21-02-2014
Sesame spaghetti with tuma cheese, sea lettuce, mauro seaweed, lapsang souchong at Ciccio Sultano’s Duomo, 2 Michelin stars restaurant in Ragusa Ibla, tel. +39.0932.651265
Corrado Assenza is right to complain that tourists only go to Sicily in spring and summer and thus miss the scents of the winter. We do as Corrado recommends: we go there in February. Four days in Val di Noto. They’re few but enough for a good revise, a few new performances (the poetry of Marzamemi; the beauty of the countryside just out of Noto, among olive, almond and citrus fruits trees; the view of Villa Romana del Casale in Piazza Armerina; the stern charm of Caltagirone; the pop-culture visit to Punta Secca aka “Vigata”, Montalbano’s retreat by the sea), new faces turn into friends, new gastronomic expeditions-excursions. Sometimes noble, sometimes not, they’re always full of emotion, worth noting down and recommending to friends.
In Scicli, to begin with, a light (though not so much) lunch, straight away at Pomodoro, in Via Garibaldi, where gentleness, simplicity, quality, good raw materials (the Raw red Sicilian prawns and scampi were exemplary, same goes for the Spaghetti with Scampi) are a guarantee of satisfaction and digestibility, while respecting the territory and the seasons.
Spaghetti with carrots by Consiglio di Sicilia in Donnalucata (Ragusa), tel. +39.340.9448923
Scicli's great sightseeing (photo Girasicilia)
Two appetizers were offered to kill the time, bread and grissini were fragrant, the chairs comfortable, the tables were wide, the sitting room made you feel at home, one of those places in which to linger and to which return (at lunchtime perhaps, taking advantage of the 45 euro menu, a real bargain). 1. to be continued
Reviews, recommendations and trends from Italy, signed by all the authors of Identità Golose
by
Journalist, a life dedicated to sports as a reporter, he's in charge of the food and travel section of the Gazzettino di Venezia