Marsala

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Marsala

Marsala is a seaport city located in the Province of Trapani

Province of Trapani

Trapani is a Provinces of Italy in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy. Its capital is the city of Trapani.It has an area of 2,460 km?, and a total population of 425,121 ....
on the island of Sicily

Sicily

Sicily is an Autonomous regions with special statute of Italy. Of all the regions of Italy, Sicily covers the largest land area at 25,708 km? and currently has just over five million inhabitants....
in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
. The low coast on which it is situated is the westernmost point of the island. It is best known as the source of Marsala wine

Marsala wine

Marsala is a wine produced in the region surrounding the Italy city of Marsala in Sicily. Marsala wine first received Denominazione di Origine Controllata, or DOC, status in 1969....
. Marsala occupies the site of Lilybaeum, the principal stronghold of the Carthaginians

Carthage

Carthage refers both to an ancient city in present-day Tunisia, and a modern-day suburb of Tunis. The civilization that developed within the city's sphere of influence is referred to as Punic or Carthaginian....
in Sicily, founded by Himilco

Himilco

Himilco was the Carthaginian sailor a.k.a. Himilco the Navigator.Himilco may also refer to:* Himilco , Carthaginian soldier at Battle of Messene...
in 396 BC after the abandonment of Motya

Motya

Motya , was an ancient and powerful city on an island off the west coast of Sicily, between Drepanum and Lilybaeum . The eponymous island renamed San Pantaleo in the 11th century by Basilian monks is situated in a lagoon on the most western part of Sicily about one kilometer from the mainland of Sicily, to which it was joined by an a...
.

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Encyclopedia

Marsala is a seaport city located in the Province of Trapani

Province of Trapani

Sicily

Italy

Marsala wine

Marsala is a wine produced in the region surrounding the Italy city of Marsala in Sicily. Marsala wine first received Denominazione di Origine Controllata, or DOC, status in 1969....
.

Marsala occupies the site of Lilybaeum, the principal stronghold of the Carthaginians

Carthage

Himilco

Himilco was the Carthaginian sailor a.k.a. Himilco the Navigator.Himilco may also refer to:* Himilco , Carthaginian soldier at Battle of Messene...
in 396 BC after the abandonment of Motya

Motya

Pyrrhus of Epirus

Pyrrhus or Pyrrhos was a Greeks general of the Hellenistic civilization. He was king of the Greek tribe of Molossians, of the royal Aeacid house , and later he became King of Epirus and Macedon ....
nor the Romans were able to reduce it by siege, but it was surrendered to the latter in 241 BC at the end of the First Punic War

First Punic War

The First Punic War was the first of Punic Wars fought between Carthage and the Roman Republic. For 23 years, the two powers struggled for supremacy in the western Mediterranean Sea....
as a condition of the peace treaty

Peace treaty

A peace treaty is an agreement between two hostile parties, usually countries or governments, that formally ends an armed conflict. It is different from an armistice, which is an agreement to cease hostilities, or a surrender , in which an army agrees to give up arms....
. In the later wars it was a starting point for the Roman expeditions against Carthage, and under Roman rule it enjoyed considerable prosperity. It obtained municipal rights from Augustus and became a colony under either Pertinax

Pertinax

Publius Helvius Pertinax, commonly known as Pertinax , was a Roman emperor who briefly reigned from December 31 192 until his death on March 28 193....
or Septimius Severus

Septimius Severus

Lucius Septimius Severus was a Roman Empire general, and Roman Emperor from April 14 193 to 211. He was born in what is now the Libyan part of Rome's historic Africa Province, making him the first emperor to be born in the Roman province of Africa Province....
.

The Arabs gave it its present name "Marsala" which is deriving from the Arab "Marsa Allah" (port of Allah

Allah

Allah is the standard Arabic language word for God. While the term is best known in the Western world for its use by Muslims as a reference to God, it is used by Arabic-speakers of all Abrahamic faiths, including Christians and Jews, in reference to "God"....
) or "Marsa Ali" ("port of Ali

Ali

Ali ibn Abi alib was the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophets of Islam Muhammad, who ruled over the Rashidun empire from 656 to 661. Sunni Muslims consider Ali as the fourth and final Rashidun while Shia Islam Muslims regard Ali as the first Imamah and consider him and his descendants as the Succession to Muhammad, all of which are me...
" intended also as "great port" as Ali in Arabian language is synonymous with "great" and the ancient harbour of Lylibaeum was enormous). The ancient harbor that lay on the northeast was destroyed by Charles V

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I of Spain, of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his abdication in 1556....
to prevent its occupation by pirates. The modern harbor lies to the southeast.

On May 11, 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italians military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and had to flee Italy after a failed insurrection....
and his "thousand" landed at Marsala and began his campaign to overthrow Bourbon rule in Sicily as a step toward Italy's unification.

Main sights

Little remains of the ancient Lilybaeum (fragments of the city walls, of squared stones, and some foundations of buildings between the walls and the sea) are visible; and the so-called grotto and spring of the Sibyl may be mentioned.

To the east of the town is a great fosse which defended it on the land side, and beyond this again are quarries like those of Syracuse

Syracuse, Italy

Syracuse is a historic city in southern Italy, the Capital of the province of Syracuse. The city is noted for its rich Greek history, culture, amphitheatres, architecture and association to Archimedes, playing an important role in ancient times as one of the top powers of the Mediterranean world; it is over 2,700 years old....
on a small scale.

The modern town takes the shape of the Roman camp within the earlier city, one of the gates of which still existed in 1887.

The main street (the Cassaro) perpetuates the name castrum.

Marsala

Main sights

See also