aug 2024 |access-date=7 March 2024}}</ref>

===Cable car===
[[File:Trapani - Panorama.jpg|thumb|300px|Cable Car]]
A cable car (''funivia'') runs a regular service that connects the lower district of Casa Santa to the historic centre.<ref>{{cite web |title=Funivia Erice |url=https://www.funiviaerice.it/en/ |website=Funivia Erice |access-date=21 May 2025}}</ref> While this has improved vertical mobility, broader accessibility challenges persist in Erice’s historic centre. Steep gradients, narrow streets, and uneven paving limit access for people with disabilities, and recent efforts—such as the limited introduction of electric vehicles—reflect the complex balance between conservation priorities and inclusive design.<ref name="conservation" />

===Bus and ferry services===
Bus transport between Erice and Trapani is fully integrated, with metropolitan routes providing continuous service across both municipalities. These services include connections to Trapani-Birgi Airport and Palermo.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erice transit guide |url=https://moovitapp.com/index/en/public_transit-Erice-Palermo-site_50375666-2804 |website=Moovit |access-date=2025-05-22}}</ref>

The redevelopment of Trapani’s cruise terminal and island ferry facilities—closely linked to the tourism economy in Erice's historic centre—provides access for passengers arriving via the [[Aegadian Islands]] and Mediterranean cruise routes.<ref>{{cite web |title=Intitolata a Francesco Bosco la sala della Stazione Marittima del porto di Trapani |url=https://www.tp24.it/2025/05/06/marittimi/stazione-marittima-trapani-francesco-bosco/ |website=TP24 |date=6 May 2025 |access-date=22 May 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Trapani, nuova sala per la Stazione Marittima: omaggio al comandante Bosco |url=https://itacanotizie.it/ |website=Itaca Notizie |date=6 May 2025 |access-date=22 May 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Trapani's UNESCO bid underlines burgeoning tourist attractions of secret Western Sicily |url=https://www.italianinsider.it/ |website=The Italian Insider |date=19 December 2023 |access-date=22 May 2025}}</ref>

== Culture ==
Erice holds a number of annual events and traditions, including religious processions, cultural festivals, and sporting competitions, many of which are associated with the town’s historical and seasonal calendar. 

=== Religious traditions ===

* Misteri di Erice – Held annually on Good Friday, this solemn procession re-enacts the Passion of Christ through a series of sculptural tableaux known as the Misteri that are carried through the streets of Erice by members of local guilds in traditional costume. The procession begins at the Church of [[San Giuliano, Erice|San Giuliano]], where the groups of sculptures are displayed before the ritual begins.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mysteries of Erice |url=https://www.westofsicily.com/en/spring-rites/mysteries-of-erice# |website=West of Sicily |access-date=23 May 2025}}</ref>
* Festa di Maria Santissima di Custonaci – Celebrated annually in late August, this festival honours Erice's patron saint, Maria Santissima di Custonaci. A highlight of the festivities is the ''"Consegna delle Chiavi d'Oro"'' (Presentation of the Golden Keys), during which the mayor symbolically entrusts the city's keys to the Madonna, followed by a procession through the historic centre involving local officials and representatives from neighbouring municipalities.<ref>{{cite web |title=Festeggiamenti in onore di Maria SS di Custonaci: comunità, fede e tradizione |url=https://www.comune.erice.tp.it/it/news/1730350 |website=Comune di Erice |date=30 August 2024 |access-date=23 May 2025 |language=it}}</ref>
* EricèNatale – During the winter holiday season, the town hosts a Christmas market, nativity displays, concerts, and lights the town with Christmas decorations and pine trees. This is followed at New Year with live performances in Piazza della Loggia and fireworks at midnight.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erice saluta il nuovo anno: festa per il Capodanno nel borgo dei presepi |url=https://www.primapaginatrapani.it/erice-saluta-il-nuovo-anno-festa-per-il-capodanno-nel-borgo-dei-presepi |website=Prima Pagina Trapani |date=2 January 2025 |language=it |access-date=23 May 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=EricèNatale – tutte le notizie |url=https://www.comune.erice.tp.it/it/page/ericenatale-tutte-le-notizie |website=Città di Erice |publisher=Comune di Erice |date=4 January 2022 |language=it |access-date=23 May 2025}}</ref>

