<strong>EGADI</strong>: A paradise, actually three

EGADI: A paradise, actually three

A short and suggestive crossing connects the port of Trapani to the nature reserve of the Egadi archipelago. Three islands perched on a single sea to be discovered.

Favignana is the largest, and offers the greatest variety of landscapes. Rugged cliffs plunge into the sea and draw beaches, caves, and inlets. From the crystal-clear sands of Cala Azzurra, to the superb rocks of Bue Marino or Cala Rossa, the island offers an infinity of natural views that make it a paradise for tourists, who flock to it in the summertime.

Favignana's economy for long decades was based on tuna fishing, based on the traditional practice of "mattanza," which is now in disuse, but survives in the atmospheres that pervade the old streets, in the tales of the locals, and in the delights of the gastronomy.

In Levanzo, on the other hand, everything is in miniature, the small village and the small port merging with the wildest nature, a lonely paradise. A single mule track crosses it from one side to the other, from the small port wedged in the rocks to the Capo Grosso Lighthouse, beaten by an incessant wind, overlooking the sea. Not to be missed is a visit to the Grotta del Genovese, an extraordinary prehistoric vestige in which graffiti dating back more than 10,000 years can be seen, indicating the presence of a community already at that time devoted to tuna fishing, based on tribal bonds and devoted to the practice of magic.

Further from the coast is Marettimo, stretched out like an outpost on the open sea. These waters hold timeless secrets, locked forever in the wrecks on the seabed, in memory of the glorious Phoenician, Greek and Roman routes, and the bloody battles that took place there over the centuries.

It is the most unspoiled destination in the archipelago, an extraordinary naturalistic oasis traversed by paths dominated by silence, suspended over crystal waters. Fishermen are the only inhabitants here; it is they who lead the tour of the island, to listen to the secrets echoing in the caves.