TrapaniSalemi.
This is the ancient Halicyae, of Sican or Elymian origin, an ally of Segesta in the war against Syracuse, and, under the Romans, one of the five free and immune cities in Sicily. In the Middle Ages, the Arabs extended its defensive and urban structures; the name of the town dates from this period: salàm, in Arabic, means health and safety. Under the Aragonese, it was disputed by the most powerful families of the Sicilian nobility (Ventimiglia, Alagona, Moncada), but soon freed itself from them and became a city of the royal domain. During the Expedition oft he Thousand, on 14 May 1860, three days after the landing at Marsala, Garibaldi issued the declaration from the Castle of Salemi in which he assumed the title of "Dictator of Sicily" in the name of Victor Emmanuel, "King of Italy", thus underying the strictly monarchic and unifying intentions of this military undertaking. The town of Salemi was severely damaged by the earthquake in 1968. Some of the buildings that could be saved have been restored, while a new town has been constructed further down the valley, to which part of the population have moved.

The 13th c. Castle dominating the town was built by Frederick II of Swabia; it is trapezoidal in plan and has corner towers. It now houses the Town library and the local Public Records office. Of the old Chiesa Madre, built between the 17th and 18th c. to a design by Mariano Srniriglio, nothing now remains except the area of the presbytery . The 17th c. Collegio dei Gesuiti houses the Museo Cìvico, which contains numerous items from churches destroyed by the earthquake. The Chiesa del Collegio now acts as the Chiesa Madre; this church, rectangular in plan, was built in the 18th c. Passing the Palazzo del Comune (Town Hall) we come to the Chiesa di Sant' Agostino, with its adjoining Convent, both dating from the 18th c. The single-hall church contains some Gaginesque sculptures and a painted marble statue ofthe Madonna del Soc- corso by Antonello Gagini. Apart from the castle and the church, Salemi amply merits a visit because of the rests of the Byzantine basilica of San Miceli, which is unique in W Sicily. To reach it involves a short excursion outside the town into the open country, following the provincial road and making use of the signposts -if necessary we can ask the friendly local people the way. When we reach it we see, beneath a roof, three floors one above the other, with three different orders of coloured mosaics and Greek and Latin inscriptions of the 4th and 6th c. Surrounding the church there used to be a village and a graveyard of more or less the same period, which were once explored and then covered over.