Palazzo Previtera Kitchen & Bar, Linguaglossa
Wiggle up the narrow lanes of Linguaglossa, a sooty Baroque town on the slopes of Mount Etna, and you’ll reach the mustard, understated exterior of Palazzo Previtera. Inside, a nostalgic feast of Italian maximalism has been scrupulously returned to its former glory by Alfio Puglisi, whose family have owned this shrunk-in-the-wash, flamboyant palazzo since the 17th century. Alfio’s tenure is timely, with Etna’s community-focused renaissance seeing new-wave wine makers, chefs, restaurateurs, and creatives moving from European cities to the volcano’s fertile slopes. The guesthouse’s new restaurant, helmed by chef Alberto Carpinteri and chef Kaita Osumimoto (of Alto and Gagini pedigree), uses Etna’s mineral-rich offerings for an intriguing blend of Japanese and Mediterranean cuisine (expect gyoza-shaped ravioli stuffed with red porgy, or perciasacchi (a Sicilian ancient grain) tagliatelle with chicory cream and courtyard bottarga). Seasonal ingredients powering the mercifully compact tasting menu are sourced from local farmers or foraged from the volcano’s fertile slopes (grapes, saffron, mushrooms). And the restaurant itself exudes the cosiness of home, with guests tucking into Sicilian gazpacho and hanger steaks marinated in koji beneath the palazzo’s mediaeval vaulted ceilings, and alongside the chefs cooking in the traditional, marble-topped open kitchen.
Casa Diodoros, Agrigento
Only in Sicily can a gently renovated farm, now a family-run restaurant and cooking school, set around a pretty cobbled courtyard, sit mere feet below a beautifully preserved Roman temple. Indeed, Casa Diodoros lies just below the Temple of Concordia, via a herb-lined series of steps, in Agrigento’s UNESCO-listed Valley of the Temples, with a sustainable agricultural mission granting its privileged perch. Behind the warmly lit barn restaurant, lined with chicken-wire cabinets displaying the area’s history, and the flavor-packed, home-cooked classics (bean stews, traditional pasta, moreish baked ricotta and pumpkin focaccia with a warm, pillowy center), is a commitment to boosting organic production of the park’s native bounty: pistachios, almonds, saffron, ancient grains, olives, traditional fruits. To get a sense of the project, you can book in for tasting sessions and cooking workshops, such as a four-hour baking class with Casa Diodoros’s pizza chef, mastering the art of traditional Sicilian bread and pizza, sprinkled with seasonal toppings from the park larder.
Duomo, Ragusa
Streets lined with pastel Baroque palaces that peter out into little cave houses peering across the Hyblean Mountains, Ragusa Ibla is a storybook town with a more Brothers Grimm flavor than its splendidly grand, South Eastern Baroque cousins that dot the UNESCO-listed Val di Noto. Its architecture alone keeps a constant stream of visitors, eager to snooze in up-lit “cave rooms” and admire the flamboyant, baby-blue palazzi sandwiching the puppet theaters. But its old town is also a siren call for the gourmands, who beeline for its collection of plush, moodily-lit restaurants, Duomo being the first. Helmed by leading Sicilian chef, Ciccio Sultano, two-Michelin star Duomo is spread across four rooms—a perfect sliver of Baroque Palazzo La Rocco. The philosophy is simple: source the very best Sicilian produce from local suppliers, often using traditional methods, as culinary creativity is lost on substandard ingredients. As such, Sicily’s finest, salt-infused bounty is whipped up into artistic plates honoring Sicily’s mosaic-like history of multiple occupiers. Punters can opt for the inventive (not overly kooky or frothy) eight-course tasting menu with a Sicilian-focused wine pairing, or veer off piste with three or four larger dishes: rock fish Palermo style with eggplant; unctuous spaghetti with muscle “lips” eel and wild fennel; an intriguing twist on the humble caprese salad; or tender Sicilian lamb that slices like butter and thwacks taste buds with very little help in the herb department. Everything, from the perfectly-formed Sicilian cassata puddings (an Arab-influenced Catanian classic) all the way to the wafer-thin glasses and art, reveals Sultano’s exacting standards.
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