=== Festivals and cultural events ===

* Ericestate – Erice’s official summer cultural programme, held annually between June and September. Organised by the Comune di Erice, it features a broad calendar of events including concerts, theatre performances, art exhibitions, children’s activities, and food-and-wine initiatives. Events are staged across various venues in both the historic centre and the modern districts, including the [[Teatro Gebel Hamed]], with the aim of promoting cultural participation and supporting tourism in the region.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ecco il programma di Ericestate 2024 |url=https://www.comune.erice.tp.it/it/news/ecco-il-programma-di-ericestate-2024 |website=Comune di Erice |date=17 May 2024 |access-date=23 May 2025 |language=it}}</ref>
* Festa FedEricina – A three-day medieval-themed festival held annually in September, dedicated to [[Frederick III of Sicily|King Frederick III]]. Organised by the Gruppo Medievale ''MonteSanGiuliano – Erice'' with support from the Comune di Erice, it features historical parades, falconry displays, themed villages, and medieval banquets. The event attracts historical reenactment groups from across Sicily and abroad, and was first launched in 2015. The festival has been officially registered by the Central Institute for Intangible Heritage of the Italian Ministry of Culture as part of the national mapping of historical reenactments.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Erice si tuffa nel Medioevo: torna la Festa FedEricina |url=https://www.comune.erice.tp.it/it/news/erice-si-tuffa-nel-medioevo-torna-la-festa-federicina |website=Comune di Erice |date=10 September 2025 |access-date=10 September 2025 |language=it}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=FedEricina, Cantine Aperte, concerti. Gli eventi del weekend a Trapani, Marsala, Erice |url=https://www.tp24.it/2015/05/30/cultura/federicina-cantine-aperte-concerti-gli-eventi-del-weekend-a-trapani-marsala-erice/92090 |website=TP24 |date=30 May 2015 |access-date=10 September 2025 |language=it}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Festa FedEricina – rievocazione storica Re Federico III di Sicilia |url=https://rievocazionistoriche.cultura.gov.it/places/italy/sicilia/erice/festa-federicina-rievocazione-storica-re-federico-iii-di-sicilia/ |website=Registro delle rievocazioni storiche, Istituto Centrale per il Patrimonio Immateriale (Ministero della Cultura) |access-date=10 September 2025 |language=it}}</ref>

=== Gastronomy ===

Traditional foods of Erice reflect the town’s convent heritage and surrounding agricultural landscape, several of which are officially recognised as [[Prodotto agroalimentare tradizionale|Prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali]] (P.A.T.) of Sicily.<ref name="PAT2024">{{cite web|title=Elenco Nazionale PAT – Regione Siciliana|url=https://www.regione.sicilia.it/sites/default/files/2024-04/ELENCO~1.pdf|publisher=Regione Siciliana|access-date=29 August 2025}}</ref> Local specialities include: 

* [[Pasta reale di Erice]], an almond paste confection with convent origins.  
* [[Ericino]], a firm, rind-covered cheese made from approximately 80% Valle del Belice sheep’s milk and 20% Cinisara cow’s milk.  
* [[Busiate]], a spiral pasta from the province of Trapani, still produced in Erice by local artisan workshops.  
* [[Erice DOC]] wine, produced from vineyards on the slopes of Monte Erice.<ref>{{cite web|title=Erice DOC|url=https://italianwinecentral.com/denomination/erice-doc/#|website=Italian Wine Central|access-date=26 August 2025}}</ref>
* Mufuletta, a soft round semolina bun often scented with fennel seeds and eaten warm on 11 November (St Martin’s Day); local tradition links it to medieval soldiers and the first tasting of the new wine.<ref>{{cite web |title=La mufuletta, quando a Trapani si assaggia la tradizione |url=https://www.telesudweb.it/11-11-2025/la-mufuletta-quando-a-trapani-si-assaggia-la-tradizione|website=Telesud |date=11 November 2025 |language=it |access-date=11 November 2025}}</ref>

