Castellammare del Golfo

Castellammare is an important tourist centre famous for pottery and swimming/thermal bathing.

Overlooked by Mount Inici, the picturesque town with its fishing port and castle is lovely. In the east is the magnificent Spiaggia Playa, a golden sandy beach,with clear crystalline water. In the west until San Vito Lo Capo, the coast becomes rocky and jagged, with coves of extraordinary beauty from Cala Bianca, Guidaloca to The Zingaro Reserve.
Some diving centres offer scuba diving excursions to discover the beautiful coral sea beds.
Sailing clubs offer sailing, canoeing, windsurfing, water skiing and swimming courses.
There are some boat excursions and pescaturismo (tourist fishing excursions) from Castellammare to San Vito Lo Capo, highlighting the local areas of beauty and marine life.  

The port and the old centre town with its restaurants exclusive, bars, disco-pubs is the night life centre of the town.

The local cuisine offers fabulous fresh fish. Local fleets night time haul of  mullet, sargo, umbrine, saddled bream, rock fish, octopus, squid, lobster are on the harbour market every morning.

It was founded as a marine trading centre for the merchants of  nearby Segesta; used later by the Phoenicians and then the Romans. In medieval times it became a stronghold with the castle built by the Arabs. Between the XV and the XVIII centuries, the port became a strategic point for commercial flow.

The castle, of Arab origin, enlarged in Norman and Swabian times, was the most important fortress of Western Sicily, and contains elements of great architectural importance. The medieval spiral stairway sits inside a circular keep, with the door and architraves featuring late gothic decorative patterns.
The castle holds an interesting scientific-museum centre featuring many exhibitions: archaeology with anchor stocks and Roman amphorae; marine activity and equipment for sailing and tuna fishing; Nostra Principalissima Patrona dedicated to the festivities in honour of the Madonna del Soccorso;  and“Castellamare on set”, with documentation about films, series, advertisements and reality shows filmed in Castellammare.
The museum highlights cultural and landscape heritage and cultural and entertainment events. In the east wing there is the Museo dell’Acqua e dei Mulini - a showcase of water and windmills and the Ethno- anthropological  museum "Annalisa Buccellato".
In an old fishermen’s house in the ancient maritime town is a small Museum of the Sea which holds various pieces of marine tools and equipment from tuna fish warehouses, once numerous in the gulf.

The Mother Church is the most important of the religious buildings. It holds the statue in majolica of the Madonna del Soccorso.
 
The church of Madonna delle Scale (XVII century) is situated on the slope of the  mountain.

The ex-monastery of the Padri Crociferi (1659) is now the Town Hall. In the immediate vicinity of Castellammare, the baglio (rural fortified structure) of Inici and the castle of Balata di Baida,  have resisted the tests of time.

 Celebrations to honour the patron saint  Maria SS del Soccorso, run from the 19th to 21st August. In the port,  there is a remarkable  historical re-enactment of the miracle carried out by the Madonna in 1718, when five English ships who were pursuing a Spanish merchant ship were made to flee. Spectators can enjoy the spectacular fireworks, play games on the beach and in the water, and shop at various stalls.

At Christmas, Castellammare  boasts a variety of entertainment including a live nativity scene in the town hamlet of Balata di Baida.