Aegusa is the “butterfly”of the Aegates, not only for its poetic vision but also because of its shape: it looks like a butterfly on the sea, with its wings wide open, its two hills, the Wood in the east and the Plain in the west, divided by the Santa Caterina Mountain (302m). It measures about nine km in length and its area is four km2, it is about nine sea miles far from Trapani, and it’s the largest of the three islands.

Already in ancient times we can find mention of it, its is described from Homer in his Odyssey as the “Sheeps Island”. The other name of Favignana during the Roman period was Capraria. The most ancient traces of human settlements have been identified in two caves, both near the Faraglione, the Grotta delle Uccerie and the Grotta della Madonna.

It was a Phoenician outpost, they called it Katria: some ruins found in San Nicola cove make think of a phoenician harbour, even if it’s not as important as Mothia. During the Roman period Rome and Carthage fought for the Aegates because of their strategic position, they were protagonist of the final battle of the First Punic War, in the 241 B.C. Off the north-west landspit of Favignana about 150 ships, among roman and carthagian, sank. Someone tells that Cala Rossa (Red Cove) takes its name in memory of the blood shed in that occasion.

During the Roman period started the development of the Tufo trade and the Tonnare, the island is still famous for them; the “Mattanza” instead developed during the Arab domination: till now the terms of the mattanza, its rituals and sounds recall the arab domination. The Saracen defence towers, built between the 800s and the 900s a.C., later became the Christian fortresses of S. Caterina, S. Giacomo and S. Leonardo. Later the Borboni turned them into jails for the revolutionaries, and the last prisoners were finally set free in 1860 when Garibaldi landed in Marsala. On the ancient fortress ruin of Saint Leonardo was built the famous Villa Florio.

Despite different dominations and different cultural influences too, the first settlement of Favignana was founded only around 1700; the inhabitants of the island had lived in caverns dug into the tufo until that time.

The tonnara, old glory of Favignana, has many problems today, due to the devastating economic and tecnological power of foreign industries, above all Japanese, and because of climate change  turning the Mediterranean into a tropical field, not suited to tunafish shoal. All must be done to bring the Tonnara back to its economic power, not only its folclore, and to preserve the environment.

Favignana, with its coves and its clear sea, is one of the most famous tourist destination  in Mediterranean and it easily combines its traditions with the modernity of a third millennium tourist destination.

LEVANZO

The Romans called it Phorbantia, it’s the smallest of the Aegats and a rocky island, rich of beautiful prehistoric caverns; la Grotta del Genovese is the most famous, it  has engravings, graffitis and protohistoric drawings representing animals (deers, bovid, equid, fishes) and human shapes of ten thousand years ago. The island has a little harbor, dug in a natural cove, and a pier and a quay. Along the coast we find beautiful coves and rich seabeds such as Cala Minnola and Cala Tramontana among others.

MARETTIMO

The ancient Hiera is a rocky hill whose highest height is Pizzo Falcone with its 684 mt above the sea and it’s 37 km far from the mainland. Because of the lack of population Marettimo is a natural botanic garden still preserving vegetation estinguished in other areas. Trekking lovers can walk through different paths in the unspoiled nature and the history, visiting the pine wood of Aleppo, the archaeological site of the “Case Romane” and the Castle of Punta Troia.

The boat trip around the island is a marvellous stream of several beautiful pictures one after another, numerous caves of clear water that create amazing light and watercolors.