Marettimo bis the most mountainous and the most distant of the Egadi; its inhabitants that can be considered a small ethnic autonomous minority.

The history of the island is made, like that of the whole area, of dominations of different peoples who alternate with one another.

It takes its name from the two elements that make it up: the sea and the thymus.

The ancient Greek toponym of the island was Hierà Nèsos which means "Holy Island": evidently the ancient populations gave it a character of sacredness.

According to the trapani theory of the odyssey, Marettimo would coincide with Ithaca, the homeland of Ulysses: it would be the same hero to indicate its position.

Several authors quote the ancient Hierà as the place where the treaty of peace was signed between the Romans and the Punic-Carthaginians after the dramatic battle of the Egadi Islands on 10 March 241 BC.

Worth visiting are the different caves, accessible only from the sea.

Some of the beautiful seabeds of Marettimo are part of the Egadi nature reserve.

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