MARSALA, a seaport on the west coast of Sicily, in the province of Trapani, 20 miles south of Trapani, to the north of the river Marsala, with a station on the railway between Trapani and Palermo. A flourishing and well-built town, with wide paved streets, it possesses a castle, a cathedral, a theatre, cavalry barracks (now occupied by Government offices), an academy of science and literature, and a public library. The Corinthian columns of the cathedral were originally intended for the cathedral at Canterbury, and owe their present destination to the wreck of the vessel which was conveying them to England. After the destruction of its harbour in the latter part of the 16th century as a precaution against its occupation by the Turkish pirates, the commercial importance of Marsala remained in abeyance till the construction of the new port to the south of the town. The sea-wall for this was begun in 1818; but it was not till 1835-36 that the pier was constructed. A great part of the surface of 44 acres constituting the port is now silted up; new works, however, on an extensive scale, are being undertaken. The wine trade, which forms the staple, was commenced in the end of the last century by Woodhouse & Co.; and the wines first got into favour by being supplied to the English fleet in 1802. They are for the most part white, and are usually “fortified.” The number of seagoing vessels that entered at Marsala in 1863 was 149, with a burden of 9791 tons; in 1880 there were 249 vessels of 16,645 tons. From 31,350 in 1861 the population of the commune had increased by 1881 to 40,251; that of the town was 14,105 in 1871, or, with the suburbs of Porta Garibaldi, Porta Mazzara, and Porta Trapani, 17,666....