Erice retains a pastry tradition centred on the former [[San Carlo, Erice|San Carlo]] monastery; local patisseries continue the town’s almond-based recipes. Among its exponents is pastry chef [[Maria Grammatico]], who learned in the monastery and offers short public pastry classes at her own ''Scuola di Arte Culinaria'' in the old town.<ref>{{cite news |last=Spano |first=Susan |title=Sicilian pastry shop: Sweet meets holy in Erice |work=Los Angeles Times |date=7 March 2014 |url=https://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-trw-erice21-2010feb21-story.html |access-date=22 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Scuola di cucina siciliana ad Erice |website=Maria Grammatico (official) |url=https://www.mariagrammatico.it/scuola-di-cucina-siciliana-ad-erice/ |language=it |access-date=22 September 2025}}</ref> The [[Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Ignazio e Vincenzo Florio]], which has purpose-built culinary laboratories called ''Officucina'' at its campus in the historic centre, also hosts public demonstrations and masterclasses led by visiting chefs and notable alumni.

Borgo diVino in Tour stages an annual tasting weekend in the historic centre—typically in late August—featuring local and national wineries, street food, and live performances across venues such as Piazza della Loggia and Piazza San Giuliano.<ref>{{cite web |title=Borgo diVino on tour in Erice |url=https://borgodivino.it/erice/
 |website=Borgo diVino |access-date=28 June 2025 |language=it}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=30, 31 agosto e 1° settembre Borgo diVino in tour fa tappa a Erice |url=https://www.comune.erice.tp.it/it/news/1731342
 |website=Comune di Erice |date=2024 |access-date=28 June 2025 |language=it}}</ref>

===In literature===
[[File:Samuel Erewhon Butler-03-self portrait.jpg|thumb|150px|Samuel Butler]]
[[File:Henry Festing Jones.jpg|thumb|150px|Henry Festing Jones]]
In 1897 the English novelist [[Samuel Butler (novelist)|Samuel Butler]] argued in ''The Authoress of the Odyssey'' that the poem was written by a young Sicilian woman from Trapani and that several episodes reflect the landscape of western Sicily; he identified Mount Eryx ([[Monte Erice]]) and Trapani with key points in Odysseus’s journey.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ebbott |first=Mary |title=Butler's ''Authoress of the Odyssey'': Gendered Readings of Homer Then and Now |website=Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies |url=https://classics-at.chs.harvard.edu/classics3-mary-ebbott-butlers-authoress-of-the-odyssey-gendered-readings-of-homer-then-and-now/ |language=en |access-date=4 October 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Butler |first=Samuel |title=The Authoress of the Odyssey |year=1897 |publisher=Longmans, Green |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/49324/49324-h/49324-h.htm |language=en |quote=All difficulty is removed by supposing that the writer lived at Trapani... |access-date=4 October 2025}}</ref> Erice commemorates Butler with a street, Via Samuel Butler.<ref name="Toponomastica">{{cite web |title=Toponomastica e Stradario – Elenco generale progressivo delle strade comunali |website=Comune di Erice |url=https://www.comune.erice.tp.it/s3prod/uploads/ckeditor/attachments/5/3/7/9/1/Elenco_generale_progressivo_agg_luglio_2018.pdf |language=it |date=2018 |quote=ERICE CAP. 20 … ''Via Samuel Butler, scrittore (già via Deserta)'' (Tav. 17) |access-date=4 October 2025}}</ref>

Butler’s friend and literary executor [[Henry Festing Jones]] devoted four chapters of his travel book ''Diversions in Sicily'' (1909/1920) to Mount Eryx and Erice ("Monte San Giuliano", "The Madonna and the Personaggi", "The Universal Deluge", "The Return"), recording local customs, processions and the topography looking toward Trapani and the Egadi islands.<ref>{{cite web |title=Diversions in Sicily |last=Jones |first=Henry Festing |website=Project Gutenberg |year=1920 |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/24652/24652-h/24652-h.htm |quote=Contents: ''MOUNT ERYX'' — VIII. ''Monte San Giuliano''; IX. ''The Madonna and the Personaggi''; X. ''The Universal Deluge''; XI. ''The Return''. |access-date=4 October 2025}}</ref> Jones’s earlier Sicilian collection ''Castellinaria and Other Sicilian Diversions'' (1911) is dedicated to friends "di Monte Erice", reflecting the town’s role in the Anglo-Sicilian circle around Butler and Jones.<ref>{{cite web |title=Castellinaria, and Other Sicilian Diversions |last=Jones |first=Henry Festing |website=Internet Archive (scan of 1911 ed.) |url=https://archive.org/download/castellinariaoth00jone/castellinariaoth00jone.pdf |quote=Dedica: “al caro compare Alberto Augugliaro di Monte Erice… e a tutti gli amici siciliani…” |language=en |access-date=4 October 2025}}</ref>

