Sicily
While in Rome during November, we took a side trip to Sicily. Our motivation was Jeff's family heritage; his Italian roots are Sicilian!
We only spent four nights in Sicily, but we made them count! During this time, we visited Palermo, Catania, Taormina, and a small town in the mountains called Caltavuturo (Jeff's ancestral hometown).
Stay tuned for a guest post from Jeff about his Sicilian family reunion (!!). In the meantime, here's a recap of our travels around the island.
Jeff on the streets of Caltavuturo
After spending a night in Caltavuturo, we drove to the east coast to spend two nights in Catania.
Catania
Catania is on the east coast of Sicily. It was grittier than any of the cities we had been to in Italy so far. We stayed in a cute B&B that a friend of a friend recommended. Unfortunately, our B&B turned into a disappointing experience by the end of our two-night stay; our room smelled like sewage, and I got no sleep as I was eaten alive by mosquitos (even with the windows shut!). At least breakfast was tasty, though!
Since we were in Sicily, we were eager to get our hands on two regional delights: arancini and cannoli. The B&B owner recommended a spot called Savia, which was amazing. It was our first stop the night we arrived, and we ended up having arancini, cannoli, and a beer for dinner. We tried a classic ragu one, which was better than any of the suppli we'd had so far Italy, and we also tried a “Catanese” one, which had eggplant, tomato, and cheese; it was delicious! We liked it so much we stopped in the next afternoon for a afternoon snack of each!
We enjoyed wandering the streets, which were filled with beautifully-imperfect Baroque buildings. To me, it felt how I imagine Cuba must be. Jeff went to Cuba last year and said that it did feel similar to him.
We took a tour of the Benedictine Monastery of San Nicolò l’Arena, which was beautiful.
If it ain't Baroque...don't fix it!
While in Catania, we took a day trip to Taormina. Though a cloudy day blocked our view on the drive up, Mt. Etna was on the left, and the sea was to the right of us. Once in Taormina, we visited the Greek Theater, which was beautifully-situated overlooking the sea. While there, we finally caught a glimpse of the snow-topped tip of Etna. We were excited to try a cannoli from Laboratorio Pasticceria Roberto while there, which is considered the "best" cannoli in the world, but unfortunately, the shop was closed for the season.
The Greek Theater of Taormina
For our last night in Catania, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner date! After a couple glasses of Sicilian wine (Nero d’Avola, Etna Rosso…) in a lively alley full of restaurants and bars called Via Santa Filomena, we had a fantastic seafood dinner at Trattoria Catania Ruffiana, a recommendation from a friend of a friend. It was everything we were hoping for in Sicily with amazing seafood pasta and great wine. I had penne (exponentially better than penne back home) with eggplant, tomato, zucchini, basil, and swordfish. Jeff had seafood linguine with clams, mussels, calamari, and shrimp. We also split a regional entree of swordfish "rolls" with raisin and pine nuts.
Palermo
We ended with one night in Palermo. Since we arrived in Palermo pretty late after a very eventful day (driving from Catania with a stop back through Caltavuturo), we checked into our B&B, enjoyed a glass of wine at a cute enoteca across the street, then called it an early night. Our flight didn't leave until late the following day, so we were looking forward to exploring the city the next day before heading to the airport.
Our last day there was rainy, so we opted to take a tour of Teatro Massimo, the largest opera house in Italy, to stay dry for a while. We also walked through the Ballaro market, which was intense; it was crowded and noisy, with scooters ripping through (not only dangerous, but the gross gas smell didn't pair well with fresh produce!). After grabbing a bite to eat, we made our way to the airport to return to Rome.
In front of Teatro Massimo
