The Sicilian City Of Trapani Is Sun-Washed, Wind-Swept And Has Great Mediterranean Seafood

By virtue of bright, often harsh sunlight, the cities of Sicily enjoy a natural bleaching that gives them a soft, light-reflecting freshness no matter how old they are. When the moon is full the buildings glow. Before World War II, much was in decrepit shape, and the city was heavily bombed. So say what you want about the onslaught of tourism, but without it much of Europe would lack the resources to restore their cities to a luster they had not had for centuries.

Trapani, on Sicily’s west coast, is now a beautiful small city of 70,000 that retains its fishing heritage as a significant Mediterranean port as well as offering a blend of Greek, Moorish, and Spanish baroque architecture that makes wandering its streets a passage back and forth in history. Trapani was originally named Drepana, Greek for “sickle,” because of its harbor’s shape and rich in Greek myth. The city played a major, contentious role in the ancient world, fought over by Carthage and Rome, which came to rule it after the 241 BC Battle of the Aegates in the First Punic War. The Roman god Saturn still stands in the city center’s piazza. Later it came under the control of the Kingdom of Naples.

The tuna fishing and the vast nearby salt flats helped the economy rebound after World War II, and today it is a very popular destination for Europeans who can also easily hop a ferry from its docks to the nearby Egadi islands. Along the quay in the morning or at twilight, in view of Mount Erice, you walk beneath pastel skies striped with shifting clouds. This is the south, so it is hot in summer, but rarely does it get above 85 degrees, and in the fall it is delightfully in the mid-70’s.

This is also Italy, so Trapani has the usual oversupply of churches, each with its own style, dating from the 14th century Sant’Agostino to the Basilica of Maria Santissima Annunziata, rebuilt in the 18th. Trapani entertained few of Europe’s greatest artists, though the well-regarded regional museum has paintings by Titian, Ribera and Giacomo Balla. The Cathedral of San Lorenzo, with its fine dome, built in1421 and restored in the 18thcentury, has an “Annunciation” painting attributed to Anthony van Dyck, though how it got there no one knows. There is a modern Optical Illusions Museum that is a good deal of fun, particular among young visitors.

The Palazzo Cavaretta (now the Senate) was built in the 17th century with a stunning baroque façade by Simone Pisano and Andrea Palma. In the following century two large clocks were added, providing Trapani with the pride of modernity.

Good hotels are available at modest prices (you can easily find charming rooms for $100 or less), and outside of town, surrounded by the Firriato vineyards, the luxurious Baglio Sorìa Resort & Wine Hotel (where rooms start around $150 and average about $250) is modern, environmentally friendly, with swimming pool, solarium, a first-rate restaurant and wine tastings.

I stayed in Trapani’s old town at the Albergo San Michele (Via San Michele 16) with 21 well-furnished rooms within an ancient building on a very quiet narrow street (rooms begin at $90, with breakfast). Its interior of carved-out staircases and use of glass is stunning, the air-conditioned rooms very comfortable, and you are within a few minutes’ walk to the harbor.

Seafood, obviously, dominates the restaurants of Trapani, and the loveliest is Serisso 47 (Via Serisso 47), whose chef-owner Gaetano Basiricò serves a classico-moderno menu of unstinting freshness. The name of the restaurant—“smile”— derives, ironically, from a sad story of an old fisherman whose wife ran off with an Moorish Arab.

The interior is gaily light and airy, with arched ceilings crisscrossed by vines hung with flowers and pepper-green lights. The menu, which is not entirely seafood, is inventive with a focus on the prime ingredients. We began with a robust melding of the flavors of tuna bottarga roe and celery puree, then a creamy torta of ricotta. Pasta, curiously was with a meat sauce, and roast lamb with crisp potatoes was the main course, ending with traditional, not-too-sweet cassata. In addition there is simply prepared fish of the day, there is Sicilian cùscus, and spaghetti alla norma with eggplant and tomato. Appetizers run about $17, pastas $15-$25, main courses $17-$20. The wine list is one of the best in town.

Family-owned trattorias abound in Trapani and is one of the most charming, small and rustic, and proudly old-fashioned. Taverna Caupona (Via San Francesco D’Assisi). Here we had an array of splendid, full-flavored local dishes made with gusto by Chef Rosa, with her husband Rino in the dining room, including crisply fried calamari, shrimp and sardines; little balls of seafood fried like arancini; busiate pasta with fried tuna with the true taste of the sea in every bite; spaghetti with clams, another with bottarga; sarago (bream) with a salmoriglio of oil, lemon and pepper, preo (dentice) simply grilled and their version of cùscusu. And entire meal here will cost about $35-$45.

Trapani, if not opulent, is testimony to how Sicily has evolved from its image of depressing poverty and crime. Those still exist, but it is still one of the most beautiful places in the world that gets better and better every year.