I am currently in Sicily and, of course, roaming the jetties of every marina I can persuade my fiancé to have a little romantic walk in. So, not having arrived by boat (which I will certainly in the future here!) please don´t expect the full assessment (such as the bathrooms and facilities) as I don´t have complete access. But in any case, this marina was so stunning in so many respects that I though I might as well do an article to maybe help pushing this beautiful place – a true sailor´s hidden gem! Because, Marina Cala di Sole in Licata is special, let´s see if we can motivate a few sailors more to come and visit this location.
You are sailing around the largest Island of the Mediterranean, Sicily? I envy you! Sicily offers not only nice and for most part very stable weather and winds, but also a large variety of destinations to visit and look forward to. Its unique culture has been formed my so many ancient and present influences, that this island really stands out in terms of local foods, dialects spoken and of course the absolutely richness of all sorts of interesting places to see: From the ancient Phoenicians, the Greeks and of course the Romans. If you are traversing the Med, Sicily should definitely be on your list – if you want to spend some time here, this colorful island is worth a few weeks of sailing discovery.
Dolce Vita in Sicily? Come to Licata!
Many sailors I know who indeed have come by chose the popular Northern route around Sicily: Starting in the West, Marsala or Trapani are usually the first spots to see, with famous San Vito lo Capo beach one of the things to see. Traveling further East, the island´s capital city of Palermo is worth a stay for two or three days (with its famous Hinterland, like “Mafia-village” of Corleone, and the stunning coastal town of Cefalú. Nearing the Eastern capes, the volcanic islands of Lipari and Stromboli are worth a dash further out and the famous Messina Strait are a must. Passing the narrow between continental Italy (the “tip of the boot”) and visiting Messina, a trip to wonderful Tormina is definitely on your bucket list, with finally mooring in Catania near the impressive Aetna volcano and a few days in romantic Syracusa harbor usually conclude a Sicily sailing trip. But …
… al the while this route is a classic Sicilian travel itinerary, most sailors just skip the South of this island. Which is a shame, because there is so much to see here, so much you would have left out! While undeniably the above suggested list of destinations are luring and attractive, a sailing trip around the Southern coastline will reveal a much more untouched, unspoiled and “natural” view onto this island, its people and culture. Today Sicily is one of the poorest regions of Italy and the European Union with apparently most of the money being poured into the more “capable” and richer regions of the country (which is the North), it´s especially Sicily´s Southern parts which suffer most. Even more because most tourists just visit the Northern and Eastern parts of the island. So, let´s imagine you choose to skip the North (maybe because you already know it) and decide to lay in a course to starboard arriving at Marsala in the West: What to expect?
Navigating to Marina Cala di Sole in Licata
Licata is a coastal town of some 35.000 inhabitants, located almost in the middle of the long stretching Southern coastline of Sicily. Starting in the West, there are indeed some harbors and marinas you can check out, with Licata being a true hidden gem. I know this, because I have family here and frequently stroll the pontoons of this marina: I am always stunned that so few boats arrive here – facing the fact that the marina is brand new, offering all amenities, a safe berth and a wonderful base camp to explore the surrounding land. If you are looking for a place to stop over, breath, relax or even repair your yacht, Licata´s Marina Cala di Sole is the location you should check out!
Navigating to the harbor is easy: The coast line is flat and you should see Licata beacon from afar. The harbor is huge, hence approach a bit tricky if you are here for the first time. Being protected against the most violent storms (which happen from time to time in winter here), the marina and moreover, its commercial counterpart, the fishing port, are protected by two layers of awe inspiring breakwaters. You pass the first one and keep to your right hand side. Don´t go to portside, which will bring you to the commercial and fishing part. Although, if you need to take your boat out of the water, one of the largest shipyards and technical services (open for big commercial shipping and private yachts as well) will be found here. To enter Marina cala di Sole, you go to starboard.
Breakwater and harbor lights (green and red) appear “switched”, as the second layer of breakwater, the very entrance to the marina, is built overlapped to prevent swell from entering the premises. Don´t get fooled, check an appropriate zoom factor of your chart plotter. Watch out for (unused) underwater fish or oyster basins to your starboard side. There is no marked waterway, but stay on the direct course for the marina, which is still almost half a mile to go. As I said, Licata harbor is very big in its dimensions!
