Casa Santa

Situated on the summit of Monte Erice, the town's historic centre occupies the site of the ancient city of Eryx, whose Temple of Venus Erycina made it one of the principal religious centres of the western Mediterranean. The mountain has remained an important centre of religious devotion from antiquity to the present day.

The historic centre retains its ecclesiastical architecture, medieval urban layout, and Elymian-Punic fortifications, with few modern interventions. Its elevated position made it a strategic stronghold overlooking the western Sicilian coastline and the Agro Ericino, its historic territory stretching from Monte Erice to the Gulf of Castellammare.

Erice is home to the Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture, an international centre for advanced scientific education and research associated with the Erice Statement on scientific responsibility and peace. The city's economy combines conference and educational activities with cultural, heritage and wine tourism, alongside agriculture in the surrounding area.

The municipality includes both the hilltop centre and a number of modern lower districts along the Tyrrhenian coast and contiguous with the provincial capital Trapani, as well as hamlets in the Erice DOC wine-producing foothills.