The “official thesis” is that couscous arrived in Sicily in the Middle Ages, with the Arab domination. But if this is true, why is it not present in the gastronomic tradition of Palermo, which was the magnificent capital of the Arab kingdom, a beautiful city competing with Cairo and Cordoba?
Category: Uncategorized
The Ear of Dionysius is one of the best-known places in the archaeological park of Syracuse. Tour guides always bring guests here and tell them how it got its name, referring to the ancient legend according to which, lurking at the top of the quarry, the tyrant Dionysius was able to hear even the whispers of the slaves who worked down below.
If you look at it from the Tyrrhenian coast of Sicily, Salina looks exactly alike the other Aeolian islands floating on the horizon. It is only when you get close that you notice that it is much greener.
Vegetarians and vegans often must give something up. Not in Sicily! Local cuisine is full of recipes that are perfect even for the most strict diets. Here are five proposals of the Palermo street tradition, all free of animal products.
I was driving in the Madonie mountains and saw the sign of a small bakery. I decided to stop for a bit of bread and maybe a cookie. And discovered that, behind the rustling curtain of plastic cords, there was a treasure of panettone, buccellati, ladyfingers, taralli and fresh pasta.
It is difficult to imagine anything more typically Sicilian than a prickly pear. The thorny rows that border the fields are a sort of icon of Sicily, together with Etna and the sea. Moreover we find it as a characterizing element of Sicilianity in the descriptions of the island landscape by a number of authorssuch as Giovanni Verga, Luigi Pirandello and Elio Vittorini.
Although modernized and less picturesque, in Sicily the custom of giving ex-votos as a sign of gratitude for the grace received, has never ceased. If you visit one of the sanctuaries that dot the island you’ll see it with your own eyes.