Safe in strong winds & storms: Marina Licata´s size is stunning!
The masts of many yachts will come into sight soon. Marina Cala di Sole (which by the way translates to “Marina of the beautiful dusk”) offers some 500 berths in total. It´s open for ships with a maximum length of up to 70 meters (!) and a max draft of 6 meters, going down to some 4 meters at the berths near the shoreline. This means that private sailboats of all sizes and ordinary drafts can land here safely. The sheer dimensions of this marina are unbelievable. I don´t know if I have visited a marina that offered bigger waterways in between the pontoons – maneuvering is a no-brainer here, even in strong winds.
The basin offers an Eastern and Western part, with two floating jetties and the complete length of several hundreds of meters along its shore side. Berthing is done by utilizing mooring lines. Still, so much space to show off a perfect berthing approach even for untrained or newbie skippers. The marina offers a 24 hours service that might assist in securely landing your yacht, just ask via VHF or cell phone. The nice part: There is always a berth available here! Whilst it is advisable for most marinas of the North to ask and reserve well in advance, Licata marina will always have a place for you to tie up your yacht, even in high season. As I said: It seems that either nobody knows about this place or everyone travels along the Northern coastline of Sicily.
Outfit & amenities of Marina Cala di Sole
The marina is in great shape, having been opened in 2014 after extensive construction works. The bigger picture is that as soon as 2010 works had been started to complete the massive protection barriers around the whole harbor-site, with the marina opened for service some 10 years ago. One can say, the location is relatively new. At the pontoon, shore power electricity is provided for each berth, offering 32 to 250 amps. Electricity, same as fresh water, is provided but not included in the demurrage. Current cost is a relatively moderate 30 Euro-cents per kW-hour for the current and fresh water 4 Euros per cubic meter, which is also reasonable. (Fresh water, or let´s say, the draught, is a huge problem for Sicily. Hence the price.)
Since most modern yachts nowadays are equipped with solar power or other means of secondary current generation, maybe you won´t need much of the shore power anyways. I visit Licata for family purpose frequently and I can confirm that one thing is plenty of here: Sunshine! The pontoons are floating with the (almost barely noticeable) tide. Beware of the long stretched to walk if you choose a calm berth further out – more so if you check the bathroom facilities, which could be a five minute walk from the farthest berths.
The marina has two buildings featuring private bathrooms with showers and WCs. These are secured by a code, hence my inability to deliver some pictures from the inside. I will try to complete this information asap. There is a self-service laundry on the premises of the marina and two bigger laundromat services in the nearby town of Licata. Further sailor´s services offered by the marina are customs – if you enter or leave the European Union here – and a wide range of technical services and personal amenities, which I will show you now. A big plus is the “centro commerciale”, which is a big Conad supermarket literally adjoining the marina where you can easily and very conveniently stock up your boat´s provisions with fresh food and a fine selection of Sicilian wines.
Technical marine services & demurrage in Licata
Although at the time I am writing this article (November 2025) it appears that some 50 per cent of the available commercial space of the marina isn´t even leased out to shop-owners, there indeed are some in operation. One of them is Nautilhouse Coral Marine Services, a small ship chandlery offering a basic assortment of boat equipment and spare parts. These guys will also help you organizing larger repair works or maintenance of your yacht. You can even put your yacht on the dry here over winter and resume sailing the next season.
Pricewise, Marina Cala di Sole features normal Mediterranean pricing, although these appear a bit hefty at first glance, these are well within the normal Mediterranean price range. For a 42-footer like my boat, I´d pay between 90 and (low season) and 140 Euros in high season as a daily fee, 890 to 1.400 Euros monthly demurrage, depending on the season. That said, it´s really a little “shock” to see these prices, facing the quality of the marina, the services and the general price-level this is what you should be facing in any other marina in Sicily as well. So, why come here anyway and skip the famous Northern destinations?
