Ligny Tower, Museum of the sea and the rocks

Where is Ligny Tower?

Trapani ends at Ligny Tower. This is “the city between two seas”: it stretches out on a spit of land surrounded by sea.

The “seas” are Tyrrhenian Sea and Mediterranean. They meet each other in Ligny Tower, the most western tip of Sicily.

Torre di Ligny Trapani

Ligny Tower

Ligny Tower lies at the furthest end of the sickle. It has a quadrangle shape and it is made of stone and tuff from Favignana quarries.

Ligny Tower was a Spanish watchtower. It stood on a rock to defend the town from the continuous raids of barbarian pirates.

In 1671 the Viceroy don Claudio Morando, prince of Ligny, ordered its construction. He probably entrusted the task to the architect Carlos De Grunembergh.

Ligny Tower Civic Museum

Ligny Tower is completely restored inside. It houses a collection of archaeological finds. It displays prehistoric and protohistoric finds, divided into two sections.

– the prehistoric section on the ground floor displays finds from the province of Trapani.

– the marble archaeological site is on the first floor. It exhibits over 100 objects from the Mediterranean’s backdrops. Amphorae, anchors, objects of Greek, Roman and Punic epochs.

The small museum shows also a bronze helmet, dated IV – III sec. B.C. from the sea backdrops near Trapani. This is one of the most important archaeological finds.

The Roman rostrum

Years ago the museum exhibited a valuable Roman bronze rostrum recovered in 2004 along with other important archaeological finds from the sea.
For its typological and technical features, the roman rostro dates back to the third century BC. So it is likely to belong to one of the Roman ship that fought victoriously against the Carthaginian fleet in 241 BC. (First Punic War, Battle of the Egadi).

rostri_battaglia_Egadi

The rock of “Malconsiglio” (bad advise)

The rock of “Malconsiglio” lies in the sea, in front of  Ligny Tower. It is a solitary cliff, long and narrow, weathered by waves and wind, visually resembling the profile of a boat. It is known as the Rock of Malconsiglio because of a legend.

scoglio del malconsiglio Trapani
In fact a legend tells the revolutionary Giovanni da Procida arrived in Trapani on 30th March 1282. He met secretly  the other leaders of Sicilian Vespers riot. They were Palmerio Abate, Alaimo da Lentini and Gualtiero da Caltagirone.

So he and the other three went swimming late at night with stormy sea up to the rock in front of the  tower. They met each other on that little rock to plan the revolt in Trapani, which  historically begun on 1st April 1282 in Palermo. Consequently the rock was called of bad advice.

The Bay near Ligny Tower

A lovely bay, the “Vasca du Parrinu”, a small inlet surrounded by rocks, is located very near Torre di Ligny. Tourists love it very much.

vasca del parrino -Torre di Ligny

It is possible to climb up to the terrace of the tower from which you can enjoy a beautiful view. From Capo San Vito to Marsala and Mozia, including the whole city of Trapani, Mount Erice, the Egadi islands and the nearest Formica island.