Page 491 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

accommodation possibilities, mostly in the old-town area; regular trains south to

nearby Marsala and Mazara del Vallo; buses to Erice, the resort of San Vito Lo Capo
and the more distant site of Segesta; and the nearest of the Egadi Islands is only twenty
minutes away by hydrofoil. The only time when you might find a room hard to come by
is during the procession of the Misteri at Easter.

TRAPANI’S MISTERI

One of Sicily’s most evocative religious processions, held since the seventeenth

century, takes place in Trapani at Easter, when the Misteri, extraordinary life-sized
wooden statues depicting scenes from the Passion, are carried shoulder-high through
the streets on Good Friday. The procession through the town takes ten hours, starting
at 2pm and finishing back at the Chiesa del Purgatorio at midnight. Sculpted from
cypress wood and cork in the eighteenth century, each of the twenty groups of
chocolate-brown figures is associated with one of the town’s trades – fishermen,
metalworkers, saltworkers, and so on – whose representatives undertake to maintain

them and, draped in cowls and purple robes, annually parade them. The rest of the
time the statues are kept in the Chiesa del Purgatorio, on Via Francesco d’Assisi,
south of the main Corso. The church is usually locked, but when it’s open, there
should be a priest around to explain which of the trades is responsible for each of
the sculpted groups, and what the particular figures represent – though most of the

scenes are familiar enough. When it’s closed, you can arrange admission at the
Cattedrale office.

Note that this is a very popular time to visit Trapani, so be sure to book
accommodation well in advance.

The old town

Almost everything of interest in Trapani is found in the old town, west of the Villa