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Sicily

Do you like a variety of history and architecture, exotic cuisine, many types of beauty both natural and artistic? Yes? Sicily is for you!

Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean, is a fascinating, beautiful and diverse island with layers of history, architecture and exotic cuisines coming from its occupiers: the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Byzantines, Normans, Spanish, Bourbons and many more.

It’s hard to sum up Sicily in a few words, but here we go! It offers an incredible variety of experiences like:

* Palermo’s colourful Vuccheria market in a warren of dim streets where you can buy everything from swordfish, to spleen sandwiches to contraband cigarettes.

* Monreale’s amazing 12th century Norman cathedral whose massive interior is covered with glittering Byzantine mosaics and gold.

* Exploring the seven Aeolian Islands off the north east coast, especially Stromboli with its black volcanic sand beaches, white houses and active volcano.

* Enjoying glitzy Taormina on the east coast with its Greek theatre, beautiful gardens and easy access to Mount Etna.

* Discovering the splendid Baroque towns in the southeast like Syracuse, Noto and Ragusa.

* Standing at sunset in the Valley of the Temples in touristy Agrigento on the south coast to admire the marvelous Greek temples set along a ridge.

* Walking on the west coast in the beautiful Zingaro Nature Reserve that has little fishing villages, beaches, and walking paths.

Cooking school tours in Sicily

Cuisine

The cuisine reflects the many invaders and focuses on seafood (swordfish, tuna, mussels, prawns, sea bass, red mullet, anchovies and more), eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes, beans and lots of other vegetables, pecorino and many other cheeses, figs, capers, olives, almonds, pine nuts, fennel, raisins, lemons, oranges. In parts of Sicily you find sweet and sour combinations like capers with sugar in caponata, a mix of eggplant, tomatoes, celery, olives, capers with vinegar and sugar.

Stromboli Island spaghetti

A sample of dishes: braised artichokes, green salad with grapefruit and blood orange, stuffed peppers, green cauliflower with black olives baked with pecorino cheese, pasta with fresh cold tomato sauce, pasta with fresh fava beans, risotto with citrus fruits, breaded eggplant, stuffed rice balls, sardines stuffed with bread crumbs, dried currants and pine nuts, baked swordfish with capers and herbs, lamb with mint, cassata dessert with sponge cake, sugar syrup, lemon sauce with candied fruit, jam tarts, marzipan, ricotta cheese cake with candied fruit.

Wines

Sicily is famous internationally for its many outstanding dessert wines like Marsala, Passito di Pantelleria and other passito wines, Malvasia and Moscato. About 90% of its DOC wine production is dessert wines. Around the island you can find lots of good red and white wines of large producers like Corvo or Regaleali and smaller producers like Donnafugata and many, many others.     Picture right: vineyards with Mount Etna in back

For cooking school tours in Sicily please see www.italycookingschools.com/sicilylist.html