The ancient city of Drepanon was originally inhabited by the Elymians, who used it as an emporium for Erice.
So did the Phoenicians, who, realizing its important geographic location, made it an efficient shipping and trading port.

It then passed into the hands of the Carthaginians , who populated it by bringing the inhabitants of Mount Erice down into the valley. After the Battle of the Egadi in 241 BC it became part of the Roman provinces and remained there until the fifth century BC. In 827 the Arabs arrived in Sicily.

The three centuries of their rule deeply marked Trapani’s culture, art and economy. It went through a difficult period under the rule of the Angevins to flourish again around 1200 with the Aragonese, thanks to the marketing of tuna, of salt and to fine coral workmanship. Then followed the long Spanish rule, which ended only in 1713.

In the mid-1500s Charles V had granted the city of Trapani special privileges that enabled it to increase its trade and maritime traffic. Sicily then passed under the Bourbon Kingdom until the arrival of Garibaldi in 1860.

Trapanians had participated in the insurrectional uprisings of 1848 and this earned it the Gold Medal awarded by Umberto I of Savoy. During World War II the city was bombed several times. With reconstruction, Trapani took on a new structure: new neighborhoods and roads were built.

The vital hub of the city is still the harbor near the old town.