Solunto is the shell of one of only three Punic, or Carthaginian, colonies on Sicily, the other two being Motya and Palermo. Founded in the eighth century BC by the Phoenicians, North African forerunners of the Carthaginians, it eventually fell to the Romans in 254 BC and was abandoned in the third century. The site was rediscovered in 1825, though much still remains to be excavated.

The extensive headland site is one of the island’s more beautiful, scattered with mostly Roman ruins and offering lovely views of the Golfo di Patti and the sweep of sea, beaches, and small resorts to Capo di Milazzo.

There is also a superb panorama from the adjacent Santuario della Madonna Nera, a blunt 1960s sanctuary built to house a Byzantine icon of the Madonna attributed with miraculous powers. Many thousands of pilgrims visit the sanctuary.