The central streets of historic Marsala are made from marble, and lined with elegant Sicilian Baroque buildings, gracefully opening out onto beautiful piazzas and garden squares. It on these marble streets that the majority of our Gurus’ recommendations for the best places to stay in Marsala can be found, in converted villas, palazzos and apartment buildings. There are several more contemporary beach resorts between Marsala and Trapani, but Marsala itself has plenty of charm.
Marsala’s two most mentioned claims to fame are its wine of the same name, and as the location where Giuseppe Garibaldi first came ashore with his thousand redshirts — a moment which led to the eventual unification of Italy. Garibaldi is remembered all over town, with plaques and statues, but also in local businesses. Marsala wine is fortified, and in Marsala drunk in the sunny squares thorough town, and tasted and sold in bars, enoteche and ‘baglio’ — or local cellars.
Our Gurus also recommend the best places to stay in Marsala to travellers looking for a base for exploring Sicily. You don’t have to follow in the footsteps of Garibaldi, there are plenty of directions of travel — Palermo is only about an hour away, Trapani is even closer, and Trapani’s ferry is linked to spectacular Favignana and the Egadi Islands. Marsala has several archaeological sites, with the major ones being on the island of Mozia, and on the headland. Finds from these sites now fill Marsala’s fantastic archaeological museum. The Greek temple of Selinute are also an easy excursion from Marsala.
