Solunto

Distance from Camping La Playa: 10 km. See directions on Google Maps

Solunto is an ancient Hellenistic city on the northern coast of Sicily, on Mount Catalfano, about 2 kilometres from Santa Flavia, opposite Capo Zafferano, near Palermo. According to Thucydides, Solunto was, together with Panormus and Motya, one of the three Phoenician cities in Sicily. In fact, excavations at this site show that the hypothesis that Solunto was a town of Phoenician origin still lacks adequate archaeological support and points to the Sicans as the authentic founders, who were more motivated to settle in such a special location (like the slopes of a rocky promontory).

The Greek name of Solunto, according to the foundation myth, reported by Hecataeus of Miletus, derives from that of a brigand, Solus, killed by Heracles. The Phoenician name known from coins (Kfr = Kafara), means ‘village’, while the Greek name itself (Solus, corresponding to the Latin Soluntum) could be of Semitic origin (סלעים selaim, ‘cliffs’) or archaic Greek (σολος solos, ‘ferrous rock’).