All Things Siclian

A few odds and ends, misc things, which we came across in Sicily. 

These goats with crazy horns

Symbol of Sicily, called trinacria, three legged Greek mythology 

Ceramic heads

Love of cats

Catholic statues even at gas stations 

Taormina - Our Final Home Base

Our last three nights in Sicily we spent in this lovely seaside town. Although very touristy, with the big ships making a stop in a nearby port, it is a beautiful setting.  They have the second largest Greek theater, next to Syrucuse, but the views from here are stunning. It would be a wonderful venue to see a concert which we were told they host many of the big names.  

There is a maze of stairways taking you through the city.  It reminded me of Positano, but on the hillside, with their exception of having a lovely pedestrian only shopping street.  The Godfather was filmed near here and there are many shops capatilizing on the films notoriety.  

A view of the castle 

View from our room.  The theater off in the distance on the hill.

The Horn is your Friend

This became our new catch phrase for driving in Sicily. True to Italian form, there is always some adventures in driving, and Sicily was no exception.  The Sicilians believe in a rolling stop, to see how far out into traffic they can venture, and see if anyone will be stupid enough (I guess) to let them in.  It didn't seem to matter if this was in the center of a crowded city, or out on a highway, you never knew if they would stop - without the horn!  

Our Special Dinner - Restaurant Duomo

The first restaurant in Sicily to be awarded a two star Michlin rating.  Located on an ancient narrow street in Ibla (old town), just behind the cathedral (Duomo) in which it takes its name. The chef Ciccio Sultano puts a modern twist on regional dishes. The locals call him the crazy one, not sure how to interpret their meaning, his nature or his dishes?

We tried the Movimento Kaleidoscopic Menu, which consisted of about twelve dishes combined with a wine pairing. We covered so many things from the sea, a taste of local small black pig, and by the time we hit the end it was hard to enjoy the deserts (but we tried anyway). 

We started with a glass of bubbly 

Swordfish smoked with melon inside 

Olive with bean inside 

Cannoli, some caviar and a prawn

Smoked mackerel with its eggs 

Nice white wine from Northern Italy 

Prawn on an egg, flanked by artichokes & prawns

Pasta with sea bass in a basil & carrot sauce

Octopus, cuttlefish and squid in wild mustard green sauce with ricotta cheese and orange squares 

Pasta with cheese inside, topped with mussels & cuttlefish 

Cabernet from Palermo  2003

Black pork, stuffed with ground pork and potatoes  

Prickly pear and orange (prep for dessert)

 

Desert wine, Passito, very nice

Desert!

AND more desert

Finito 

Olive Oil - Frantoi Cutrera

Although we've travelled all around Italy and Spain on previous trips, this was the first time we have been to an olive oil producer.  Similar to wine, there are various olives which produce very different types of oil.  Similar to wine, it seems everyone has their favorite type of olive and producer.  Or more often than not, we learned they can buy from one of their neighbors, who can use part of this facility to make their own.  This producer was highly recommended to us and as it turns out they import a great deal to the states.  They've been producing olive oil since 1906 through four generations.  Our host, who spoke 5 languages because she enjoyed learning them (including Chinese), was married to the son of the 4th generation.  

She explained that the green grapes produce less juice but make for a much better olive oil, versus the red, which are also often used because the yield is higher, but not of the finest quality.  The harvest is typically later than wine and we hit the middle of harvest time in mid-October.  Similar to grapes, the first step of the process is to go through a de-stemmer.  They then press the olive to make a paste, followed by a machine which pulverizes the olive to produce the oil.  The oil then goes into steel vats, where it needs low light, 18 degree temperatures and no oxygen.  It can be in the tanks for up to a year before it goes straight into a bottle and packaged to be sold.  

They produce several different varieties from strong to light, which we tried and liked the medium flavor, which happened to be the"primo" variety. They also just started a line of preservatives which we bought a jar to try at home on bruschetta.  

Ragusa

Our home for three lovely nights.  The town is divided into two, the Superior upper (newer), and Ibla lower (old).  Built on hilltops, and surrounded by deep ravines, it makes for a wonderful setting. It's history traces back to BC, and later became part of a fiefdom separate from the Greek villages of Syrucuse and Noto.

The town, and 5000 of its inhabitants, were devasted by the 1695 earthquake which destroyed this entire southeastern part of Sicily.  All of the towns were rebuilt with the architecture of the time, Baroque, and became known for this style.  It is now a UNESCO world heritage site. 

The two towns have their own cathedrals and didn't actually come together into a single city until 1926.  The locals, depending on where they live, would almost "lobby" for the highlights of their area of the city.  We stayed in the upper town because the "newer" street design allowed for an easier (all relative) ability to get around with the car.  We would walk the 20 minutes down the multiple staircases to the lower city for dinner and taxi back up (yes, we will admit to this lack of exercise). 

Today the town has become known for its gastronomical achievements, with the first restaurant in Sicily to be awarded a two star Michlin rating.  We enjoyed a dinner there detailed in another post.

View of Ilba

Superior Catherdral