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The port at Maréttimo island, a paradise for divers.

Neil Buchan-Grant/APA

As a short ferry ride from Tràpani, the archipelago of the Egadi Islands (Ísole Égadi) are deservedly popular. Set in a marine reserve, Favignana, Lévanzo, and Maréttimo are a paradise for sailors, scuba-divers and fans of tuna fish. Today, fishing and tourism keep the economy alive, and the recent restoration of the tuna fishery has given the island of Favignana a new focus.

Cave drawings

The Egadi have 15,000 years of history, and the caves of Favignana and Lévanzo contain traces of the islands’ prehistoric settlers. In Lévanzo, cave drawings in the Grotta del Genovese etched 12,000 years ago show bulls and deer as well as hunting men. It is thought the archipelago was once part of a land bridge linking Africa to Italy.

The islands were the springboard for the Arab conquest of Sicily and the great traders, the Phoenicians, then settled here and remained until despatched by the Romans. Over the centuries the Saracens and the Normans followed, then the Aragonese and, finally, the Genoese. The Normans and Aragonese fortified the Egadi, while the Spaniards encouraged the growth of a coral industry.

After Spain sold the islands to Genoese bankers in 1637, the economy took off and reached its peak under the entrepreneurial Florio family in the early 19th century, when both tuna and tufa (volcanic rock) were exported.

Favignana, the largest of the Egadi Islands.

Neil Buchan-Grant/APA

Favignana

At 20 sq km (8 sq miles), Favignana, home to around 4,400 people, is the largest and most populous island. Ancient tufa-quarrying remodelled the landscape until it was brought to a standstill in the 1950s by the high cost of extracting and transporting the rock.

Tip

Book an archaeology-themed walking or cycling tour of Favignana with Ancilla Finazzi (tel: 3898 048 028) or check other walks with the tourist office (Largo Marina 14, tel: 0923 545 511).

The island is a homage to stone, its slopes dotted with tufa houses. Even cliffs and caves represent a pleasing spectrum of ochre, russet and cream-coloured rocks. However, if cyclists heading for one of the coves stop to peer over the roadside stone walls, they will discover an abundance of sunken gardens. These sheer stone walls, overgrown with wild fennel and capers, give shelter from the sweeping sea winds to the orange and lemon trees, as well as the figs and tomatoes planted below on the floor of the abandoned quarries. Other quarries were carved at the very edge of the sea too, so that the tufa could be loaded directly onto the boats transporting it to the mainland. Stone from the maze-like Cala Rossa * [map] helped build many cities in Sicily and North Africa. The chiselled walls and eroded geometry of the seaside quarries make Cala Rossa a popular spot for picnics and swimming.

The smallest island, and the one closest to the mainland, bears witness to the islanders’ bond with the sea. Much of the coast is still inaccessible, except by boat. The port of Lévanzo ⁄ [map] (or Cala Dogana, because the Customs offices are here) consists of a handful of houses with rooms to let, a couple of small hotels, several cafés and trattorie.

Its one tarred road turns into a dirt track as it leaves town and winds along a gentle valley between the peaks of the Pizzo del Mónaco and the Pizzo del Corvo. The stony slopes are covered with macchia mediterranea, arid-looking grey-green scrub that turns lush with the winter rains and blooms in spring.

The Great Tuna Massacre

The cruel ritual is both a gory tradition and a gruesome spectacle that survives despite conservationists’ concerns and the contravention of rules on driftnet fishing

Tuna fishing is rooted in the Sicilian psyche. Nowhere is this more so than in Favignana, where it is considered the sea's ultimate challenge to man, as well as the island's traditional livelihood. The tuna's only predators are the killer whale, the Mako shark and man, and their ritual death here at the hands of fishermen is both gruelling work and a disturbing spectacle.

The season lasts from May to mid-June, with the ritual mattanza, the traditional method of tuna slaughter, as the inexorable fate of the passing shoals. The fast-swimming tuna hunt off the coast of Norway but spawn in the Mediterranean's warm waters. Shoals circle Favignana where they are captured in a system of huge chambered nets (tonnare) introduced by the Arabs in the 9th century. Buoys mark out a 100-metre (330ft) rectangle; up to 10km (6 miles) of nets are suspended between the floats. Halfway along lie five antechambers. The innermost section is the camera della morte, the death chamber 30 metres (100ft) deep. At dawn, or when the winds are right, the helmsman leads the fleet in prayers, aided by an image of the Madonna. The 60-strong crew sings and chants the cialoma in guttural tones. Entreaties are uttered by the rais, a Moorish title given to the chief fisherman, who travels in a separate boat and constantly checks the entrance to the camera della morte.

The black boats encircle the nets. When the rais decides that the currents are right, the shoal is steered into the death chamber and the gate closed. As it fills with fish, the floating death trap sags, like a heavy sack. To the command of “Tira, tira!” (pull, pull!) the net is pulled tight. The rais chants the fateful battle cry. Each verse of this bloodthirsty sea shanty has a chorus of “Aiamola, aiamola”, perhaps derived from Allah! Che muoia! (Allah, may it die!).

