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A Baroque stay in southern Sicily
Mauro Scarlato-2008-08-04
This four-day itinerary, starting from the Baroque churches of Modica, meanders through the southeast of the island as far as the Valley of the Temples of Agrigento, finally returning to Catania. You will be struck not only by the beauty of the area, but also by the discovery of a vast gastronomic repertoire, jealously guarded by Sicilian tradition.
Day One: from Catania to Modica
After landing at Fontanarossa airport, it takes just two hours to reach Modica. This town (only 6 miles from Ragusa) – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – is probably one of the most spectacular in Sicily.
A stop at the Antica Dolceria Bonajuto will enable you to discover chocolate made using a recipe from 1880 (with cardamom, chilli and cinnamon), as well as local pastries: aranciata (soft nougat made with honey and orange peel, of Arabic origin), nucatoli (biscuits made with honey and almond paste, stuffed with figs) and ‘mpanatigghi (old biscuits dating back to the Spanish domination of the 16th century).
You can dine at La gazza ladra, a restaurant with a warm, softly-lit ambience where young chef Accursio Craparo works. After obtaining his catering diploma and doing a work placement abroad, Craparo worked in two famous Italian restaurants: Joia in Milan and Le Calandre in Rubano (Padua). Now back in Sicily, he has made his cuisine a synthesis of talent, sensibility and expertise acquired over the years. The daily use of local produce remains a priority.
Among the dishes most loaded with personality are the pastries of red mullet fillet and the zabaglione with “Cedrino” thyme and potatoes. The couscous with cuttlefish ink evokes the African coast that you can see beyond the blue sea. The sweet cream with egg yolk, Marsala, almond milk and meringue wafer uses the classic ingredients of Sicilian pastries, reinvented with a light touch.
Where to sleep
The Palazzo Failla Hotel, in the historic town centre of Modica, is a 19th century building that has been renovated in keeping with period elements. All the splendid floors covered with earthenware, as well as the arches adorned with frescoes in most of the bedrooms, have been preserved.
Day Two: Noto and Ragusa
You can devote your morning to the town of Noto, seat of one of Sicily’s Baroque gems: the San Nicolò cathedral, which reopened to the public on 18th June 2007, nine years after its catastrophic collapse in 1996.
After your visit, you will have time to go to Ragusa Ibla to have lunch at Locanda Don Serafino (one Michelin star), the realm of Vincenzo Candiano, voted “best young chef in the south” at the Vitigno Italia fair in Naples in May 2007. He offers, for example, a tasty veal liver on pear with frappato (a local red wine) and aniseed-flavoured onion jam, ricotta iblea (fresh cheese) ravioli with pork jus, carob ravioli stuffed with Ragusano*, lasagne with bitter cocoa and ricotta iblea, rabbit stuffed with Bronte pistachios and lardons, or thinly sliced yellow tuna on caponatina modicana (a sort of ratatouille). To end the meal in style, discover the desserts made with Ragusano, served with a Marsala ice cream or presented on flaky pastry and served with thyme honey.
Still in Ragusa, in an opulent building near the cathedral, is the Il duomo restaurant of chef Ciccio Sultano, the only restaurant in Sicily with two Michelin stars. Its location, on the border between two gastronomic cultures, has earned it the title of most southerly two-star establishment in Europe and most northerly in Africa. Sultano’s cuisine, which he himself likes to call “baroque”, alternates tradition and modernity.
His work is, above all, a quest for and highlighting of flavours, as witnessed by his roast octopus and squid with Burrata di Andria (a sort of mozzarella stuffed with crème fraîche), fettuccine (pasta similar to tagliatelle) with lamb sauce, swordfish with Bronte pistachios, and black pork from Nebrodi with Chuao chocolate sauce and Ustica lentils. Among the desserts, we should mention the cannolo with ricotta (a great classic), the cassatella and Marsala ice cream with crystallised fig. In addition to a selection of great Italian and international wines, the wine list offers a wide choice of native Sicilian grape varieties: Inzolia, Grillo, Cataratto and Zibibbo for the whites, Nero d’Avola and Nerello Mascalese for the reds.
