Sicily, the whole world in one bite
20 February 2023
3 minutes
Come to the multi-ethnic cradle of the Mediterranean diet, an intangible human heritage, to uncover an encyclopaedia of flavours, an enchanting interweaving of civilisations and peoples, including the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans and Spaniards.
You will immediately be overwhelmed by countless typicalities, such as blood oranges, Pachino tomatoes, Bronte pistachios (or Bronte's green gold), Avola almonds, saffron, mushrooms, truffles, honey.
Dine on pasta with sardines, with its sweet and sour flavour balanced between sultanas, saffron, pine nuts and wild fennel; on pasta alla Norma with tomato sauce and fried aubergines; on caponata and aubergine parmigiana.
Cherish the mix of cultures with couscous, the well-known coarse wheat semolina that from North Africa has disembarked in Sicilian dishes, teaming up with tasty fish soups, legumes and various meats.
Try meats from historic farms, such as the Nebrodi black pig, or a seafood dish, such as stockfish "a ghiotta" or sardines "a beccafico"; move on to arancini (rice balls) and then jump into fried food: typical are panelle, chickpea flour fritters used to stuff sandwiches sprinkled with sesame seeds. And if you want to feel like a Palermitan, try the bread "cca meusa", that is, with boiled spleen.
Write down the desserts: the cannolo and cassata, enhancing the local ricotta; the granita, to be accompanied by a hot brioche with “tuppo” ("brioscia cu’ tuppu") - reminiscent of the Sicilian women's chignon; the frutta martorata, made of marzipan (of Arab tradition) modelled in imitation of fruit and vegetables; the ice cream, of very ancient traditions, offering an indefinite number of flavours; the chocolate of Modica.
To experience this boundless horizon even more, choose a glass of Marsala, Malvasia di Lipari, Moscato di Pantelleria or Zibibbo, as well as the island's other marvellous wines, such as Bianco d'Alcamo, Rapitalà, Corvo di Salaparuta, Regareali, Capo Bianco, for fish dishes; Nero d'Avola, Donna Fugata, Nerello Mascalese, and many others, for meat dishes.
On the Etna wine road
Do you love good wine? Discover the Etna Wine Road, where Etna doc is born: a three-quality wine, white, red and rosé, made from the grapes of Carricante, Catarratto, Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Mantellato.
On the way, you pass through villages of great charm, each one with many specialities to tell.
In Castiglione di Sicilia, for example, you will find nettle-filled tagghiani, wild rabbit, “sciauni" (fresh ricotta fritters) and “cuccureddi” (rice zeppole).
In Piedimonte Etneo, discover the "pera coscia dell’Etna" (Etna thigh pear) and biscuits filled with pistachio, apricot and orange preserves.
In Zafferana Etnea, in addition to the "Sicilian pizza" - fried calzone stuffed with "tuma" (soft cheese), anchovies, and pepper - savour numerous varieties of honey, such as zagara, orange, eucalyptus and prickly pear honey. And don't forget to bite into the “Sciatore", a milk biscuit covered in dark chocolate, invented in the village in the 1940s for the energy needs of skiers on the slopes of Etna.
In Randazzo, you should taste macaroni with Nebrodi black pork sauce, mushrooms, wild asparagus, pecorino cheese, nougats with almonds or pistachios; “nuvolette" and “tirrimulliri" whose main ingredient is wine cooked with walnuts, hazelnuts and a pinch of cinnamon.
Typical dishes
Pasta with sardines
You simply can't leave the island without having tasted this dish, a mixture of flavours, from the saltiness of the sardines to the sweetness of the sultanas, that will leave you open-mouthed, in the truest sense of the word.
Caponata
This bittersweet, rich and flavoursome side dish made with fried aubergines will have you in love from the first bite. An ever-present on Sicilian tables, especially in summer, its name derives from "capone", the word used in some parts of Sicily to refer to the lampuga, a prized white fish that would be dressed in a sweet-and-sour sauce. The people, unable to afford the expensive fish, switched to the cheaper aubergine and over time the use of fish disappeared, giving way to the vegetable version.