As the net is drawn in to the length of a football pitch, the fish circle frantically in the sarabanda della morte, the dance of death. The chanting stops and the slaughter begins. The frantic fish are harpooned and caught behind the gills with long pole-gaff hooks to be dragged onto the boats. Some of the tuna are man-sized.

As the silvery fish are pierced, the frothing water is stained red. It takes a frenzied 15 minutes and a sea of vivid red to slaughter about 200 tuna, although some die of heart attacks or over-oxygenation. With true Sicilian logic, the tuna's breeding grounds also become their tragic end.

The rock carvings are prehistoric and were not found until 1949. Etched into the soft stone about 10,000 years ago, they include impressions of human dancers and wild animals in naturalistic poses. More recent ones of men, women and fish were created about 5,000 years ago.

Most of the rest of the island is inaccessible, and there are only a few inlets for swimming.

The most mysterious, mountainous and greenest of the Egadi Islands, Maréttimo lies to the west, separated from its sister islands by a stretch of sea rich in sunken treasure. Here lie the remains of the Carthaginian fleet destroyed by the Romans in 241 BC.

The little port of Maréttimo ‹ [map] has no hotel, but manages with a few serviced apartments and enthusiastic B&B arrangements. Peace and natural beauty are what draw visitors here. Scuba-divers come to explore the 400 caves and grottoes scattered along the coast; plant-lovers study the Mediterranean vegetation at its purest. The rest simply want to relax, swim in the aquamarine waters, or take three-hour trips in the brightly coloured traditional boats around the coast.

Ambitious visitors will climb up to survey the island from Monte Falcone (686 metres/2,250ft). An easier walk is an excursion to Case Romane, not houses but ruined Roman fortifications not far from the village. (From the port follow directions to Pizzeria Filli Pipitone.) Beside the ruins is a crumbling Arab-Norman chapel.

An alternative hike leads north along the cliffs and cuts across an isthmus to Punta Tróia › [map], a rocky promontory dominated by a Saracen castle. Originally a watchtower, the castle was enlarged by Roger II and converted by the Spanish into its present form, with an underground cistern that later did service as a dreaded prison. But such sombre thoughts quickly float away on this restful, thyme-scented island.

In summer, hikers should always carry bottled water with them. On these parched islands, water is more precious than wine.

Pantelleria is closer to Tunisia's Cap Bon, 70km (44 miles) away, than to Sicily, which is 110km (68 miles) distant, and is reached on a six-hour ferry crossing from Trápani, or by air. At 83 sq km (247 acres), it is the largest island off Sicily, with a population estimated at 7,600. The island's evocative name probably derives from the Arabic “daughter of the winds”, after the winds that can buffet this rocky outpost, even in August. The island is dotted with dammusi – cube-like, low-domed houses – and surrounded by terraces used for growing capers or grapes; even the vines are trained low to protect them from the winds. The landscape is dramatic and relatively bleak but enlivened with hot springs, jagged rocks and coves instead of beaches. Many mainland Italians, especially from Milan (like fashion designer Giorgio Armani) have summer retreats here.

Pantelleria town ﬁ [map] was bombed heavily during the Allied forces invasion of Sicily in World War II, so charm is in short supply. But the island itself has a lively air as well as an exoticism encapsulated by the white-cubed houses and restaurants that serve fish couscous.

Pantelleria was originally founded as a trading post by the Phoenicians. Its small harbours provided excellent protection for the small ships of the day. The island was captured by Rome but eventually – after the Vandals and Byzantines – it was the Arabs who claimed it and introduced farming.

A rewarding hike or a bus ride from Pantelleria town to the port of Scáuri ﬂ [map] on the southern coast passes the traditional domed, white-washed dammusi houses, framed by terraced vineyards, small settlements and expanses of blackened, lava-stone landscape. The dry-stone walls enclose citrus groves and often appear to have hardy, locally bred donkeys peering over them.

The route also passes strange Neolithic dome-shaped funerary monuments, known as Sesi, conceivably built by early settlers who arrived here around the 18th century BC. Little is known of the Sesi people; it is assumed they came from Tunisia on foot before the Mediterranean Sea developed. They built circular domed structures using the island's volcanic rock, similar in shape to the dammusi. At Mursia their village with Sesi structures was protected by walls. Its name, Alta Mura, means High Wall.

Popular hotel restaurant renowned for its fish, especially tuna. Closed Oct–Mar.

Excellent tuna carpaccio and spaghetti con tonno e gamberi (with tuna and prawns). The inexpensive set menu includes spaghetti with shrimps and capers and tomatoes.

Run by a fishing family who take the pick of the fresh catch. Simple cooking, the speciality is spaghetti with fresh tuna and capers. Closed Wed (except summer) and Feb.

Pasta with wonderful sauces, grilled vegetables, fish, all served at tables on the square. Open summer only.

Family hotel with a modest restaurant serving excellent fresh fish as well as lobster. Closed Nov–Mar.

By the port, and a popular place for simple dishes; fish too, of course. And pizza. Closed Mon.

A charming old windmill typical of the countryside, adapted with enthusiasm. Good local cooking; garden tables in summer months. Very popular, so booking essential. Dinner only. Closed Tue. Open Easter–end Oct.

Pizzeria and ristorante where specialities are fish and couscous. Some tables outside. Dinner only. Closed Wed. Open Easter–end Oct.