Sicily, 2023
This year we successfully navigated ourselves through a full-blown Sicilian road trip, up and down the western coast. We flew into Catania, drove up to Palermo, then ventured down through Scopello, Menfi, Agrigento, and lastly, Noto. Our days were equal parts adventure and relaxation, just as Poseidon would have wanted.
While arriving at our first stop on the trip in Scopello, there was a recent wildfire that was still smoldering (and in some cases still burning) along the road. Luckily Scopello was well fortified and we had a few days of bad air quality but eventually the lightning and wildfires passed and we got an epic stretch of good weather. We passed time walking around to the local beaches and dined out in the tiny town square. There were only a handful of restaurants, so we were able to try most! Highlights included a local pesto pasta with anchovies and sun-dried tomatoes as well as birthday linguine with clams. On our last night in Scopello, we stumbled into an amazing view of the full blue moon over the Palermo coast that was too good to be true. I’ve never eaten so much seafood in my life.
We had a choice when leaving Scopello to take the coast and see some more beaches, or go inland to wine country to check out some of the Agritourismos in Menfi. We chose the latter as some friends had tipped us off to a beautiful vineyard and hotel where we hung poolside while we dined on wine & cheese platters until it was time to hit the road again. The property was a sun-soaked relaxation dream with busy and erupting herb gardens that attracted local pollinators as well as an underground greenhouse restaurant that we were sad to not be able to enjoy.
From Menfi, we zipped over to Agrigento which was a more rural cityscape built along the western coast. Amongst the hills, we visited ancient Greek ruins and toured the seaside that’s famous for its iconic white rock formations, called the Turkish steps. The most interesting element of Sicily was that it was ruled by so many different cultures throughout its history. This was most apparent in the food, borrowing styles from a melting pot of Mediterranean cultures. In Agrigento, we stayed at a countryside Agrotourismo that had its own functional farm and homemade wares. Mornings were spent enjoying fresh fruit, pastries, and farm-to-table yogurt, and in the evening you would dine with the rest of the guests for a home made traditional 3-course Sicilian dinner. On the last night we took a cooking class where we learned traditional pasta making techniques as well as their recently featured on Netflix meatball recipe.
As hard as it was to leave Agrigento, we were excited for our last stop in Noto where we had a beautiful boutique hotel stay lined up and the ancient town of Noto to explore. Noto was what you would expect if the architecture of Rome and Monopoli combined. The baroque architecture was truly one-of-a-kind with grand cathedrals, opera houses, and some of the finest dining we experienced on the trip. Here we missed the beaches of Scopello and Agrigento, but the evenings spent walking around the white walled town at sunset were some of the most stunning views we had on the trip. On our last night, the town was celebrating its All Saints Day so the square in front of the Cathedral were lined for a Baroque style parade and entertainment was spilling out into the streets long after sunset. Making for a celebratory final night on our Sicilian vacation.
