37.103° N, 13.880° E
Complete guide
Mollarella beach: beach guide
What the beach is like
Mollarella beach lies in the municipality of Licata, in the province of Agrigento, Sicily. According to Wikipedia, the bay of Mollarella is the best-known beach in Licata. This stretch of the Licata coast faces the Strait of Sicily (Canale di Sicilia).
The bay of Mollarella is a wide, semicircular inlet that ends in a rocky outcrop. In Sicilian the rock is called A' Rocca di Muddrareddra, and a sandy isthmus links it to the rest of the beach. Mollarella beach is enclosed in a bay between two rocky headlands. After pointing to Playa Marianello in the port area, the Italia.it portal calls Mollarella busier and better known. Mollarella is one of the sandy beaches of Licata and also one of the hamlets (frazioni) of the municipality.
Adjoining the bay is the beach called Poliscia, which takes its name from the hill of the same name behind it. Spiaggia Poliscia lies 0.4 km as the crow flies to the north-west. The two adjoining beaches meet at the rocky ridge called Serra Mollarella or Mollachella.
There are many archaeological remains in the area of the bay, dating back centuries before the founding of Licata.
The bay of Mollarella is also linked to the history of the Second World War. On 10 July 1943 the bays of Mollarella and Poliscia, code-named green beaches sector 71 and 72, were one of the four beaches in the Licata area (Joss sector) where the Allied American troops landed in Sicily. The first to set foot on these beaches were the III Ranger Battalion and the II Battalion of the 15th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division. On 10 July 2011 a marble memorial stele was placed in Piazza Venere, facing the beach.
Getting there
The centre of Licata is 5.1 km as the crow flies east of the beach. Palma di Montechiaro is 14.3 km as the crow flies north-west of the beach. Agrigento is 35.7 km as the crow flies, also to the north-west, while Gela is 33.1 km as the crow flies to the east.
To reach Licata by car, those coming from Palermo and Catania take the A19 via Caltanissetta. From Agrigento and Siracusa the route is the SS 115 Sicula Occidentale, while from Canicattì you arrive on the SS 123. No motorway crosses the province.
According to Wikivoyage, Licata's bus station is in Piazzale Martiri delle Foibe, in the town centre, in the former FFSS railway building. Regional and interregional services leave from there, including to Palermo, Catania, Agrigento and Gela. For trains, the same guide mentions the Caltanissetta, Canicattì, Licata, Gela, Siracusa line, referring to the RFI timetable valid until June 2025. Among useful airports it lists Catania-Fontanarossa, Comiso, Palermo and Trapani-Birgi.
The sources consulted do not describe car parks or access paths to the sand: it is worth asking locally.
When to go
Mollarella beach faces south-west. With the ostro, libeccio and ponente winds, the wind comes from the sea and the beach is exposed to waves and rough water. With the tramontana, grecale and levante, the wind blows from land and the beach is sheltered, with calmer water close to shore. The scirocco and maestrale blow across the shoreline instead. These indications are derived from the orientation of the coast, not weather forecasts.
Seabed and sea
The beach surface at Mollarella is sandy. For the 2025 season the European Environment Agency (EEA) rates the bathing water quality of this stretch as excellent.
The Serra Mollarella ridge is made of Calcare di Base limestone, part of the Serie Gessoso Solfifera (gypsum-sulphur series). This lithostratigraphic unit is widespread in central-southern Sicily. The sources consulted do not give the water depth: it is worth checking it as you enter the sea.
Nearby
Spiaggia di Cala Paradiso is 1.6 km as the crow flies to the north-west. To the east lie Spiaggia di Nicolizia and, 3.9 km as the crow flies, Spiaggia di Marianello. Spiaggia di Fontanazze is 4.4 km as the crow flies north-west of Mollarella beach.
Behind Playa Marianello rise the timpe, a wall of white badlands (calanchi) that extends behind the beach. Then there is the beach of San Nicola, wild-looking and surrounded by rocks. There is also Torre di Gaffe, framed by a rock wall covered in Mediterranean scrub and watched over for centuries by a lookout tower.
In the town of Licata stands Castel Sant'Angelo, now home to the Ethnographic Museum. The Faro San Giacomo lighthouse, 40 metres tall, is described by the Italia.it portal as among the tallest in Europe. Licata also has the Liberty-style Palazzo di Città, the work of Ernesto Basile.
The Archaeological Museum is housed in the sixteenth-century monastery of Santa Maria del Soccorso. The museum tells the history of settlement in the Licata area and the Imera valley. Among the destinations around Licata is Agrigento, with the Valley of the Temples.