Food and wine in Sicily

A guide to seasonality in the food in Sicily

A restaurant guide to Sicily >>

Sicilian recipes >>

One thing is without doubt: an essential ingredient of any successful holiday is good food and wine. Restaurants, vineyards, gelaterias and caf?s are as important as beaches, Cathedrals and archaeological sites. Sampling the local food, living the gastronomic life of the natives and sipping on glass of chilled wine made just round the corner are the essence of “la bella vita” . The following notes are just intended to push you in the right direction. Be adventurous, try things you’ve never heard of and accept recommendations from restaurant owners.

Food in Sicily is local: bananas & pineapples are usually the only imported fruit. You’ll find the freshest fish in the coastal towns, whereas the mountain villages are famous for their cheese (formaggi), salami, sausages (salsiccia), mushrooms (funghi). Tomatoes (pomodori) and aubergines (melanzane) are widely used and have a special taste and perfume! You will find a large variety of ice creams (gelati) all year round, the fruity ones being more popular during the summer. The Sicilian way to have it is in a freshly baked brioche!

Food in Sicily is seasonal: take the time to go to a local market to see what’s in season.

A few things “not to be missed” for each season:

Winter - oranges (arance), mandarins (manderini) and grapes (uva) fill the markets with theirsea many varieties. Arancine (rice balls filled with meat or ham and mozzarella) or the many kinds of panini (sandwiches) make a perfect quick lunch or snacks. Cassate and cannoli (made with ricotta cheese) and marzipan sweets (frutti & paste di martorana) are well presented in all the “pasticcerie”. Restaurants often offer the delicious “semifreddo di mandorle o pistacchi” (almonds or pistachios parfait –“solid” ice-cream- with hot chocolate sauce.).

Spring - medlars (nespole), the little orange fruit originally from Japan) and strawberries (fragole) are followed, towards the end of May by apricots (albicocche), cherries (ciliegie) and tiny, sweet pears (perine). The countryside is full of wild fennel (finocchio selvatico), asparagus (asparagi) and artichokes (carciofi).
It’s the best time to try the “pasta con le sarde” (with fresh sardines, wild fennel, and pinenuts), the tuna (tonno) and the sword fish (pesce spada).

Summer - different kinds of prunes (susine), peaches (pesche), cantaloupe (delicious with ham as an appetiser or served cold, with fresh mint and red wine or port as dessert), watermelon (anguria). Try the “gelo di melone” (watermelon gelly with chocolate and jasmine) and the “granite”: our favourite ones are coffee and almonds (caffe’ e mandorla), lemon and peach or cantaloupe….or figs, towards the end of August.

Autumn - it’s time for the olive harvest. Prickly pears (fichi d’india) and roasted chestnuts (caldaroste) are sold in little kiosks in many towns. Specialties such as caponata (vegetarian dish with aubergines, celery, olives and tomatoes) and peperonata (with peppers) are worth trying.

