Private Tour: Segesta, Erice, Marsala Salt Pans & Mozia from Palermo

The Salt Pans of Marsala are located in the Stagnone Reserve and are one of the most visited tourist attractions in the province of Trapani. A unique territory in front of the island of Mothia, along the famous “salt route”, gateway to the Stagnone Islands Nature Reserve. The Stagnone Nature Reserve and the island of Mozia is a place of extraordinary beauty, where alongside the exceptional natural landscapes you can appreciate the windmills typical of the Trapani coast, an original example of industrial archaeology still fully functional today. The Lagoon Salt Pans are located right inside the Reserve. The lagoon, the largest in Sicily (2000 ha) is characterized by very salty shallow waters.

The island of Mozia belongs to the Stagnone di Marsala archipelago and is one of the most popular tourist routes for visitors. Mozia is a true open-air treasure, with its numerous archaeological finds, some of which are submerged by the sea due to rising tides: its archaeological value is still considered priceless. Mozia is home to one of the most important museums in the province of Trapani. The young man of Mozia is the most prestigious and representative of the island: it is a marble statue. Mozia is an ancient Phoenician colony founded in the eighth century BC.C. on one of the four islands of the Stagnone lagoon. The name of Motya, probably given by the Phoenicians themselves, would mean spinning mill and would be connected to the presence of wool processing plants, implanted here. The island, like most other Phoenician colonies, was a trading post and was intended to serve as a docking point for Phoenician ships en route in the Mediterranean. With the Greek colonization, which begins in the eighth century, Motya increases its importance by becoming a citizen. In the 6th century, the contrasts between the Greeks and Carthaginians increased for the dominance over Sicily and Mozia was involved; it was then surrounded by walls that allowed a better defense. In 397 Dionysius the Elder, tyrant of Syracuse, besieges the city and ends its existence. The inhabitants take refuge on the mainland in the colony of Lilibeo, present-day Marsala. The rediscovery of Motya is linked to the name of Giuseppe Whitaker, an English nobleman of the late nineteenth century whose family had settled in Sicily and had started a flourishing export trade of Marsala wine. On the island stands the Whitaker house, now converted into a museum. TIMETABLES AND PRICES ISLAND OF MOZIA : 1 NOVEMBER - 31 MARCH every day from 9.00 am to 3.00 pm 1 APRIL - 31 OCTOBER every day 9.30 am - 6.30 pm PRICES : ADULTS € 9 STUDENTS AND CHILDREN € 5