Marettimo

Dolomitic island characterized by a wild and uncontaminated nature, Marettimo appears from the sea with its green and luxuriant tops – whose peaks reach up to 686 meters at Pizzo Falcone – and the houses plastered in lime, which frame a picturesque harbor crowded with fishing boats.  

Cited by the greek historian Polybius (203-120 BC) with the name of Hierà Nèsos (Sacred Island), Marettimo entered the pages of the great History because in its crystal clear waters took place the Battle of the Egadi March 10, 241 BC. This war event ended the First Punic War with the victory of the Roman fleet led by Consul Gaius Lutazio Catulo, sailed from Favignana, on the Carthaginian fleet commanded by Annone. Following the Carthaginian defeat was signed in Marettimo an important armistice to seal the ancient vocation to the sacredness and the truce between peoples, which was typical of the isolated Mediterranean landing places.  

From the geomorphologic point of view, the island consists mainly of white and gray dolomite and limestone detritus of the Upper Triassic: imposing its cliffs overlooking the sea in the parts that face west, the so-called barranchi, or the “Dolomites on the Sea. 

Marettimo is the island of the numerous sea caves that, together with the terrestrial ones, are fascinating naturalistic attractions, but also historical-archaeological, when they guard testimonies of remote ages.