The splendid small town of Mazara del Vallo, one of the main agricultural centres in the Province of Trapani, is also one of the best-equipped fishing ports in Italy. The agricultural land in the Mazara area has been inhabited since prehistoric times, witnessed by finds from the Upper Palaeolithic period, above all from along the course of the River Mazaro - yielding stone arms and utensils from the Epigravettian phase, made from Belice flint -, Mesolithic funerary goods, and Early Bronze Age settlements and necropoli. Mazara, its place name probably Phoenician in origin, was contended for its strategic position, a bridgehead to Africa and almost a frontier post between Greek Sicily to the east and Phoenician-Punic Sicily to the west. Already a trading emporium of considerable importance from the sixth century BC onwards, the town was then conquered by the Romans during the First Punic War. The remains from the Roman period are superb, including the necropoli and patrician houses, dating from the third and fourth century AD., The Arab conquest of Sicily began here and the town became powerful and flourishing under their domination. Indeed Mazara was foremost in the three districts, called the "valli", that the island was divided into. The town's historic centre is a typically Islamic labyrinth of lanes, courtyards and alleyways. With the arrival of the Normans, the town became a bishopric and was fortified by the erection of defensive walls and the castle. The duomo and the churches of S. Nicoḷ Regale and Santa Maria della Giummare are also from the Norman period. Finally, between the seventeenth and eighteenth century Mazara changed appearance, with the restructuring of squares, churches and mansions according to the then dominant Baroque taste. The town's economy is based on agriculture, fishing and tourism.
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MAZARA DEL VALLO
