May 22, 2004

We had decided to drive around the area during the morning for a couple hours before meeting Daniele and his family in Modica for lunch. We got off the beaten path and took a small road to a town called Scicli in the very southeast corner of the island. Scicli is described in Michelin as a “quiet, crumbling Baroque town with few sights”. While it may have few sites, I enjoyed the town because there was not a tourist in sight!

Scicli is a small, working-class town that is charming and special. There are narrow lanes that weave throughout the town and I enjoyed seeing mothers walking their children to school, street cleaners sweeping the piazzas and townspeople living life.

We met Daniele in Modica Bassa (the lower part of Modica as opposed to the Upper part which is called Alta) and he walked us immediately to a very famous old pasticceria (sweet shop) called Antica Dolceria Bonajuto. The shop is known throughout Italy for its 'mpanatigghi (empanadas filled with meat and chocolate). The place is also famous for its grainy dark chocolate that is cold-milled the way the Conquistadors learned it from the Aztecs. Daniele asked permission to see the factory behind the shop and we were led straight into the kitchen. There, we watched the chocolate being made. While in the kitchen, I got my first taste of their chocolate. Their reputation is deserved. Wow! Some of the best chocolate I have ever had. (And I’ve eaten a lot of the Swiss and French stuff.) Check them out online at www.bonajuto.it

View image of Antica Bonajuto in Modica

After the chocolate store tour, we walked to Daniele’s favorite restaurant in Modica called Fattoria del Torre at Vica Napolitano 14. Daniele claims that after Il Duomo, this restaurant is the best in southeast Sicily. The food was carefully prepared and wonderful. We ordered a bottle of Cerasuolo, a local varietal. I had tasted some of this wine earlier on the trip and enjoyed it. It is really dry and light in color. For hot Sicilian days, this stuff, slightly chilled, is GREAT with seafood. The full name of the wine is Cerasuolo di Vittoria and it’s mostly made from Frappato grapes.

While I’m on the subject of wines, I’d like to say that, I was more impressed with the Sicilian white wines than the reds. Every Chardonnay I drank tasted fruity and clean. I tasted wines from wineries that I had read about and are known throughout Italy. These wineries included Planeta, Morgante, Tasca d’Almerita, Donnafugata, Cusumano and Cos.

I was thankful to Daniele for the Sicilian travel information that he provided. To show our appreciation, we planned to treat him to the meal but he insisted on paying. He explained to me as we were walking out of the restaurant that Sicilians are bound to “honor” their guests. He brought up the fact that the Arabs were occupants here for a long time and that this generosity could be traced to them. (As if he and the Italians had no say in the matter!)

We walked back to the chocolate store and introduced ourselves to the owner, Franco Ruta and his son Pierpaolo who both happened to be there. Both of them know Piero, the chef in LA as well as our friend, Stephano Sampson who is a chef at Piero’s flagship restaurant Valentino. Also, while there, we gave regards to an associate of the Ruta family named Innocenzo who Stephano was good friends with when he was cooking in Ragusa. Franco and Piero filled a basket of goodies for us and sent us on our way. What luck!

While on the subject of food, I should also mention here that Daniele had recommended one other important restaurant in Modica called Taverna Nicastro (Via S. Antonino 28, +39 9329-45884). According to Frommer’s, “this is an unpretentious place serving the home cooking of Modica. Scaccie modicana, a pastry roll stuffed with highly seasoned cabbage; salsiccia di pecora (grilled lamb sausages), creamy almond biancomangiare (blancmange). Dinner for two is about $40. Dinner only, Tuesday to Saturday.”

View image of Modica

We spent the rest of the afternoon in Noto. Long considered Sicily's preeminent "Baroque City,” Noto was completely destroyed in the earthquake that struck Sicily in 1693. The present site of Noto was rebuilt from scratch, and almost entirely in the Baroque style. According to the guidebooks, until recently, the town’s buildings were falling into disrepair. In 1996, the dome of the Baroque cathedral collapsed! While walking through Noto, we discovered that almost all of the buildings were undergoing repairs and renovations. It seemed as if the whole town was remodeling. We quickly forgot about this though the moment we walked into Caffe Sicilia.

Caffé Sicilia dates from 1892 and is located right in the center of things at Corso Vittorio Emanuele (+39 9318-35013). We ordered the first granitas (finely ground, flavored ices) of the trip. Fantastic. Also, I have heard praise from 2 different sources about their cactus pear jam and jasmine flower and orange gelato. We had been asked by our friend in Los Angeles to say hello to Corrado Assenza, the owner, but he wasn’t in. I sat in front of this place with my granita looking out at the Baroque church in the Piazza while Stephanie took Emily on a walk. I wore a big smile.