Jones’s account includes lively descriptions of Erice’s religious life. In his chapter on Monte San Giuliano, he describes the Festa di Maria Santissima di Custonaci procession of 25 August 1901:

<blockquote>"At 7.30 a brass band began to perambulate the town… at 8.30 the band entered the ''Matrice'', and before Mass the sacred picture was unveiled."<ref>{{cite web |last=Jones |first=Henry Festing |title=Diversions in Sicily — Chapter VIII: "Monte San Giuliano" |website=Project Gutenberg |year=1920 |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/24652/24652-h/24652-h.htm |quote=At 7.30 a brass band began to perambulate the town… at 8.30 the band entered the Matrice, and before Mass the sacred picture was unveiled. |access-date=4 October 2025}}</ref></blockquote>

Commemoration of Butler also extended to the surrounding area: Jones notes that, by 1908, a hotel in nearby [[Calatafimi-Segesta|Calatafimi]] bore the name "''Albergo Samuel Butler''" and that the town kept his memory in a street name.<ref>{{cite web |title=Diversions in Sicily |last=Jones |first=Henry Festing |website=Project Gutenberg |year=1920 |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/24652/24652-h/24652-h.htm |quote=“I went to the ''Albergo Samuel Butler'', named after the author of ''Erewhon''… now (1908)… closed… Butler’s memory is, however, still preserved in the name of one of the streets.” (ch. XIII, pp. 214–215 in Gutenberg HTML) |access-date=4 October 2025}}</ref>

Erice also honours the Italian writer [[Carlo Levi]] (author of ''Cristo si è fermato a Eboli'') with Via Carlo Levi.<ref name="Toponomastica" />

===In film and television===

Erice has served as a filming location or creative inspiration for several film and television productions:

* ''[[At War with Love]]'' (''In guerra per amore'', 2016), a World War II romantic comedy directed by Pif (Pierfrancesco Diliberto), was filmed on location in Erice.<ref>Cinematographe. "[https://www.cinematographe.it/rubriche-cinema/cinematografood/in-guerra-per-amore-location-film-pif/ ''In guerra per amore'': le location del film di Pif]." ''Cinematographe.it'', October 27, 2016.</ref>
* ''La baronessa di Carini'' (2007), a television miniseries broadcast by RAI, included scenes filmed in Erice.<ref>IMDb. "[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0995009/ La baronessa di Carini (2007) – Filming & Production]."</ref>
* ''Màkari'' (2021–), an Italian crime drama series, features Erice prominently in multiple episodes.<ref>Italy for Movies. "[https://www.italyformovies.com/film-serie-tv-games/detail/7018/makari Màkari – Season 1 & 2]."</ref>
* The town inspired sets in the 2018 superhero film ''[[Aquaman (film)|Aquaman]]'', starring Jason Momoa; although no scenes were filmed on location, its architecture was digitally recreated after local authorities denied filming permission.<ref>Breznican, Anthony. "[https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2468971/why-aquaman-couldnt-actually-film-in-italy Why ''Aquaman'' Couldn’t Actually Film In Italy]." ''Cinemablend'', December 19, 2018.</ref>
===In art===
[[File:View of the Castello di San Giuliano, near Trapani, Sicily A10881.jpg|thumb|Louise-Joséphine Sarazin de Belmont's ''View of the Castello di San Giuliano, near Trapani, Sicily'']]
Erice has been a frequent subject for painters and printmakers from the 18th to the 20th century.

