Culinary wonders in Sicily

The Sicilian distinctiveness can be perceived from many different aspects. Land of sun, history and art, Sicily will catch your attention also for its extraordinary, colorful, and heady-scented food.
These are places where the fertile land has been inhabited by multiple populations, that found the right conditions to cultivate healthy and rich-in-taste products.
From the Romans to the Greeks, Arabs to Normans, each and every one of these populations left the trademark of their culture through the culinary tradition.
The food tradition in this magnificent land is also not new overseas, having been recognized as excellence by the most important international newspapers.

Let’s have a hint of what you cannot avoid tasting during your Sicilian stay.
On the top list of the tastiest foods, pastries hold a place of honor.

Etna area

Sicilian Cannoli, made of Italian cottage cheese ricotta, are the proof of divine existence! Source of pride for the Island, the Sicilian Cannoli are made with high-quality products to create a rich and tasty pastry that requires a rather complicated production process. Served in restaurants as a dessert to be tasted in their original or bite-size version, the Sicilian Cannoli bewitch with their typical dough-bubbles and shiny ricotta cream. You will find many specialized cannoli shops in every Sicilian airport, where only a few people resist to shop-in a few.

Cannoli

Not to mention the Sicilian Cassata, another famous sweet of the Sicilian pastry tradition originated in Palermo. Such sweet was invented to celebrate Easter, it became of common use during the whole year. The decorations of the Cassata, which we may not define as low-calorie, have baroque origins and sumptuous drawings. It is composed of a sponge-cake base, ricotta cream and chocolate drops, almond paste, and candied fruits. It is a real mix of flavors and fragrances dating back to the city of Palermo of the times between the IX and the XI centuries, during the Arab dominations.

Cassata

In Sicily, it is easy to find and savor a plate of pasta dressed with Pesto alla Trapanese, even though it is a typical recipe of Trapani, which dates back to when the Genoese ships coming from the East used to dock in Trapani’s harbors. That is how the Sicilians got acquainted with the Genoese pesto and then modified the recipe by adding typical ingredients of their territory.

Arancini

The Arancini di riso represent another pride of Sicilian cuisine. They are small timbales that can be consumed both as a snack and as an appetizer, first course, or even as a single dish. You can find them anywhere and at any time, always hot and fragrant, in the many fry shops in Sicily. They are prepared in various ways: from the classic recipe with meat sauce and ham to the more original ones such as pistachio and spinach.

Caponata

Speaking of side dishes, the best known is the Caponata, made of fried vegetables seasoned with an irresistible and fragrant sweet and sour sauce. It is made with ingredients that are part of the poor tradition, based above all on easy-to-grow ingredients, such as tomatoes, basil, and aubergines.

Sicily is also one of the best-known and most celebrated Italian wine regions. It has an almost double extension of vines than Tuscany and a thousand-year wine history that starts even before the presence of the Greeks on the island.

Sicilian wines 

Sicilian cuisine represents a food and wine journey that has no equal and will make you want to stay as long as possible in this magical land.