Today we want to share with you one of our favourite adventures to date – our journey to Sicily! It had been a dream of ours for several years to visit the island together, and it didn’t disappoint; as well as being incredibly beautiful, it really is one of the best places for street food that we’ve visited!
Our Sicilian journey started in the island’s capital, Palermo. Giordano’s grandfather was from the province of Agrigento, making Tigellae’s head chef 1/4 Sicilian! His grandad’s youngest brother, Salvatore, lives in the centre of Palermo with his daughter and her family, and they were really happy to let us stay with them for the first night of our holiday – in fact, we know that they wouldn’t have had it any other way! It was a brilliant start to the holiday; Laura got the chance to learn about a side of Giordano’s family that she’d never met before and we also got to see some photos of Giordano’s dad – who has been a chef himself for almost 40 years – as a young boy. We chatted for hours, enjoyed several glasses of wine and a whole host of fried specialities from their local takeaway, including chips, mini pizzas, fritters, mozzarella balls, potato croquettes and a whole lot more besides! A huge THANK YOU must go to Salvatore, Giusy, Piero and Rosemary for looking after us!
The following morning we woke up to find that Salvatore had sneaked out early to a stall in the local market to buy us breakfast. He arrived with a brown paper bag containing a Sicilian speciality known as an iris. It was deep-fried, lightly crunchy on the outside and looked a little bit like an oversized doughnut, but instead of being doughy on the inside it was stuffed full of sugary ricotta with a tiny blob of jam right in the centre. It was not a light breakfast, but it was gorgeous!
We’re told by a friend from Catania (Palermo’s rival city) that where he comes from the iris are usually filled with cream instead of ricotta. Laura is already planning another extensive visit to Sicily so she can check this out! The iris was the perfect fuel for a half day of sightseeing around Palermo with our tour guide Salvatore! It was a gorgeously sunny day, around 35° and no clouds in the sky. Here’s Laura and Salvatore in Piazza San Domenico (which was also Giordano’s grandad’s name!).
We started with a walk through some of the city’s side streets, where one of the first things we found was a copy of a famous painting that we’d been hoping to find. In 1974, a Sicilian artist called Renato Guttuso painted his most famous work, a depiction of La Vucciria, Palermo’s famous food market. There are copies of the painting to be found throughout the city and it depicts all sorts of lively characters and their interactions, plus the wide variety of food on sale in the market stalls.
We found the entrance to the Vucciria and walked right through it to see whether it still bore any resemblance to the painting. We weren’t disappointed – this was the amazing fruit and veg stall!
On the same stretch of road we found the Vucciria Taverna Azzura (the blue tavern), one of the oldest bars in Palermo. Salvatore told us a story about himself, Giordano’s grandad and a priest all getting drunk together in this bar, which to us sounds a bit like the start of a joke!
A word of warning: by all means hire a car to get around and see Sicily, but for the love of cheese DO NOT drive in the middle of Palermo unless you are Sicilian and used to the roads. Cars overtake each other left, right and centre and people on scooters cut straight across you, or block the roads entirely like these people. There are no rules!
Religion is hugely important in Sicilian culture and Salvatore gave us an extensive tour of Sicily’s many beautiful churches, including the Martorana, which is filled with gold details and beautiful mosaics like the ones below.
We also got to see the Quattro Canti, a stunning Baroque Square in central Palermo which sits at the crossing of the city’s two main streets. Four near-identical buildings face each other, decorated with fountains that have statues of the four seasons, the four Spanish kings of Sicily, and the patronesses of Palermo.
After a lovely morning of visiting churches, learning about Palermo’s famous landmarks and digesting our ricotta-filled breakfast, it was time for a spot of lunch! This was where Laura got to experience proper Sicilian street food from a roadside vendor for the first time. A friend from Palermo had told us that no visit to the city was complete without trying pane e panelle.
Panelle are Sicilian fritters made with chickpea flour, served in a sandwich with your favourite filling. We got ours from the Friggitoria Chiluzzo, a brilliant, no-nonsense street food stall right in the heart of Palermo, in a beautiful square by the sea.
Laura had a delicious pane e panelle con melanzane (aubergines) Salvatore went for a pane e panelle with cazzilli (small potato croquettes with parsley) and Giordano ate the biggest arancina we’ve ever seen – here’s the recipe for you to try at home!
Did we mention that they love deep-fried food in Sicily? As if that wasn’t enough, they also threw in some broccoletti (marinated broccoli florets in batter) for us all to try. They were perfectly cooked, not too greasy and absolutely amazing! 2 pane e panelle, one massive arancino, broccoletti, two soft drinks and a beer for the grand total of 8 euros (around £5.60)!! We love Sicily!! 😉
After lunch we were joined by Salvatore’s granddaughter Rosemary, and together we headed up to the Santuario di Santa Rosalia, a beautiful shrine built into the side of a mountain above Palermo. Santa Rosalia is the patron saint of Palermo and this place of worship was built in her honour in the 17th century.
Many people come to the santuario to pray to Santa Rosalia, asking her to bring them important things they have longed for, such as marriage and children. This is the reason why the entrance to the shrine is adorned with many gifts of thanks to Santa Rosalia including a graduation hat, baby clothes and a wedding dress.
The shrine is also close to a steep, wooded road known as the Salita Monte Pellegrino that leads even further up in to the mountains, until you come to a point where you can look down of the city centre and the beautiful blue sea below. It’s a big, uphill walk, and definitely worth it for this view!
After a wonderful 24 hours in the company of Palermo and Giordano’s family, we hopped in our hire car – which would come to be known as the Adventure Panda – and headed west on the next stage of our Sicilian journey.
A presto!