1/83 A Siclian pepper tart with pine kernels and mint. 2/83 Home-made schiacciata sandwiches are found all over Sicily. 3/83 Pick your favourite! 4/83 Bar Alfredo on Salina... the best granita in Sicily? 5/83 A warm Sicilian octopus salad. 6/83 Fritella, a Spring dish of peas, fava beans and artichokes. 7/83 Golden fried aubergine being prepared... ready to make... 8/83 ...Parmigiana di melanzana with Ragusano cheese. 9/83 A light summer salad. 10/83 A delicious Sicilian 'torta salata'. 11/83 Lunch with a view on the beach at Mazzarò, Taormina. 12/83 Sfincione, pizza topped with anchovies, tomato and breadcrumbs. 13/83 Anchovies - 'anciova' in Sicilian dialect! 14/83 Arancini - delicious deep-fried rice balls. 15/83 An Aeolian salad with tomatoes, onions, capers and anchovies. 16/83 A splendid Sicilian octopus salad. 17/83 Delicious Sicilian finger food! 18/83 A Sicilian tomato salad. 19/83 Making pasta using a traditional 'mandolin'. 20/83 Home-made Sicilian pasta. 21/83 Timballo Polizziano, a speciality of the Madonie Mountains in Sicily. 22/83 Fried aubergine slices are used in many Sicilian recipes... 23/83 ...including this baroque tortino di melanzana! 24/83 A delicious pesto pasta dish at La Favorita in Marsala. 25/83 Pasta con sugo - tomato sauce - simplicity at its best! 26/83 Oven-baked artichokes, a classic Sicilian recipe. 27/83 Lunch is served! 28/83 Mushrooms are a real treat of Sicilian mountain cuisine. 29/83 Many varieties of courgettes are used in Sicilian cooking. 30/83 Each village and town in Sicily has its own food festival or 'sagra'. 31/83 Purple cauliflowers in a Sicilian market. 32/83 Pink aubergines, one of many varieties used in Sicilian cuisine. 33/83 Giri, a spinach-like green, are popular in Sicily. 34/83 The beach and restaurant of La Pineta near Selinunte. 35/83 Beautifully presented Sicilian olives. 36/83 Autumn goodies collected in the Madonie Mountains in Sicily. 37/83 A fish stall in Palermo's Capo market. 38/83 Sardines are used in many Sicilian recipes. 39/83 Souté di cozze - a wonderful second course to share! 40/83 Lunch with a view of the splendid Piazza Duomo, Siracusa. 41/83 Mackerel waiting for a good home in Palermo's Capo market. 42/83 Come Spring, tuna dominates market stalls and menus all over Sicily. 43/83 An imaginitive cuttlefish recipe from Palazzo Hedoné in Scicli. 44/83 An enticing seafood display in Catania's fish market. 45/83 A long lunch in sunny Noto. 46/83 In Sicily sea urchins are eaten raw with bread or as a spaghetti sauce. 47/83 A typically dramatic display in a Sicilian fishmonger's. 48/83 A panoply of fish in Catania's famous market. 49/83 Brociolone, a classic Sicilian meat dish. 50/83 Sliced brociolone, a stuffed Sicilian meat roulade. 51/83 A succulent fillet of pork on a bed of spinach. 52/83 Farsumagro, a Sicilian meat roulade filled with ham and omlette. 53/83 Enjoying a fish feast on the beach in Favignana! 54/83 Counting the harvested olives! 55/83 Olives were first bought to Sicily by the Greeks in the 7th century BC. 56/83 The magical transformation of olives into olive oil! 57/83 A great spot for lunch on the beach at Mazzarò, Taormina. 58/83 The thick, fragrant olive oil produced privately by 1000s of Sicilians. 59/83 An Easter surprise! 60/83 A rich Sicilian dessert. 61/83 Lots of varieties of chocolate at Bonajuto's shop in Modica. 62/83 Cassata - the king of Sicilian cakes. 63/83 Home-made Sicilian lemon sorbet. 64/83 Gelo di limone, a home-made Sicilian lemon jelly. 65/83 Ricotta-filled impanitigghi. 66/83 A home-made cake for breakfast! 67/83 Sicilian ice-cream in all its glory! 68/83 Home-made Sicilian orange and mandarin jellies. 69/83 Cannoli - one of Sicily's absolute favourites! 70/83 Lunch at a restaurant overlooking Isola Bella, Taormina. 71/83 Sweet ricotta-filled ravazzate, a classic from Alcamo, near Palermo. 72/83 A snack of marzipan cassatelle and refreshing almond milk. 73/83 Deliciously gooey Sicilian chocolate cake! 74/83 Beautifully crafted Martorana fruit made with sugary marzipan. 75/83 The rich colours of peeled prickly pears. 76/83 Figs are so popular in Sicily that many people have their own tree! 77/83 Sicilian mandarines arrive in November. 78/83 50 cents a kilo for these Sicilian oranges! 79/83 Oranges are not the only fruit in Sicily, but very important. 80/83 Prickly pears grow wild all over Sicily. 81/83 Strawberries come early in Sicily. 82/83 Sicilian loti, or persimmons. 83/83 Pomegranates were introduced into Sicily by the Arabs.