Day Three: Agrigento
Before leaving for Agrigento, be sure to visit Donnafugata Castle, in the direction of Santa Croce Camerina. In Agrigento, the Valley of the Temples is a must. This archaeological site, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998, dates back to the historic period of Great Greece. With its 700,000 visitors a year, it constitutes one of Sicily’s major tourist attractions.
For dinner, trunk road 115 will take you to Licata (25 miles), where you will find the La Madia restaurant (one Michelin star), a veritable workshop of flavours in the hands of chef Pino Cuttaia. Here you can sample the minced red prawns, mayonnaise, mandarin-flavoured oil and bottarga (dried and salted roe) of tuna, the “spinello” artichoke “waterlily” stuffed with shrimp with anchovy sauce, or the fillet of beef covered with cinder oil, a condiment invented by Cuttaia to flavour the dishes with a charcoal aroma. It is all accompanied by six kinds of bread (flavoured with onions, baby tomatoes, almonds, pistachios or dried figs).
Pino will gladly tell you about his career, starting out as a baker’s apprentice then becoming a confectioner and lastly a butcher. It was only after a stay in Piedmont that he decided to return to Sicily to rediscover the magic of his childhood. His cuisine is simple, built on the interpretation of ancient values but always remaining loyal to the natural balance of things.
Where to sleep
The Mandranova Bed and Breakfast in Palma di Montechiaro is set in an old granary converted into a luxury residence, nestling in a 200-hectare park mostly covered by an olive plantation. Mandranova is also a brand renowned for its production of olive oil of the Nocellara del Belice, Biancolilla, Cerasuola and Giarraffa varieties.
Day Four: Piazza Armerina
It’s impossible to leave Palma di Montechiaro without stopping at the Santissimo Rosario Monastery. The few cloistered Benedictines who live in the abbey make typical biscuits and cassatine of frosted almond paste.
On the journey to Catania airport, you can make a detour to Piazza Armerina. Here you can visit the famous Del CasaleRoman villa with its splendid mosaics.
*Ragusano is the typical local cheese, guaranteed by a Protected Designation of Origin. It is made from cow’s milk and shaped into a square parallelepiped.
Practical information
Palazzo Failla
Via Blandini, 5
97010 Modica (RG)
Tel/Fax: +39 0932 941059
10 rooms and suites from €125
La gazza ladra restaurant
Via Blandini, 11
97010 Modica (RG)
Tel: +39 0932 755655
Antica Dolceria Bonajuto
Corso Umberto I, 159
97010 Modica (RG)
Tel: +39 0932 941225
Locanda Don Serafino restaurant
Via Orfanotrofio, 39
97100 Ragusa Ibla
Tel/Fax: +39 0932 248778
Ristorante Duomo
Via Cap. Bocchieri, 31
Palazzo La Rocca
97100 Ragusa Ibla
Tel: +39 0932 651265
Casa del formaggio “Sant’Anna” di Dipasquale & C.
Corso Italia 387
97100 Ragusa
Tel: +39 0932 227485
This cheese shop sells the best Ragusano in Sicily and also has a vast selection of dairy products from the island: pecorino alla vastedda from Belice, Palermo caciocavallo with piacentino of bright yellow colour, due to saffron.
Azienda Agricola “Mandranova Resort”
S.S 115 – Km. 117
Contrada Mandranova
92020 Palma di Montechiaro (AG)
Tel: +39 091 612 04 03 / Mob: +39 393 9862169
40 spaces in double rooms, suites or annex (il Casello e la Robazza) from €122
Donnafugata Castle
Opening times do not always correspond to those indicated on the web site; it is therefore prudent to phone (+39 0932 619333).
Ristorante La Madia
Corso Filippo Re Capriata, 22
92027 Licata (AG)
Tel: +39 0922 771443
Santissimo Rosario Benedictine Monastery
Piazza Provenzani
92020 Palma di Montechiaro (AG)
Open in the morning from 9am to 12pm
Michele D’Anna cake shop and ice cream parlour
Via Ragusa, 9
92026 Favara (AG)
Tel: +39 0922 34962