Before we move on to the rest of our day I also need to plug a restaurant and gelateria called “Il Barocco” that we never had time to visit. Our LA chef friend strongly maintains that they have the best gelato in Sicily. I don’t know if this is true (email me fair reader if you make it there) but will present the following item from Frommer’s: “Il Barocco is located at Via Cavour, 8 at the corner of Ronco Sgadari. What is probably the most whimsical, charming, and lighthearted of Noto's restaurants occupies what was built in the 1700s as the stable block for a historic palace. Tables sit beneath gracefully vaulted ceilings, beside walls that former clients have ‘autographed’ in heavy markers with often-personalized messages for the extroverted owner, Graziella. Seafood is well handled. Daily noon-3:30pm; 5-11:30pm.”

We finished up our walking tour of Noto by visiting the balconies of the Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata. These balconies were ornamented with arrays of cherubs, horses, mermaids and “grotesque” figures. The balconies are beautiful. In fact, underneath all of the scaffolding and building equipment, I would imagine that Noto is a beautiful city.

View image of Palazzo Nicolaci Balcony in Noto

As with the rest of the “Baroque Cities” province of Ragusa, we wish we had more time to visit Noto. But, alas, we needed to get to Syracuse where we have made arrangements to sleep the night at a B&B run by a travel group called “Sleep in Sicily”. We got to Syracuse in under an hour.

Like most tourists, once in Syracuse, we immediately headed across the Ponte Nuovo Bridge to the older section of town called Ortygia. The streets were extremely narrow and because of this, we were cautioned twice during our drive to the B&B to park the car and walk. We went to Sicily for the adventure so we stuck it out.

Syracuse is an absolutely gorgeous city. We were immediately struck by the dilapidated elegance and style of the streets, shops and sites. Although the walls are worn and the sites brown and fading, there is a stately grandeur to this place. It is obvious that this has been and is a wealthy town. Fancy boutiques, restaurants and cafés cater to throngs of tourists. But Syracuse easily manages to not be a touristy place because it is a vibrant and working Sicilian city in its own right. It quickly became our favorite city in Sicily – and perhaps all of southern Italy. We were “hooked” with its charm.

We arrived to the B&B of Dr. Massimiliano Rivello around nightfall. The place was located on a second floor in the heart of Ortygia at Via delle Vergini, 20. (At dusk, the city is bathed in a dreamy, romantic light.) Dr. Rivello, who calls himself Max, explained that he is very interested in developing a high service level of accommodation in Sicily. You can contact him within Italy at +39 3397-995936 www.sleepinsicily.com.

There were two other places outside Syracuse that had both been highly recommended that I must mention. The first was “Le Case del Feudo”, www.casadelfeudo.it, which occupies the former granaries and wine cellars of a large estate. I learned from a recent New York Times article that the owner organizes dinners in the palace and picnics on the nearby Ciane River. Rooms are $50. The second place was called “Il Limoneto”, about 5 miles from Syracuse along SP14 Mare-Monti. The tranquil retreat” is set amongst acres of orange groves and orchards. Much of the food served there is supposedly from the property. You can email them at limoneto@tin.it; +39 9317-17352 or look them up online at www.agrituristsicilia.com.

Syracuse was built on an ancient Greek settlement founded by the Corinthians in 734 BC. More than any other modern city in Sicily, Syracuse displays a visible continuity with its ancient Greek past. Syracuse was the city of Archimedes and Aeschylus. It was the most important city in Magna Graecia, and for a time rivaled Athens as the most important city of the Greek world. Greek and Roman structures are ubiquitous in Syracuse; even a wall of the cathedral was part of a Roman structure, the Temple of Minerva. We saw the cathedral and the Roman wall built next to it as we took our nightly stroll.

Syracuse made Stephanie and me feel “worldly and sophisticated” so I bought a cigar at a tobacconist and planted myself at one of the many café tables in the Piazza del Duomo. There, a symphony happened to be playing. Again, the serendipity. Traveling just doesn’t get any better than that and I remember thinking how lucky I was to be drinking it all in. We had just spent an amazing travel day amongst beauty and new friends and were now enjoying the splendor of a new city. Helped along by 4 glasses of Nero d’Avola and watching Stephanie and Emily play in the piazza with the live music in the background, I can proudly say that this was the happiest moment of the trip for me.

It happened to be a Saturday night while we were in Syracuse and the locals were out in force taking their stroll. Students partied and drank in the dozens of bars, clubs are restaurants in the area. Tourists shared in this party-like atmosphere. Syracuse has a large university population. Nowhere else in Sicily did I see so many young kids. Walking home, the streets were packed tight with teenagers who drank wine and listened to live music.