The Egadi archipelago includes three major islands, Favignana, Levanzo and Marettimo, and two uninhabited islets, Maraone and Formica. The sea surrounding them is a Marine Nature Reserve. The Egadi butterfly Favignana is the largest, most populated and perhaps most famous of the three islands. It has an elongated shape, slightly narrower in the center, which justifies its nickname “butterfly.” The climate is made almost always mild by a fresh, light wind, the Zephyr, also called Favonius, to which we owe the island’s current name, which instead the Greeks called Aegusa. In the mid-19th century, it took on increasing importance in the area’s economic landscape thanks to the Florio family, which planted a large tuna fishery there, capable of carrying out spectacular mattanza seasons. The beautiful Art Nouveau palace owned by the family dominates the area near the harbor. Even today, the thousand-year tradition of mattanza is renewed every year, continuing to be the most important event for the island. Splendid waters, small inlets and seabed with indescribable colors. As the name of one of the most beautiful corners of the island, Cala Rossa, reminds us, in its waters was fought the Battle of the Egadi in 241 BC. On the top of the mountain, 304 meters high, you will notice the Castle of St. Catherine, built in Norman times by King Roger. Levanzo, with its 5 sq. km, is the smallest and least inhabited island in the archipelago. A village made up of few inhabitants and surrounded by high, jagged coastlines that open onto a very clear sea. The island’s appearance is rather wild, made up of bays, caves and reliefs. Its greatest pride is the Grotta del Genovese: important Upper Paleolithic graffiti depicting humans, animals, hunting and fishing scenes have been found in its walls. They also represent some of the oldest evidence of tuna fishing in Sicily. Marettimo is the farthest of the three islands and also the most mountainous, 37 km from the Trapani coast. The island’s history is made, like that of the entire area, of the dominations of different peoples who alternated with one another. Formerly called Hiera, today it takes its name from the two elements that make it up: the sea and thyme, a metaphor for the mountains. Not to be missed is a tour of the island and a visit to the caves that open up on its walls that drop sheer to the sea. At the top of Punta Troia, the Castle that the Arabs used as a watchtower and was later turned into a prison is clearly visible. Inside it, William Pepe was also imprisoned. Getting there The Egadi Islands can be reached from Trapani www.usticalines.it and Marsala www.usticalines.it and www.siremar.it