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Itineraries

The Castle of Erice, surrounded by ruderal vegetation (Acantho-Smyrnietum olusatri) and, on
vertical cliffs, by the Scabioso creticae-Centauretum ucriae, subass. Brassicetosum drepanensis.
island, where inhabited since Mesolithic (10-6 Ka), when local communi-
ties had to cope with the shortage of wild herbivores and to intensify-re-
fine plant and fish exploitation techniques. Not surprisingly, the people
living in the caves of Levanzo, Mt. Cofano and Uzzo were protagonists
of the Neolithic revolution in Sicily, practising farming and agriculture.
An almost continuous human presence in the area during Copper
Age (4000 BC: necropolis of Castelluzzo) and throughout the early
Bronze age (c. 2500-1600 BC) is testified by numerous findings ascri-
bed to different cultural steps. Traces of the so-called Thapsos culture
(mid Bronze age, XV-XIII centuries BC), characterised by intense trade
connections with eastern Mediterranean people coming from present
Greece, Cyprus, Syria and Palestine, have been found at Mt. Cofano.
Between XII and IX century BC the Elymians, probably an Italic
group coming from N Tuscany or Liguria, colonized the north-we-
stern part of Sicily and founded several cities, sharing the same ter-
ritory and land resources with Phoenicians. The most important Ely-
mian coastal centres were Eryx (Erice) and Segesta, which had their
own emporia, Drepanon (now Trapani) and Emporium Segestanum
(now Castellamare del Golfo), respectively. Although Elymians and

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