Campobello di Mazara, Italy: travel guide to the Cave di Cusa and the Selinunte coast

Campobello di Mazara is a town in the province of Trapani, in western Sicily, set on a plain near the Mediterranean coast not far from the great Greek site of Selinunte. Home to around 11,000 people, it combines a rich agricultural tradition with extraordinary archaeology and inviting beaches.

For travellers searching for Campobello di Mazara, the Cave di Cusa, Nocellara del Belice olives or beaches near Selinunte, it offers history, fine food and the sea.

The Cave di Cusa

The town's most remarkable site is the Cave di Cusa, an ancient Greek stone quarry a few kilometres to the south where, from the 6th century BC, the people of Selinunte cut the great cylindrical drums for the columns of their temples. When the city fell in 409 BC work stopped abruptly, and half-quarried column drums and blocks still lie among the rocks as though the masons had simply walked away, making it one of the most evocative archaeological sites in Sicily. The modern town itself was founded in the early 17th century when a nobleman was granted a licence to settle the land.

Beaches and olives

Along the coast, the resorts of Tre Fontane, Torretta Granitola and Triscina offer long sandy beaches and clear sea, the last linking up with the shores of Selinunte. Inland, groves of the prized Nocellara del Belice olive, used for both table olives and oil, fill the countryside, and the town is a proud member of the association of Italy's "cities of oil."

Practical information

Campobello di Mazara lies close to Selinunte and Mazara del Vallo, about 50 kilometres south of Trapani, with its own railway station and easy access from the A29 motorway.