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Home > Travel Italy > Italy Destinations > Marsala
Marsala
Italy, officially the Italian Republic or Repubblica Italiana, is a Southern European country comprising of the Po River valley, the Italian Peninsula and the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. It is shaped like a boot and for this reason Italians commonly call it lo Stivale, the boot or, due to its prevalent peninsular geographical nature, la Penisola, the Peninsula.
Marsala is a seaport city located in the province of Trapani on the island of Sicily in Italy. The low shore on which it is located is the westernmost point of the island. It is best known as the source of Marsala wine.
Marsala occupies the site of Lilybaeum, the principal stronghold of the Carthaginians in Sicily, founded by Himilco in 396 before Christ after the abandonment of Motya. Neither Pyrrhus nor the Romans were able to reduce it by siege, but it was surrendered to the latter in 241 before Christ at the end of the First Punic War. In the later wars it was a starting point for the Roman expeditions against Carthage, and under Roman rule it enjoyed significant prosperity. It obtained municipal rights from Augustus and became a colony under either Pertinax or Septimius Severus.
To the east of the town is a great fosse which defended it on the land side, and beyond this again are quarries like those of Syracuse on a small scale. The modern town takes the shape of the Roman camp within the former city, one of the gates of which still existed in 1887. The main street the Cassaro perpetuates the name castrum. Marsala is an attractive city with natural beauty and historical places, while traveling in Italy.
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