Sign in with Facebook
Cefalu washed with evening sunlight
Column mural, Castelbuono
Market in Palermo
Duomo, with wonderful piazza...Sicilian Pastry
Sicilian pastry is great! It has strong influences from the Arabic world and the basic component is almond, or "marzapane": a sweet paste obtained by almonds, sugar, egg yolk and "acqua di zagare", i.e. orange-flowers water. Pistache is also very important, as the area of Bronte (on the North-East slope of Etna volcano) is the only traditional producing area in Italy and the fruits are considered of the top quality.
"Frutta martorana" is fruit-shaped marzapane, painted with vivid colours. "Cassata" is a mixture of marzapane with wheat flour and candies and many more sweets and cakes. "Granita" is a special kind of ice-cream (possibly the mother of ice-cream), made with a sweet syrup with fruits juice or coffe: it is continuosly shaked within a freezing contanier, so that the final result is ice micro-granules with fruit/coffe taste in it. A typical summer preparation is coffee granita, which is a "must" anywhere in Sicily.
Bread is also very good, it is normally baked using durum wheat flour, and sesame seeds are commonly spead on the surface. I had a wonderful experience in a small - but delicious - place in the heart of Madonie, which is called Petralia Soprana. Go to the baker's (Maria Guarnuto - Via Collegio 9 - 0921 641685) and try her bread and her biscuits: they are wonderful!
