Page 525 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

Piazza della Repubblica

Marsala’s town centre is a predominantly Baroque assortment of buildings, though
there are hints of the older town’s layout in the narrow, largely traffic-free streets

around the central Piazza della Repubblica. The elegance of the square is due to its
two eighteenth-century buildings: the arcaded Palazzo Comunale, and the Chiesa
Madre – dedicated to San Tommaso di Canterbury, patron saint of Marsala – from
which four statues peer loftily down. The church’s large but rather disappointing
interior has a few Gagini sculptures.

Museo degli Arazzi

Via Garraffa 57 • Tues–Sun 9am–1pm & 4–6pm • €4 • 0923 711 327

Behind the Chiesa Madre, the sole display at the Museo degli Arazzi is a series of
eight enormous hand-stitched wool and silk tapestries depicting the capture of
Jerusalem. Made in Brussels in the sixteenth century, they were the gift of the Spanish
ambassador, who doubled as the archbishop of Messina, and are beautifully rich, in
burnished red, gold and green.

Pinacoteca Comunale
Summer Tues–Sun 10am–1pm & 6–8pm; winter Tues–Sun 10am–1pm & 5–7pm in winter • Free

Past the Museo degli Arazzi, you can view the remains of Punic walls and pavements
from the Greco-Roman period in Piazza San Girolamo. Still further, a left turn off Via

Garraffa leads into Piazza del Carmine, where a fourteenth-century convent has been
stylishly renovated to hold the Pinacoteca Comunale. Visitors can enjoy a good
collection of art and regular exhibitions – mostly contemporary and with local
connections.

Complesso San Pietro and the Museo Civico