Page 522 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

island museum, at least, has had enough and won’t allow entry to anyone who’s not

properly clothed.

THE VIA DEL SALE BUS

Local bus company Salemi ( 0923 951 522, viadelsaleinbus.it) run a hop-on,

hop-off bus connecting all the main sites between Marsala and Trapani, including
Mozia, the Saline Ettore e Infersa/Museo del Sale and several other windmills with
small museums devoted to the history of salt. A day-ticket costs €12.50 for adults,
€7.50 for children.

Museo Whitaker

Daily 9.15am–6.30pm • Included in Mozia entry ticket

Joseph Whitaker’s house – once incongruously furnished in Edwardian style – now
holds the Museo Whitaker, which holds finds from the site. Its cool rooms are
packed with a beautiful collection of jewellery, arrowheads, terracotta figurines and
domestic artefacts, with the earliest pieces dating from the eighth century BC. Pride of

place goes to the magnificent fifth-century BC marble sculpture of a youth, Il
Giovinetto di Mozia, sensual and self-assured in his pose. The identity of the subject
is unknown, but he was likely to have been a high-ranking official, suggested by the
subtle indentations round his head, indicating some kind of crown or elaborate
headwear.

Outside stands an aristocratic bust of “Giuseppe” Whitaker, and there’s a shaded

picnic area under the trees nearby.

Casa dei Mosaici and the cothon

The remains of ancient Mozia start immediately outside the Museo Whitaker. In front
and 100m to the left is the Casa dei Mosaici, two houses containing some faded
black-and-white mosaics made from sea pebbles. One, probably belonging to a

patrician, shows animal scenes; the other, thought to be a craftsman’s, yielded
numerous shards of pottery. Further along the path you come to the cothon, a small
artificial boat dock built within the ancient town’s walls and similar in style to a much
larger one at Carthage itself.

The north gate

To the right of the Museo Whitaker, rough tracks that were once the city’s main
thoroughfares cut through flowering cacti and vine plantations. Most of the tracks end

at the once-impenetrable north gate, now a ragged collection of steps and ruined
walls, which stands at the head of a causeway built by the Phoenicians in the sixth
century BC to connect the island with the mainland (and a necropolis) at Birgi, 7km to