Mazara del Vallo

Mazara del Vallo offers a fascinating mix of cultures, history, ethnicities and art. It's the Dancing Satyr's home and has a lovely labyrinthine North African Kasbah in the town centre.

Mazara del Vallo was founded in the 9th century BC by the Phoenicians and it was a strategic emporium for their trading interests in the Mediterranean. Mazara became part of Magna Graecia and then of the Romans lands.

The Arabs invaded it in 827 AC. Under them the town assumed an importance on the island second only to Palermo. Still today Arabic culture influences the town like the historic Kasbah quarter, where many Tunisians live, work and study. The Arabs developed the traditional maritime and commercial activities of Mazara, but also made it an important administrative, cultural and juridical centre.

The Normans arrived in 1027. A cathedral was built on the site of a mosque and many other churches soon followed. The Chiesa di San Nicolò Regale and the Chiesa della Madonna delle Giummare can still be seen today.

Following the reign of Emperor Frederick II, Mazara del Vallo passed through Aragonese, Bourbon and Habsburg rule. It was eventually liberated by Garibaldi in 1860 to become part of the new united Italy.

In the 1998 a fishing crewcaught, off the coast of western Sicily, a remarkable 7-feet tall bronze statue of a dancing satyr. A few months earlier, the same crew had fished out a bronze leg belonging to the very same statue.

The Dancing Satyr is a superb statue. The head is flung back, the caprine ears, remarkably intact. The torso is pushed forward mid-leap, balanced by a rounded buttock and an air-born trailing leg. Little is known of the statue's exact provenance or period of manufacture, though experts believe that it dates back to some time between the 4th and 1st centuries BC.

The Dancing Satyr resides at the Museo del Satiro Danzante in the centre of Mazara del Vallo. It has been exhibited at Palazzo Montecitorio, home of the Italian parliament in Rome, it has been a guest of honour at the National Museum in Tokyo, at the Louvre in Paris and, in 2012, was part of the Royal Academy of Arts 'Bronze' Exhibition in London.

The Mazara del Vallo's old town centre, flanking the banks of the Mazaro river, has much to see, including a variety of churches, the beautiful Piazza delle Repubblica with its cathedral and Spanish baroque seminary, a fascinating fishing harbour. It's possible to eat excellent fish couscous.