Page 553 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

Cicci’s Via Cagliari 7 0923 913 696. Just off the main piazza, this place has a
lively evening crowd, musical accompaniment and snacks. Daily 6am–late; closed Sun
in winter.

Tikirriki Via Borgo Italia 3 0923 911604. Good snacks, pastries and ice cream,
which you can eat by the harbour. Daily 8am–late; closed Sun in winter.

DIRECTORY

Banks ATMs at Banco di Sicilia, Piazza Cavour, Monte dei Paschi, Via Napoli 2,
and Banco Nuova, Via Catania 5.

Hospital For first-aid and medical matters, go to the Ospedale B. Nagar, Piazzale
Almanza ( 0923 910 234).

Pharmacy Farmacia Greco on Piazza Cavour (Mon–Fri 8.30am–1pm & 5–8.30pm;
0923 911 310). Pharmacies operate on a rota outside normal opening hours, noted on
the door.

Police Carabinieri, Via Trieste 29 ( 0923 911 109).

Post office The island’s main post office is off Piazza Cavour on Via de Amicis
(Mon–Fri 8am–1.30pm, Sat 8am–12.30pm).

The southwest coast

The route south of Pantelleria town is initially very unpromising, through an industrial
wasteland of noisome and noisy factories, abandoned farmhouses and past a military
barracks. Things pick up after a couple of kilometres at the Cuddie Rosse, volcanic
red rocks that mark the site of a prehistoric cave settlement. Fifteen minutes’ walk
further on, a signposted track on the left leads up 300m to the first of the island’s
strange Sesi, massive black Neolithic funeral mounds of piled rock, with low

passages leading inside; a second one lies further up to the left. They’re thought to be
products of Pantelleria’s first settlers, possibly from Tunisia. The main one here is 6m
high, a striking sight, completely at one with its lunar-like environment. Scores of
these must once have dotted the island, satisfying some primeval fears and beliefs.
That so few survive is not so hard to understand when you take a look around at the

regular-shaped stones from which the dammuso houses are built – centuries of plunder
have taken their toll.

Beyond the Sesi, at Punta Fram, there’s public access to the coast; look for a
footpath, marked “Discesa a mare”, opposite a side road to a little tower.

Sataria