A true sailor´s hidden gem in the South of Sicily
Apart from the absolute tranquility and easygoing of this location, the town of Licata, the surrounding area and the whole Southern coast of Sicily offer beautiful places and must-see destinations for the keen traveler. Having strolled and explored the beautiful marina premises, where some bars and restaurants (at least during high season) offer tasty Spritzes and handmade Pizza or delicious seafood, you might want to see Licata. Like so many towns of specifically Southern Sicily, Licata suffers from the fact that the vast bulk of tourism is absorbed by the North and East of the island. Very few tourists come here, hence the somewhat “morbid” charm. Licata was once a blossoming fisherman´s town with a very nice narrow old town quarter, a rich main piazza with the mayor´s townhouse and nice churches, but everything is crumbling and really suffering. Licatesians are working hard to restore, renew and refurbish, but these are tiny steps.
This means that every single visitor counts manyfold. Every Capuchino you drink, every handmade Arancino you feast on and every wonderfully tasteful Gelato di Pistacchio you lick will help: Dealing with the island-wide waste-problem, renewing footpaths and refurbish these lovely, history breathing houses. And progress is visible indeed! Slowly, but surely: This year a brand new waterfront promenade has been opened, with the prospect of expanding it all the way down to Licata´s prime beach: Marinello. If you seek a few days of relaxing in the sun, whilst enjoying a fine sand beach, that´s the place to visit. You won´t meet many tourists. To be honest, chances are you won´t meet a single one tourist. Most sailors staying longer here I´ve met in the marina are of the type “stranded old salt”, very few crews weave in a stopover in Licata on their transfer trips through the Med.
If you come to Sicily for the first time of your life, it will be a true shock. We all have a certain image in our heads, driven by the travel agencies´ marketing efforts, movies and documentaries, which of course won´t deliver a full picture. Sicily can be the most beautiful place you´ve seen in your life with the true Mediterranean vibe, romantic views, tasty food and great people, but it shows also the cruel reality of a rundown region, suffering hard from an economic crisis. What follows, is a crisis of society, which manifests itself in decayed city centers with crumbling houses and – biggest problem – mountains of waste almost everywhere. I think it should be part of traveling to acknowledge the reality and deliberately not fool yourself by just looking at the dressed up touristic hotspots. I don´t show these things in this article out of respect: The people are trying hard to somehow get along and even make things better. And as I said – progress can indeed be seen. It´s worth to support them!
What to do in and around Licata?
So, if you like to see not just the travel catalogue destinations (which of course are definitely worth a visit!), but also the real life, you will be rewarded. Sicilians first appear a bit grumpy, but once greeted with a smile and a Buon giorno, their hearts usually open up fast. They are willing to help and offer assistance if you ask, give directions and hints. You should definitely check out seafood restaurants here, like the absolutely fantastic “Marina Gio” restaurant located directly at the beach: It´s some 70 kilometers away from Licata, but one of the best (really!) seafood-places I´ve experienced in my life. But also in Licata: Get the biggest and tastiest Aperol Spritz at “Bar La Saletta” or really great handmade Gelato at “Cammilleri”.
The vicinity of Licata offers also many destinations which are a must-see. Get a rental car (there is a company directly in the marina, but also three more in the town) and discover the stunning ancient site of Valle dei Templi in Agrigento, just half an hour drive away. The “Pompeii of Sicily”, rarely known but impressively stunning, is Selinunte, some two hours by cars to the West. More nearby, reachable by bicycle as well, is the famous Scala dei Turchi, or, if you like to indulge yourself more into the wide range of mouthwatering dishes (preferably seafood, but also Olives, meat products and Sicily´s specialties, pistachios and lemons), you can choose from a wide range of really great restaurants, from nonna-run localities to 5-star chefs.
This is a pretty elaborate marina review, unusually long in comparison to the other reviews I´ve made. I surely is due to my family connection to this place, which makes me spend time here frequently, but it´s also my firm belief that places like Licata should get a chance. There is so much potential here, so many sights and places to discover and see. Of course, I am aware that Sicily is a huge island indeed and that travel time is limited, so people tend to bet on the safe stuff and choose to see the most recommended, dressed up destination. But if you have time, or just pass by on your delivery-cruise, make a stopover in Licata, visit Marina Cala di Sole. It´s really worth it!
My assessment of Marina Cala di Sole in Licata in Sicily: 8/10 points
(due to the fact that I haven´t inspected the wet rooms and haven´t sailed here yet by boat)
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Old salt on the dry – visiting a square rigged ship in Licata´s shipyard
Isole dei Ciclopi in Sicily: Where the Odyssey comes alive