Palazzo Previtera Kitchen & Bar, Linguaglossa
Wiggle up the slim lanes of Linguaglossa, a sooty Baroque city on the slopes of Mount Etna, and you’ll attain the mustard, understated exterior of Palazzo Previtera. Inside, a nostalgic feast of Italian maximalism has been scrupulously returned to its former glory by Alfio Puglisi, whose household have owned this shrunk-in-the-wash, flamboyant palazzo for the reason that seventeenth century. Alfio’s tenure is well timed, with Etna’s community-focused renaissance seeing new-wave wine makers, cooks, restaurateurs, and creatives shifting from (*16*) cities to the volcano’s fertile slopes. The guesthouse’s new restaurant, helmed by chef Alberto Carpinteri and chef Kaita Osumimoto (of Alto and Gagini pedigree), makes use of Etna’s mineral-rich choices for an intriguing mix of Japanese and Mediterranean delicacies (anticipate gyoza-shaped ravioli full of purple porgy, or perciasacchi (a Sicilian historic grain) tagliatelle with chicory cream and courtyard bottarga). Seasonal substances powering the mercifully compact tasting menu are sourced from native farmers or foraged from the volcano’s fertile slopes (grapes, saffron, mushrooms). And the restaurant itself exudes the cosiness of dwelling, with visitors tucking into Sicilian gazpacho and hanger steaks marinated in koji beneath the palazzo’s mediaeval vaulted ceilings, and alongside the cooks cooking in the normal, marble-topped open kitchen.
Casa Diodoros, Agrigento
Only in Sicily can a gently renovated farm, now a family-run restaurant and cooking faculty, set round a reasonably cobbled courtyard, sit mere toes under a superbly preserved Roman temple. Indeed, Casa Diodoros lies slightly below the Temple of Concordia, through a herb-lined collection of steps, in Agrigento’s UNESCO-listed Valley of the Temples, with a sustainable agricultural mission granting its privileged perch. Behind the warmly lit barn restaurant, lined with chicken-wire cupboards displaying the realm’s historical past, and the flavor-packed, home-cooked classics (bean stews, conventional pasta, moreish baked ricotta and pumpkin focaccia with a heat, pillowy heart), is a dedication to boosting natural manufacturing of the park’s native bounty: pistachios, almonds, saffron, historic grains, olives, conventional fruits. To get a way of the venture, you’ll be able to guide in for tasting classes and cooking workshops, akin to a four-hour baking class with Casa Diodoros’s pizza chef, mastering the artwork of conventional Sicilian bread and pizza, sprinkled with seasonal toppings from the park larder.
Duomo, Ragusa
Streets lined with pastel Baroque palaces that peter out into little cave homes peering throughout the Hyblean Mountains, Ragusa Ibla is a storybook city with a extra Brothers Grimm taste than its splendidly grand, South Eastern Baroque cousins that dot the UNESCO-listed Val di Noto. Its structure alone retains a continuing stream of holiday makers, wanting to snooze in up-lit “cave rooms” and admire the flamboyant, baby-blue palazzi sandwiching the puppet theaters. But its previous city can also be a siren name for the gourmands, who beeline for its assortment of plush, moodily-lit eating places, Duomo being the primary. Helmed by main Sicilian chef, Ciccio Sultano, two-Michelin star Duomo is unfold throughout 4 rooms—an ideal sliver of Baroque Palazzo La Rocco. The philosophy is easy: supply the perfect Sicilian produce from native suppliers, typically utilizing conventional strategies, as culinary creativity is misplaced on substandard substances. As such, Sicily’s best, salt-infused bounty is whipped up into creative plates honoring Sicily’s mosaic-like historical past of a number of occupiers. Punters can choose for the ingenious (not overly kooky or frothy) eight-course tasting menu with a Sicilian-focused wine pairing, or veer off piste with three or 4 bigger dishes: rock fish Palermo fashion with eggplant; unctuous spaghetti with muscle “lips” eel and wild fennel; an intriguing twist on the common-or-garden caprese salad; or tender Sicilian lamb that slices like butter and thwacks style buds with little or no assist in the herb division. Everything, from the perfectly-formed Sicilian cassata puddings (an Arab-influenced Catanian basic) all the best way to the wafer-thin glasses and artwork, reveals Sultano’s exacting requirements.