Trapani - Sant'Agostino

Corso Italia ends at the Piazza Sant'Agostino, where the visitor's gaze is drawn to the plain apse of the church of the same name. Built as a temple in the 14th century, it was destroyed in the Second World War and rebuilt as a concert hall. The door and extraordinarily beautiful rose-window from the old church were saved and incorporated in the new building. This west front looks out on to the Piazza Saturno, which is named after the 16th century Fountain to Saturn in memory of the myth relating to the founding of Trapani; the fountain shows the ancient god Kronos-Saturn, son of Ouranos who held his children prisoners in the Underworld. With his mother's aid Kronos castrated his father with a sickle and then threw the weapon into the sea. Then Aphrodite rose out of the surf and the sickle-shaped promontory, on which Trapani lies, was formed.