Page 541 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

small interior, rival those of the Norman kings in Palermo for splendour.

ARRIVAL AND INFORMATION: CASTELVETRANO

By train To reach the town centre from the train station in Piazza Améndola, walk up
to the main road and turn left: it’s just a few minutes to Piazza Matteotti, from where

Via Vittorio Emanuele leads all the way to the rear of the Chiesa Madre church.

Destinations Marsala (10 daily Mon–Sat, 5 daily Sun; 40min); Mazara del Vallo (10
daily Mon–Sat, 5 daily Sun; 20min); Palermo (6 daily Mon–Sat, 3 daily Sun; 2hr
30min–3hr; may involve change); Trapani (10 daily Mon–Sat, 5 daily Sun; 1hr
15min).

By bus Buses from Marsala and Trapani stop in Piazza Matteotti. To get to Selinunte
from Castelvetrano, take the bus for Marinella from outside the train station – a

timetable is posted inside the station – or from piazzas Matteotti, Dante or Regina
Margherita in town.

Destinations Agrigento (3 daily Mon–Sat, 1 daily Sun; 1hr 40min–2hr 25min);
Campobello (7–11 daily Mon–Sat, 4–6 daily Sun; 25min); Gibellina (1 daily Mon–
Sat; 1hr); Marinella (for Selinunte, 5–8 daily; 25min); Marsala (9 daily Mon–Sat;
1hr–1hr 15min); Mazara del Vallo (9 daily Mon–Sat; 30–40min); Palermo (10 daily

Mon–Sat, 2–3 daily Sun; 1hr 45min); Salemi (1 daily Mon–Sat; 1hr 15min); Sciacca
(3 daily Mon–Sat, 1 daily Sun; 30–50min); Trapani (4 daily Mon–Sat; 2hr 15min).

Tourist information There’s a tourist office at Piazza Carlo d’Aragona, below Piazza
Garibaldi (Mon–Sat 9am–1pm & 4–7pm, plus Sun in summer 9am–1pm; 0924 902
004).

< Back to Trapani and the west

The interior

North of Castelvetrano and east of Marsala, the interior of Trapani province is
intensely rural, its few small towns little changed by the coming of the A29 autostrada,
which cuts across the region. The whole area is green and highly fertile, mainly given
over to vine-growing; indeed, the wine around the Salemi district is among Sicily’s
best. But, hard though it is to believe, the entire region still hasn’t recovered from the

earthquake of January 15, 1968, which briefly spotlighted western Sicily, sadly more
for the authorities’ inadequate response to it than for the actual loss of life. Four
hundred died and a thousand were injured, no great number by Sicilian standards, but
it was the 50,000 left homeless that had the most lingering impact on this already
depressed part of the island, and the effects of the earthquake are still evident
everywhere. Ruined buildings and ugly temporary dwellings still being used more than