Foodies already know this, but it bears repeating: what we Americans think of as Italian food is really, more often than not, Sicilian food. It’s something of an historical accident that the final great wave of Italian immigrants to the United States came from southern Italy and Sicily, but it’s also a testament to those immigrants’ hearty, time-honored recipes that we think of their food when we hear, “Let’s eat Italian tonight.” There’s so much more to Sicily than ravioli, arancini, and fruit-infused granitas. Here, we present our top five non-culinary reasons to visit Sicily… ok, we couldn’t resist, and we had to call out our favorite Sicilian dessert. You can experience all of this and more on Go Ahead’s Best of Sicily tour.
1. Mt. Etna
A snow-covered Mt. Etna lets off some steam.
Europe’s largest active volcano, Mt. Etna has regularly shown off its temper since antiquity (in Greek mythology, Zeus imprisons Typhon, “the father of all monsters,” beneath Mt. Etna). Etna’s frequent eruptions have raised its peak high above the surrounding plain; like many other “Ultras,” Etna shoots up from flat ground to nearly 11,000 feet in the air with no foothills in sight. Four separate calderas can be seen at the mountain’s peak, while more than 300 smaller vents on Etna’s flanks help prevent a catastrophic eruption like the one that destroyed Mt. St. Helens. While Etna’s eruptions often produce clouds of ash and the “globes of fire” Virgil describes in the Aeneid, Sicily’s most famous mountain has also been observed emitting smoke rings, an extremely rare occurrence in volcanology.
2. The cannoli
A mouth-watering cannoli is the perfect conclusion to any Sicilian meal.
From the Italian for “little tube,” cannolis are Sicily’s best-known dessert, and while we Americans tend to associate cannolis with the pan-Italian cuisine to which we’re accustomed, there’s nothing like a true Sicilian cannoli to end your meal. The recipe is simple and endlessly variable: wrap dough around cones to create the tube shape, fry the cooked dough around a dough ring, then mix ricotta cheese with sugar and a hint of vanilla extract for the filling. If you’ve ever visited one of America’s many “Little Italies,” you’ve probably seen cannolis adorned with candied cherries, powdered sugar, chocolate chips or even ganache. In Sicily, there’s only one other ingredient in a true cannoli: succade, the chopped, candied peel of (generically) any citrus fruit or (specifically) the citron fruit in particular. Cannolis can range in size from slender finger-sized bites to behemoths that take two hands to eat. Mangia!
3. Syracuse
Syracuse is home to one of the best-preserved Greek amphitheatres in the world.
Though it’s now part of Italy, Syracuse is a decidedly Greek town. Located on the southeast corner of the island, Syracuse was once a great Mediterranean power thanks to its strategic situation athwart vital sea lanes. After forming an alliance with Sparta’s Peloponnesian League, Syracuse witnessed the foundering of the Athenian navy on its shores, an event that would precipitate the conclusion of the Peloponnesian War…and serve as an eternal warning for overly ambitious empires. The city was also home to the famous polymath Archimedes, one of the great engineers of the ancient world. Legend has it that Archimedes devised ingenious, almost magical devices to defend his hometown during the Athenian invasion, including mirrors that reflected the sun to set fire to Athenian ships and an enormous claw designed to pluck boats from the water. Archimedes’ war engines are a matter of conjecture, but the Greek ruins at Syracuse are palpably real, and you’ll see them for yourself on Go Ahead’s Best of Sicily tour.
4. Taormina
Taormina's famous Greek Theatre, with Mt. Etna in the distance.
Just a few short miles from Mt. Etna, you’ll find Taormina, Sicily’s favorite resort town since ancient time and home to perhaps the most dramatically situated theater in the world. The Greek Theatre (known locally as the Teatro Greco) appears at first blush to be a carbon copy of the amphitheater you saw in Syracuse. But when you take a seat where the ancient Greeks would have sat, you realize that the audience faces southwest, which makes the snowy slopes of Mt. Etna and the gorgeous Sicilian coastline the backdrop for every scene. Perched on a cliff overlooking the Ionian Sea, Taormina has drawn vacationers since before the rise of Rome. The city’s architecture reflects Sicily’s unique blend of cultures from around Europe and Africa, from the Normans to the Greeks to the Arabs. Nature lovers should take time to explore Isola Bella, a teardrop-shaped island in the heart of Taormina’s tranquil cove. You won’t need a boat to get there, since a rocky sandbar connects Isola Bella to the mainland.
5. Savoca
Savoca's Bar Vitelli, the setting for a famous scene in The Godfather Part II.
Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather Part II is the rare example of a sequel that outdoes the original. The second film inspired by Mario Puzo’s epic trilogy, Godfather II includes a look at the Corleone family’s history in Sicily. When Coppola began filming the movie, he realized that much of modern Sicily had been built up and adorned with the trappings of modernity—cell phone towers, tall apartment buildings, electrical wires and so on. But the script called for scenes delving into the life of Vito Corleone during the first quarter of the 20th century, so Coppola struck out into the Sicilian countryside in search of a town untouched by time, a place that hadn’t changed appreciably since Vito’s fictitious childhood. When Coppola saw the commune of Savoca, perched on a hill about a mile from the Ionian Sea, he knew he’d found the town of Vito’s childhood. Here and in nearby Forza d’Agro, Coppola captured the agrarian lifestyle, passionate families and simultaneous sense of both desperation and hope that shaped the life of the man who would come to be known as The Godfather. Savoca’s Bar Vitelli and San Nicolo and San Michele Churches have become popular destinations for fans of the film, but Savoca’s natural beauty remains unspoiled.
Have you been to Sicily? Or does Sicilian food regularly find its way into your kitchen? Leave us a comment and let us know what draws you to the island at the toe of Italy’s boot.
