Mazara del Vallo, near Trapani, can sum up the character and history of a whole island: it proudly shows the world its beautiful old town, the old Casbah where Islamic philosophers and writers, judges and merchants used to walk.

The Casbah, the old Arab quarter, guests  many houses in typical Arab style and it is crossed by an endless series of small tunnels. The neighborhood is inhabited by a large Tunisian community, which helps keeping intact the overall style of the neighborhood: some typical elements are the tiles and other decorative elements on the facades of houses.

Inside the Casbah, there are many restaurants and taverns that serve traditional meals, starting from fish couscous. The flavors and smells that flutter through the narrow streets of the Casbah are those of an old tradition that was never interrupted in Mazara del Vallo, one of the southern cities in Italy closest to Africa.

The cathedral’s city, the Basil Cathedral, was built by the Normans around the year One Thousand and features a unique style that is a mix of Romanesque, Baroque and Greek.

The town encompasses centuries of history: rows of palm trees and the port keep alternating to monuments of great value, architecture gifts and good examples of Sicilian Baroque. Within its walls, there are ancient churches, which were previously mosques and places of different worship.