Page 4 - KWT Aug 2712 ESTRATTO

Opening page: Harbour,
Egadi Islands. This page,
clockwise from top left: Cala
Dogana Marina; Persiane
windows typically found in
the south; A mule navigates
a steep pathway; Traditional
Marettimo houses.

N ot many non-Italians have heard of the
Egadi Islands – a tiny archipelago off
the coast of western Sicily. But visitors
beware: unspoiled and virtually car-free,

the islands have a time-warp charm that can be addictive.

Hotelier Fausto Gobbo pitched up there 15 years ago on

his bicycle from mainland Italy and never left.

It was to Marettimo, the most isolated of the three main

islands and a one-hour crossing from the Sicilian port

of Trapani, that Fausto lost his heart. At that time, there

was nowhere to stay in Marettimo town (the island’s only

settlement) other than by begging a room for a night

from a local. Abandoning his job in the fashion industry,

Fausto set to work to fill the gap and created a charming

cluster of small apartments overlooking the main harbour.

It’s been a labour of love, as I discovered. Sea-view

terraces and balconies cascade down towards the

waterfront through a tangle of tropical gardens that

provide a wonderful retreat. Butterflies drift, birds

squabble and endless varieties of rare flowers blaze

brightly under the Mediterranean sun. Meanwhile, below

you, there are the comings and goings of the pleasantly

scruffy harbour. Every now and then, horses amble along

the promenade, with no owner in sight. Who do they ladies with string bags heading off for a day’s mainland
shopping, and a cacophony of bored local dogs chasing
belong to? Fausto shrugs and gestures up a mountain. cyclists with a misguided optimism bordering on the
heroic. But the sleepy town beyond the harbour seemed
“Some guy up there, I guess.” all but deserted.

The Egadi Islands – Favignana, Levanzo and Marettimo The first thing that hit me was how un-Italian the
harbourfront looks. The jumble of small cubed houses,
– are neither as cosmopolitan nor as postcard-pretty as their flat roofs bristling with solar panels and satellite
dishes, has a distinctly North African feel. Some of the
their better-known offshore rivals, such as the Aeolian houses are whitewashed; others are in natural stone. Their
cobalt-blue doors and shutters, and ramshackle tangle of
Islands, which have a far more obvious appeal. Visit elaborate wrought iron grilles and balconies reminded me
of Tunisia – hardly so surprising, since Cap Bon is only 70
Panarea in August and you’ll see enough yachts, fashion miles away and visible from the island’s west coast.

victims and gold sandals to last you a lifetime. No, the Life in Marettimo town, as I soon discovered, is quiet, if
not soporific – especially by day. In picturesque alleys of
charm of the Egadi island chain lies in something quite houses bearing bright ceramic name plates, mounds of
fishing nets, buoyed with empty plastic bottles, dry in the
different. Its islands offer simplicity, authenticity and street. Behind the canvas flaps or beaded curtains that

a remoteness – both literal and spiritual – from more

worldly destinations. It’s no coincidence that Marettimo’s

ancient name, bestowed by its earliest Greek settlers, was

Hiera, meaning ‘sacred’.

I arrived at in the main harbour (Scal a Nuovo) of

Marettimo on a Saturday morning, alighting from a

sprightly orange tub of a ferry called Calypso. The jetty

was bustling – provisions being unloaded, black-clad old

50 August 2012 Kanoo World Traveller