* [[Louise-Joséphine Sarazin de Belmont]], ''View of the Castello di San Giuliano, near Trapani, Sicily'' (c. 1824–1826), [[National Gallery of Art]], Washington—an early Romantic view of the castle and cliffs above Trapani. The work is in the NGA’s collection.<ref>{{cite web |title=View of the Castello di San Giuliano, near Trapani, Sicily |website=National Gallery of Art |url=https://www.nga.gov/artworks/130897-view-castello-di-san-giuliano-near-trapani-sicily |access-date=1 October 2025}}</ref>

* [[Jean-Claude Richard]], abbé de Saint-Non, ''Voyage pittoresque ou Description des Royaumes de Naples et de Sicile'' (Paris, 1781–1786) includes engraved views of Sicilian sites; plates of Monte San Giuliano (Eryx) circulated widely in these volumes.<ref>{{cite web |title=Voyage Pittoresque… vol. 4 (Sicily), description |website=British Museum |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1936-0519-4-1-109 |access-date=1 October 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Vue de Monte San Giuliano (Eryx), plate from Saint-Non's ''Voyage pittoresque'' |website=Antiquarius |url=https://www.antiquarius.it/en/-r-de-saint-non-voyage-pittoresque-/2091-vue-de-monte-san-giuliano-le-moun-erix-des-ancien-et-d-une-partie-des-montagne-qui-terminem-la-sicile-en-formen-le-cap-appe.html |language=it |access-date=1 October 2025}}</ref>

* [[Francesco Lojacono]], ''Monte San Giuliano'' (c. 1875–1880), a landscape of present-day Erice attributed to Palermo’s Galleria d’Arte Moderna and reproduced on Google Arts & Culture.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mount San Giuliano — Francesco Lojacono |website=Google Arts & Culture |url=https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/mount-san-giuliano-0103/ywHxs5h-_AqGQw |access-date=1 October 2025}}</ref>

* [[Alberto Pisa]], colour plates of Monte San Giuliano in the travel book ''Sicily'' (London: A. & C. Black, 1911), part of the publisher’s illustrated series. Specific images include “Monte San Giuliano” and related street scenes.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sicily / described by Spencer C. Musson; illustrated by Alberto Pisa (catalog record) |website=HathiTrust |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007701606 |access-date=1 October 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Monte San Giuliano, the ancient Eryx, Sicily (illustration by Alberto Pisa, 1911) |website=Mary Evans Picture Library |url=https://www.maryevans.com/history/monte-san-giuliano-the-ancient-eryx-sicily-10999236 |access-date=1 October 2025}}</ref>

* [[Michele Cortegiani]], ''Le mura ciclopiche del Monte Erice'' (''The Cyclopean Walls of Mount Erice'', 1891), [[Palazzo dei Normanni]], Palermo — a late-19th-century view of the ancient walls on Monte Erice; the canvas is recorded in the Royal Apartment’s ''Sala dei Paesaggi''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Le mura fenice di Erice (file page) |website=Wikimedia Commons |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Le_mura_fenice_di_Erice.jpg |language=it |access-date=5 October 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Palermo, Palazzo Reale (Palazzo dei Normanni), Appartamento Reale, Sala dei Paesaggi: "Le mura ciclopiche del Monte Erice", dipinto di Michele Cortegiani |website=Ghigo Roli – Art Photo Library |url=https://www.ghigoroli.com/archivio-foto-arte/de/64/le-mura-ciclopiche-del-monte-erice-palermo-palazzo-reale-o-palazzo/222329 |language=it |access-date=5 October 2025}}</ref>

==Sport==

ACES Europe (the European Capitals and Cities of Sport Federation) in 2025 officially designated the municipality of Erice as a European City of Sport for 2027.<ref name="aces2027">{{cite web |title=Erice insignita del titolo di Città Europea dello Sport 2027 |url=https://www.comune.erice.tp.it/it/news/erice-insignita-del-titolo-di-citta-europea-dello-sport-2027 |website=Comune di Erice |date=13 October 2025 |access-date=13 October 2025 |language=it}}</ref>

