The ancient Lilybaeum, the city located in front of Libya (in antiquity this name was used to refer to Africa), was founded by the Phoenician exiles from Mozia, attacked and invaded by the Syracusans in 397 BC.

So, the origin of Marsala is Phoenician, which was later overlaid by the presence of the Romans.

In 241 B.C. in the sea in front of Marsala, more precisely near the Egadi Islands, the last battle of the First Punic War was fought, which saw the Romans and Phoenicians (Carthaginians) clash for Mediterranean control. With the Roman victory Sicily became the first Roman province. 

It would have to wait until the Arabs for ancient Lilybaeum to assume its new name Marsala, from the Arabic Marsa Allāh, “Port of God”.

Marsala, like the whole of Sicily, later became part of the Norman Kingdom, then of the Spanish Kingdom and finally of the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

In 1777 an English merchant, John Woodhouse, tasting the local wine, was enthusiastic about it and sent some barrels to England. Thus Marsala wine was discovered, and because of its flavor similar to the fortified wines of Spain and Portugal, it became a product much loved by the British.

Many British entrepreneurs moved to Marsala during the 1800s to produce and trade such wine. That is why, even today, the city is a land of wineries and vineyards and more. Marsala is also the city of salt pans, with windmills and the presence of migratory birds, it represents one of the most interesting landscapes in Western Sicily. 

Marsala is also the city where the enterprise of the “Thousand” started and where Garibaldi landed with his army in May 1860.

A lot of history has passed in this small town, and even today its monuments and museums tell centuries of battles, conquests and adventures.

The tour of Marsala includes a visit to its main museums, such as the Archaeological Museum and the Risorgimento Museum.