Cannoli for breakfast, lunch and dinner: Yes, we want!
Sicily It's like a huge puff pastry. On a first visit you see the surface, but every time you dig a little deeper you find new layers, at least as interesting as the first, which make you question topics and lead you to think -rightly so- that there is surely another one underneath. layer more just as appetizing.
Sicily is immense, not only geographically . The center of that mythical Mediterranean that for thousands of years has been loaded with legends and cultures, through which they passed Greeks, Romans, Muslims, Normans or Spanish leaving traditions and monuments that have shaped that enormous patchwork quilt that the island is today.
This is so in all facets of life. It is palpable in the culture, in the language, in urbanism, in the character of the Sicilians and in their cuisine. And it is also found in your sweet world , perhaps less well known.
love in sicily
Because it is true that we have all heard of the cannoli , and perhaps also the cassata . But beyond that there is a whole constellation of regional sweets , developed over centuries, which make it impossible to cover them all in a single text.
Palermo would need a report for herself. the north coast, from Cefalù to Taormina, the far east, from Agrigento to Trapani passing through Marsala.
But we have to start somewhere, so we'll do it with the baroque triangle, through that southeast corner where one travels prey to a permanent Stendhal syndrome. Because, although it is a manageable area, there is much more than we could cover in a few paragraphs, new sweets every few kilometers, and because, to start somewhere, this is one of the most interesting.
Pasticceria Marciante, in the heart of Syracuse
CATANIA AND SYRACUSE
We landed in Catania, a city that is often unfairly overshadowed by the fame of Palermo and Syracuse. Because it may not be as dazzling at first as Ortigia, the historic center of its neighbor to the south, or the character of the people of Catania does not respond so much to the cliché that hundreds of films and documentaries have engraved on us.
But Catania, with its gray stone, its street barbecues in the most popular neighborhoods and its churches at every turn, is the perfect place to dive headfirst into the Sicilian sweet world. In the specialties that extend throughout the island and in the more strictly local ones.
First stop, the Chiosco Giammona. The first kiosks appeared in different city squares around 1896 and one of them was Giammona, which is still there, with its slightly modernist structure, saving more than one life during the summer and equally interesting in the less hot months.
Limone, come out and seltzer. It's not sweet and at first it sounds counterintuitive, but start by ordering that drink, much more refreshing than you imagine, catanese to the max and perfect to put the palate to zero before everything that comes up.
Although, if you prefer to stick to the sweet script, order a green mandarin, for example, one of the drinks they make with the syrups they make themselves. (They are one of the few that still do): tangerine, green tangerine, orange, blood orange, tamarind... Get strong at the bar and enjoy the show for a while.
Diana's Fountain, Syracuse
From here, one step away, Pasticceria Truglio, a small pastry shop that is now over 100 years old and that, although it is not one of those that are in all the guides, it is one of the most interesting in the city.
The small counter is surrounded by old diplomas and shelves with frutta martorana, those miniature fruits made with almond paste that have their origin in Palermo but that are a pride for the whole island.
Order a cannoli. You will discover that the dough of the canutillo is of a lightness that you did not know and that the ricotta inside is intense, but not tiresome; it is sweet, but does not hide the intense dairy flavor.
We can continue with a slice of Torta Savoia or a minna di Sant'Agata (breast of Saint Agata), perhaps at nearby Pasticceria Savia, inaugurated in 1897. Or with a granita with pistacchio , that frozen breakfast that is accompanied with a brioche. Pure Sicilianity.
Pasticceria Savia, since 1897
Siracusa, less than an hour away by car, is a mandatory stop, because despite sometimes excessive tourism it is beautiful, because it overwhelms you with its thousands of years of history and ends up hooking you. And because here too there is a whole sweet world to explore.
It is the place to take a pomegranate juice freshly squeezed at a kiosk, visit the stalls on Via del Mercato and look for, for example, the Pasticceria Marciante, in front of the Jesuit church.
If it's fall, ask if they already have Totò, one of the seasonal sweets. At any other time, let yourself be guided by the counter and by your instinct.
