SICILY

The history of Sicily is a series of peoples and foreign rule that influenced the landscape, the cuisine, the traditions and the language. The regional identity is the outcome of the meeting and integration of different cultures. From a natural point of view, Sicily offers visitors its singular coasts, its islands, its volcanoes and its citrus groves.

With regard to the tourist itinerary, in Sicily the choice is endless: the Arabic charm of Monreale and Palermo, Baroque Catania, the Greek ruins in Agrigento and Siracusa, the wild and unspoiled nature of the island.

Those who want to discover the traditions in Sicily while respecting the environment, can try one of the many farms that have been converted to host rural tourism. They offer hospitality in large masserie farmsteads and ancient manor houses, set in the Bourbon estates. The tourist will be delighted by the beauty of the landscapes and the art as well as the abundance of culinary specialties on the island.

DON’T MISS THE FESTIVAL

The festival of St. Agatha in Catania

Worship of St. Agatha in Catania is one of the most ritualistic fascinating stories that has arrived complete to modern times. St. Agatha, who lived in the third century is the patron of the city and the story goes that she was persecuted and tortured, undergoing - among other things – the amputation of a breast. After being taken to the jail, she was visited by St. Peter accompanied by an angel carrying a lantern that healed her breast. From there she became the patron saint of puerperal suffering.

ANCIENT ROOTS.  Here we can make a connection with the cult of Isis: Apuleius told the story that in the procession on March 5 in honour of the goddess, the priest would use a golden phial in the form of a breast to pour milk in symbol of the Mother Goddess.

Another classic characteristic of Isis is the miraculous veil which returns in the hagiography of St. Agatha. In fact, a year after her death, the city was threatened by the eruption of Mt. Etna and it was saved by the martyr’s veil, which the faithful used to dam the flow.

The festival dates back to 1519 when the relic was taken in a procession to the vara, which was a sort of wooden temple covered in gold and silver.

THE FESTIVAL TODAY.  The festival opens with a parade by eleven Candelore, symbols of the guilds: the torrette istoriate march together to St, Agatha, the Vetere offers traditional candles, followed by the carriage of the Senate from the seventeen hundreds which once belonged to the governors of the city. The morning after, the silver statue of the Saint is carried and placed in the vara and dragged along by long ropes pulled by hundreds of young people in a white prayer costumes. On the night of February 5, the Saint slowly moves around the streets of the city sparkling with lights until dawn. The lighted candelore parade and the devotees carry lit candles. Many torches and candles also adorn the machine that carries the Saint in procession to Via Etnea: in nights with a moon Etna can be seen smoking, the sacred mountain in Eastern Sicily.

THE WINES IN SICILY

Sicily has has a warm and windy climate that offers an ideal habitat for wine production. So much so that the Romans and Arabs produced great quantities of the inebriating beverage. This land may be divided by vineyards into three large areas: the area surrounding Trapani with its Marsala wines, the area surrounding Etna and the province of Ragusa.

Travelling about in the Trapani area will allow you to see the characteristic tree vines that produce strong wines and qualities in this arid climate mitigated by the sea breeze. It is a must to try the super famous Marsala of this area. This superior dessert wine should be served at room temperature. Alcamo is a brilliant white, well suited to seafood dishes, with a light hint of almond aroma.

The Etna area and especially the fertile tops of the volcano are another great area for wine production. Between the province of Catania and Messina, the view is highlighted by the bright colours and large lengths of citrus groves, however at the foot of the large volcano, it is the grapes that reign. Among the production the Capo Bianco and Capo Rosso, the Ciclopi white, red or rosé, is a quite highly alcoholic wine. Etna bianco is a robust wine for fish, one that is pleasant for its light fruity aroma is Val di Lupo white, rosé or red. Another site to be seen is the splendid city of Taormina with the spectacular volcano nearby. Many facilities offer hospitality and picturesque landscapes with great local products and lots of citrus groves. The third and final vineyard area can almost define the outlines of the provinces of Syracuse and Etna. Here you can taste the Albanello, a white wine with a high alcohol content, Eloro Rosso, known as the black wine of Noto, and Pollio, which has the typical characteristics of Sicilian reds.

