Marsala Attractions

This is where, after losing their operational base at Motya in 397 B.C., the Carthaginians founded the town of Lilybaion and turned it into a powerful marine fortress. This withstood attacks by the Greeks (Dionysios I 368 B.C., Pyrrhos 277/276 B.C.) and the Romans, but fell to Rome by the terms of the peace agreement after the First Punic War in 241 B.C.

In Roman times Lilybaeum was one of the richest towns in Sicily, with the result that Verres was able to make off with large numbers of works of art from the town between 73-71 B.C.

Christianity must have gained a footing from the third century. The first bishop is said to have been Pascasinus, who was carried off to North Africa with some of the inhabitants by the Vandal king Geiserich in 440 and after his return took part in the Council of Chalcedon in 451 at the behest of Pope Leo the Great. When the Arabs landed in nearby Mazara in 827, they gave the town the name of Mars-al-Allah (harbor of God), from which the town's present-day name derives. The Normans also took an interest in the town, which was fortified under Roger I. In 1541, however, Emperor Charles V had the harbor filled in during his unsuccessful campaign against the Algerian corsairs, in order that the pirates should not be able to gain a footing there. As a result of this Marsala lost its position of importance to Trapani.

The town did not experience a revival in its fortunes until 1773. Woodhouse, who had originally come to Sicily to trade in fertilizers, was quick to see the new opportunity which presented itself; "he brought not only capital and the spirit of enterprise to Sicily, but also a vision of the demand and sales possibilities for his product abroad. Within a few years he had amassed a substantial fortune. Soon after 1806 another Briton, Benjamin Ingham, opened a similar factory nearby and by 1814 there were four British firms in Marsala alone, and several more in Mazara ... At their own expense they now had access roads built and finally the harbor in Marsala, which had once been so famous, was restored and opened for merchant shipping again. It was not long before the town had trebled in size - it was appropriate that the patron saint of the town should be an Englishman, Saint Thomas Becket of Canterbury!" (Finley/Mack, Smith/Duggan, History of Sicily and the Sicilians).

On 11th May 1860 Giuseppe Garibaldi landed in the recently restored harbor and, with his thousand poorly equipped, yet highly motivated volunteers, embarked on his famous triumphal march against the Bourbon troops.

On the same day, 83 years later, on 11th May 1943, Allied air attacks inflicted terrible damage on the town, the traces of which still have not been entirely removed. One example is the ruined church at the southeast end of the Piazza Marconi.

Latterly the town has emphasized its cultural pretensions by staging an annual music competition which attracts international participation.