Pasticceria Marciante, in the heart of Syracuse
THE VAL DI NOTO
From Siracusa to Noto there is a step, just 30 minutes on the highway that places you in one of the most beautiful towns in the Mediterranean. The monumentality here overflows as soon as you cross the Porta Reale. Luckily the historic center is small, because even so it is unfathomable.
And there, in the middle, is Caffè Sicilia by Corrado Assenza, one of the most respected confectioners on the island. Tradition, elegance and, if you go out of season, even a certain tranquility.
The almond is the queen: the granita di mandorla It's great, he white mangiare di mandorla is, perhaps, even better. The cassatin. And the zuppa di mandorle , like a hot chocolate but with almonds instead of cocoa. Getting all that out of the same product is crazy.
If you want to go in other directions, the options are equally tempting: zafferano and arancia amara (a bitter orange and saffron cake), bergamot and pepe bianco (bergamot and white pepper)… Be careful when you enter, because you will not want to leave.
Scicli, a few kilometers away, is the southern vertex of this triangle that we are traveling. Almost as spectacular as Noto, but much less well known, is the town where a good part of the exteriors of the Montalbano commissioner's series are recorded.
And it is also the town of the Macallè, a sweet similar to a certain extent to a cannolo, but with a soft dough, almost like a brioche made with lard, which is fried and filled with cream or ricotta. or of the Jaduzzi, almond and butter cookies, stuffed with cooked must.
From here to Modica you ascend leaving behind the coastal environment in a few kilometers. Modica is already inland, although it is barely 20 km from the sea, and it anticipates something of the mountain that awaits us.
It is also a precious city, frozen in time. Here you have to try chocolate, the old-fashioned way, as the Spanish probably brought it over three centuries ago. And the best place to try it is the Antica Dolceria Bonajuto, in the narrow alley that is Via Ventura, at the foot of that network of stairs and narrow slopes that seems to have been designed by Escher.
The Bonajutos have been working with chocolate since at least 1850 and their workshop is the oldest in Sicily. Not much more needs to be said. I walked out of here with a stack of chocolate bars and nougats –oh, that orange peel and honey nougat or the Gelato di Campagna, which is not an ice cream and has a touch of saffron– that almost makes me hard to remember every time I see the photo again.
Just over 100 meters away is the Osteria dei Sapori Perduti, an eatery open since 1935 that is worth stopping at. For its local dishes, such as pasta with the macco (with dry broad bean puree), the pasta with the tenerezze (the tender shoots of the courgette plant) or the rabbit to the stimpirata , a kind of hot pickle with vegetables.
And for its traditional desserts, of course, that's what we were talking about. sweets like gelo, a kind of jelly made with starch and flavored with almonds, lemon rind, orange and cinnamon...
The next day, for breakfast, a pistaccio cremolata , similar to a granita, but different, that the nuances matter a lot here, in the Cafe Adamo. And road, that we have a long island to go, although we have limited ourselves to one corner.
Osteria Dei Sapori Perduti, Modica
Ragusa, crispeddi ri San Giuseppe, like some fried sweet rice fritters typical of San José; Caltagirone, Cubaita, like a nougat that they make with the sesame that comes from Ispica and Cuddureddi, a donut filled with almonds and cooked must, if it's Christmas.
Caltanissetta , in the center of the island, with that delirium of a baroque cathedral and the Cafe Bella, with its century of history and its staff willing to explain the local specialties. The Crocetta, the Spina Santa, the Granada granita…
Palazzolo Acreide, already on the way back to the airport. Baroque and Greek ruins in the last foothills of the Iblean mountains. And, already in the center, the Pasticceria Caprice , with that interior of neo-Gothic arches, the patrons who look at you curiously and a counter, once again, from which you won't know how to get out.
Amaretti, giugiulena, ciascuna… the menu of Sicilian specialties occupies seven pages. I can't think of a better way to end the trip than here, between doubts, remorse and happiness.
Pasticceria Caprice