Erice manages or hosts a range of sporting facilities. The largest is the [[Stadio Polisportivo Provinciale]] in the Casa Santa district, a 10,000-seat ground that has served as the home stadium for [[Trapani Calcio]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Stadio Polisportivo Provinciale |url=https://www.europlan-online.de/stadio-polisportivo-provinciale/stadion-4446.html |website=Europlan Online |access-date=25 September 2025}}</ref> The town also includes the Giardino dello Sport, a 35,000&nbsp;m² seafront sports park with multiple outdoor courts and pitches and a multi-purpose hall,<ref>{{cite web |title=Giardino dello Sport |url=https://virtualtour.comune.erice.tp.it/en/giardino-sport |website=Comune di Erice Virtual Tour |access-date=25 September 2025}}</ref> the Porta Spada gymnasium,<ref>{{cite web |title=Erice, al via i lavori di riqualificazione degli impianti sportivi Porta Spada e San Nicola |url=https://www.comune.erice.tp.it/it/news/erice-al-via-i-lavori-di-riqualificazione-degli-impianti-sportivi-porta-spada-e-san-nicola |website=Comune di Erice |date=10 September 2024 |access-date=25 September 2025}}</ref> the municipal tennis and five-a-side football courts at Viale delle Pinete,<ref>{{cite web |title=Affidata la gestione sperimentale dei campi da tennis e calcetto di Erice capoluogo per l'estate 2025 |url=https://www.comune.erice.tp.it/it/news/affidata-la-gestione-sperimentale-dei-campi-da-tennis-e-calcetto-di-erice-capoluogo-per-lestate-2025 |website=Comune di Erice |date=2 July 2025 |access-date=25 September 2025}}</ref> and the historic Campo San Nicola football ground.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erice, al via i lavori di riqualificazione degli impianti sportivi Porta Spada e San Nicola |url=https://www.comune.erice.tp.it/it/news/erice-al-via-i-lavori-di-riqualificazione-degli-impianti-sportivi-porta-spada-e-san-nicola |website=Comune di Erice |date=10 September 2024 |access-date=25 September 2025}}</ref> The municipality in 2025 also approved plans for a new multipurpose sports complex in the frazione of Napola, including a rugby and football field, padel courts and other facilities.<ref>{{cite web |title=La Giunta approva i progetti esecutivi per la realizzazione del Campus Universitario di San Giuliano e dell’impianto sportivo multidisciplinare di Napola |url=https://www.comune.erice.tp.it/it/news/la-giunta-approva-i-progetti-esecutivi-per-la-realizzazione-del-campus-universitario-di-san-giuliano-e-dellimpianto-sportivo-multidisciplinare-di-napola |website=Comune di Erice |date=31 January 2025 |access-date=13 October 2025 |language=it}}</ref>

The town is represented in national women’s volleyball by Pallavolo Erice, which has competed in Serie A2 and plays its home matches at the PalaShark arena in neighbouring Trapani.<ref>{{cite web |title=Arredissima Pallavolo Erice: stagione 2024/25 |url=https://www.pallavoloerice.it/stagione-2024-25 |website=Pallavolo Erice |access-date=25 September 2025}}</ref> Football is played at amateur level on the municipal grounds, while local associations also field teams in tennis, basketball and athletics.

Erice also hosts recurring sporting events, including the Cronoscalata Monte Erice, an automobile hillclimb established in 1954 that forms part of the Italian national championship calendar,<ref>{{cite web |title=Cronoscalata Monte Erice |url=https://www.cronoscalataerice.it/storia/
 |website=Cronoscalata Monte Erice |access-date=25 September 2025}}</ref> the Maratona Trapani–Erice and other running events, such as the Erice Trail, a springtime trial-running event.<ref>{{cite web |title=Maratona Trapani Erice |url=https://www.maratona-trapani-erice.it/|website=Maratona Trapani Erice |access-date=25 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Erice Trail 2025 |url=https://itra.run/Races/RaceDetails/101222|website=International Trail Running Association |access-date=23 May 2025}}</ref> Cycling events also make use of the coastal cycle path along San Giuliano beach.<ref>{{cite web |title=Giardino dello Sport |url=https://virtualtour.comune.erice.tp.it/en/giardino-sport|website=Comune di Erice Virtual Tour |access-date=25 September 2025}}</ref>

== People ==
This list includes people born in Erice and figures closely associated with the town’s institutions and heritage.
; Arts and letters
* [[Ugo Antonio Amico]] (1831–1917), poet, humanist and educator.
* [[Giuseppe Vito Castronovo]] (1814–1893), Dominican priest, historian, and first director of the civic library.
* [[Antonio Cordici]] (1586–1666), historian and early antiquarian; namesake of the [[Cordici Museum]]
* [[Maria Grammatico]] (born 1941), pastry chef, author, and custodian of Erice’s convent pastry tradition.
* [[Dario Maltese (journalist)|Dario Maltese]] (born 1977), journalist and TV presenter.
* [[Marcello Mazzarella]] (born 1963), actor.

