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Located in the historic city of Erice, the Centre comprises 136 Schools that cover all branches of science. It is housed in four restored monasteries, one of which was the residence of the Viceroy of Sicily during the 14th and 15th centuries. These ancient buildings provide an inspiring setting for intellectual pursuits. The monasteries have been renamed after prominent scientists and strong supporters of the Ettore Majorana Centre:
San Francesco Monastery (the former Viceroy's residence) is now the Eugene P. Wigner Institute and includes the Enrico Fermi Lecture Hall.
San Domenico Monastery is now the Patrick M.S. Blackett Institute, featuring the Paul A.M. Dirac Lecture Hall and housing the Daniel Chalonge and Paul A.M. Dirac Museums.
San Rocco Monastery is now the Isidor I. Rabi Institute, home to the Richard P. Feynman Lecture Hall, the Directorate, the main Secretariat of the Centre, and the Polo Sismico—the world's first Network of Seismological Detectors, established in 1981.
The Ciclope is now the Victor F. Weisskopf Institute, featuring the Richard H. Dalitz Lecture Hall.
All four institutes offer accommodations for attendees of the Centre's courses.
How to reach Erice
The easiest way to reach Erice from abroad is by plane. Two international airports serve Erice, the airport of Palermo (the most important one) and the airport of Trapani.
The Centre organizes free shuttles to and from both airports.
History and legends
According to legend, Erice, son of Venus and Neptune, founded a small town on top of a mountain (750 meters above sea level) more than three thousand years ago. The founder of modern history – i.e. the recording of events in a methodic and chronological sequence as they really happened without reference to mythical causes – the great Thucydides (500 B.C.), writing about events connected with the conquest of Troy (1183 B.C.) said: “After the fall of Troy some Trojans on their escape from the Achaei on the sea towards the West arrived in Sicily by boat and as they settled near the border with the Sicanians all together they were named Elymi: their towns were Segesta and Erice”. This inspired Virgil to describe the arrival of the Troyan royal family in Erice and the burial of Anchise, by his son Enea, on the coast below Erice. Homer (1000 B.C.), Theocritus (300 B.C.), Polybius (200 B.C.), Virgil (50 B.C.), Horace (20 B.C.), and others have celebrated this magnificent spot in Sicily in their poems. During seven centuries (XIII-XIX) the town of Erice was under the leadership of a local oligarchy, whose wisdom assured a long period of cultural development and economic prosperity which in turn gave rise to the many churches, monasteries and private palaces which you see today. In Erice you can admire the Castle of Venus, the Cyclopean Walls (800 B.C.) and the Gothic Cathedral (1300 A.D.). Erice is at present a mixture of ancient and medieval architecture. Other masterpieces of ancient civilization are to be found in the neighbourhood: at Motya (Phoenician), Segesta (Elymian), and Selinunte (Greek). On the Aegadian Islands theatre of the decisive naval battle of the first Punic War (264- 241 B.C.) – suggestive neo-lithic and paleo-lithic vestiges are still visible: the grottoes of Favignana, the carvings and murals of Levanzo.
Splendid beaches are to be found at San Vito Lo Capo, Scopello, and Comino, and a wild and rocky coast around Monte Cofano: all at less than one hour’s drive from Erice.
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