The ancient walls that protect Erice's western and northern flanks are among the oldest surviving fortifications in Sicily. Originally built by the Elymians — the indigenous pre-Greek people of western Sicily — they were reinforced by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians who held the city for centuries, and then rebuilt again by the Normans. Sections of all three phases survive.
The walls are best appreciated on the walk along the western perimeter from the main gate toward the Castello di Venere. Most tourists walk past them without looking closely — they blend into the natural rock at points — but the scale of the Elymian stone blocks is extraordinary, and the Punic sections show a completely different, more refined approach to masonry.