; Religion
* [[Albert of Trapani]] (c.1240–1307), Carmelite saint. Generally held to have been born in Trapani; several Ericine historians record a local tradition that his family palace in Erice—later adapted as the [[Spirito Santo, Erice|Spirito Santo]] (San Francesco) convent—was his birthplace.
* [[Luigi Rabatà]] (1443–1490), Blessed Carmelite priest; beatified in 1841.

; History and civic life
* [[Giuseppe Coppola]] (1821–1902), Risorgimento patriot who led volunteers from Erice in 1860.
* [[Nunzio Nasi]] (1850–1935), politician; twice a cabinet minister, later in the Aventine opposition; died in Erice.
* [[Agostino Sieri Pepoli]] (1848–1910), patron and civic figure; commissioned the [[Balio Gardens]] and the [[Pepoli Turret]] in Erice.
* [[Rocco La Russa Peraino]] (1828–1860), physician and Risorgimento volunteer killed at the Ponte dell’Ammiraglio.
* [[Francesco II Ventimiglia]] (c.1330–1391), Count of Geraci (“Four Vicars”); established the Spirito Santo convent complex in Erice (1360s).

; Science
* [[Antonino Zichichi]] (born 1929), physicist; founder and president of the [[Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture]] based in Erice.

; Sport
* [[Alessandro Mazzara]] (born 2004), Olympic skateboarder.
* [[Fabrizio Alastra]] (born 1997), professional footballer (goalkeeper).
* [[Vittorio Bernardo]] (born 1986), professional footballer.
* [[Leonardo Loria]] (born 1999), professional footballer (goalkeeper).
* [[Adriano Montalto]] (born 1988), professional footballer.
* [[Alberto Rizzo (footballer)|Alberto Rizzo]] (born 1997), professional footballer.
* [[Mario Titone]] (born 1988), professional footballer.
* [[Marco Toscano]] (born 1997), professional footballer.
* [[Marco Tumminello]] (born 1998), professional footballer.

== Gallery ==
<gallery mode=packed style="text-align:left">
File:Panorama view from Erice, july 2023.jpg|Hilltop location
File:Viewpoint at the Balio Towers in Erice.jpg|[[Balio Towers]] outlook
File:Porta Trapani in Erice.jpg|Porta Trapani
File:Erice panorama.jpg|Urban fabric
File:Palazzo Platamone Erice.jpg|Palazzo Platamone
File:Coppola-House-Erice.jpg|[[Giuseppe Coppola|Coppola]] House
File:Curatolo-Ragusa House in Erice.jpg|Cobbled piazza
File:Piazza Loggia in Erice.jpg|[[Vito Carvini Municipal Library|Municipal Library]]
File:A restaurant in Erice.jpg|Streetscape
File:Church of Saint Julian in Erice.jpg|Church steeples
File:Arches over a street in Erice.jpg|Stone arches
File:Erice 07 10 2017 01.jpg|Monte Erice
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikivoyage}}
{{commons}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwiG_uD08OU Official promotional video of Erice] – from the Comune di Erice on YouTube.
* [https://virtualtour.comune.erice.tp.it/en/ Erice Virtual Tour]

{{Province of Trapani}}
{{Archaeological sites in Sicily}}
{{Phoenician cities and colonies|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Municipalities of the Province of Trapani]]
[[Category:Ancient cities]]
[[Category:Ancient cities in Sicily]]
[[Category:Populated places established in the 6th century BC]]
[[Category:Roman towns and cities in Italy]]
[[Category:Pre-Roman cities in Italy]]
[[Category:Elymians]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Sicily]]
[[Category:Phoenician colonies in Sicily]]
[[Category:Hilltowns in Italy]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Sicily]]
[[Category:Borghi più belli d'Italia]]