THE FLAVOURS IN SICILY

The succession of civilizations in Sicily is quite evident and it reflects many Italian regions. Especially regarding the cuisine: the different traditions have left traces that are perceptible though perfectly blended in a new “Sicilianness” that is easy to identify. It is easy to imagine that seafood is more prevalent than meat, not just in second course dishes, but also in the pasta sauces beginning with the one considered symbolic of Sicilian cuisine, pasta with sardines.

THE FIRST COURSES.  We begin our review with the glorious pasta con le sarde, which foresees the use of long or short pasta but some kind of pasta with a hole (bucatini, perciatelli, cannolicchi), topped with a sauce made from oil, anchovies, onion, wild fennel, raisins, pine nuts, toasted chopped almonds, saffron, grated parmesan and sardines, some of which are left whole. The variations are many: with grated parmesan or without, with the whole sardines fried or simply added at the end and either baking it or not: they are all definitely worth trying. The rich timballi di pasta (pasta casseroles made from maccheroni, anolini, or rice with pasta), topped in various ways with meat sauce, eggplant, peas, caciocavallo cheese, meatballs, egg, covered with grated breadcrumbs and butter and baked. There is an unforgettable description by Giuseppe Tomasi, in Lampedusa known as “Il Gattopardo,” of maccheroni casserole, which is an especially sumptuous dish covered in puff pasty and adorned with fresh flowers. Talking about less opulent dishes that are equally appetizing, pasta alla Norma (made with spaghetti or cavatelli pasta) was named for Bellini’s heroine. The great musician from Catania, topped it with tomato sauce, basil, fried eggplant, and baked grated ricotta. Another simple dish is macco di fave siciliano which, with respect to the Calabrian version, adds wild fennel, or tomato and squash cut into chunks: this can also be used as a topping for small rigatoni.

THE SECOND COURSES.   We have reached seafood which is a decidedly “Sicilian” a specialty such as ‘mpanada di pesce spada. These sword fish filets are cooked with tomato, olives and capers and then they are placed in layers together with fried zucchini or eggplant all in a pan lined with a crust and enclosed with a top crust and baked in the oven. A more rustic dish is the zuppa di sarde e lattuga, a sardine and lettuce soup layered in a dish and covered in oil, salt and pepper and cooked for a long time at a low temperature, as is the tuna with cipuddata, which is breaded, pan fried and covered with a mixture made from boiling onions finely chopped and cooked in oil together with mint, vinegar and pepper. Moving on to meat dishes we return to more complex dishes like the sfinciuni di Mussomeli, a sort of pie made from a pastry crust filled with a mixture of ground pork or beef, mixed with pieces of salami and pecorino cheese. The sciusceddu is a delicate soufflé of meatballs, sheep milk ricotta, grated cheese, egg with egg whites beaten until stiff; it is a refined dish.  We don’t want to overlook a more rustic contrast, the hearty and flavourful capretto delle Madonie, kid goat cooked in lard with dried mushrooms, onions, pepper and parsley.

THE DESSERTS.  The fireworks start here. How can we forget the cassata siciliana, famous the world over, with origins that date back to shortly before the year one thousand, a time when the island was under Arab domination. The primary ingredients today vary somewhat from the original recipe which includes sponge cake, ricotta, sugar, cinnamon, candied fruits, pistachio and pine nuts, maraschino and apricot gelatine. Another ambassador of the island’s pastries is marzipan from Martorana, which also has Arab origins even if it has remained famous with the name of the convent in Palermo that inherited the secret to preparing it with a great deal of orange flower aroma, which is also made thanks to the Arab alembic. This orange flower aroma was combined together with sugar and vanilla, for the preparation of almond paste, which was then made into small animal or fruit shapes that are very realistic with natural vegetable colours and then polished with gum Arabic. These realistic figures  can still be seen today, displayed in the "still lifes" in Sicilian pastry shop windows.