point of view from a balcony

Erice

On the top of Mount San Giuliano, among the silent clouds lies the town of Erice, overlooking Trapani from a superb scenic location.
Erice was inhabited by the Elymians who erected a temple dedicated to the worship of the goodness of fecundity and love. Successive invaders used this building to adore their own divinities: Tanit-Astarte for the Phoenicians, Aphodrite for the Greeks and Venus Erycina for the Romans.
On the ruins of the temple stands the Castello di Venere fortified during the Norman rule. Next to it there are the Giardini del Balio overlooked by medieval towers.
The town is surrounded by cyclopean walls of Elymian origin (8th century BC), at whose corners stand the Norman castle, the Spanish quarter and the cathedral (dated 1314), which has mantained its original 12th-century Gothic style in the bell tower and the delicate mullioned windows.

the cathedral