Sicily Summer Guide: Best Towns, Beaches and Food

We’ve been to Sicily more than once, and every time, we love it even more. In this episode, we’re talking our favorite towns, beaches, foods, and stories from multiple summer trips across the island. From our apartment near Syracuse during covid summer, to our favorite spots in Ragusa and Marsala, cooking classes in Taormina, and the best pizza we have ever had in Palermo. This is our personal guide to a slow, sun-soaked Sicilian summer. Whether you’re planning your first trip or your fifth, this episode has all the details you need to fall in love with Sicily.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello and welcome back. I'm Lisa. And I'm Erin. And this is the Getaways Podcast. So can we talk about yesterday? Yes, let's do it. So much fun. We went to a champagne and wine festival in Amsterdam. And also to a food truck festival.

SPEAKER_02 0:23

The largest food truck festival, I believe, in the world. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

I mean, I've never, ever, ever seen so many food trucks in my life. And it was packed.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

I got pictures from above. We were we went when we walked home. We walked home from a hill above. And it was being down in it, I had no idea how crowded. I knew it was crowded.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

It was crowded, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:41

But I had no idea how crowded till I got up above it. And I was like, oh, how'd we even get through there?

SPEAKER_01 0:46

I know it wasn't easy. But they and they had like every single kind of food you could possibly imagine.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

But do you know what the most popular was? Duck Mex? The taco truck. There was a line probably an hour and a half long.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Yeah. And we did not wait.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

We didn't.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Um, but super fun. And the champagne festival was really, really nice and fun. And some champagnes I'd never seen before. And we've been to the region several times. And it was, we got an introduction to a lot of different ones.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

And they had a lobster smash burger truck, which was. Which was so good. Oh, forget about it.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Yeah, really, really good. But that's sort of the really fun part of summer in the Netherlands is that every weekend there is an event, at least one event.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

At least one in every town. Amsterdam's particularly good at it.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

But everywhere has some. This weekend the slide went up in Rotterdam from the top of the Maritime Museum down. The whole downtown of Rotterdam has got like big bull beach balls and blow-ups, all like it's summer.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Yeah. No, and it's just it's so nice. And most of the stuff to get into is free. The champagne festival, we had to buy tickets.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

Yeah, but it was$14 and you got a free glass.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

You did get a free glass that said FET on it. Um but yeah, I mean it's it's all affordable and it's all I mean, that's not to say the champagne wasn't expensive, but to to get out and do stuff is inexpensive, accessible, and frequent. Like it's really pretty cool that you get to be with the community and events like that just on such a regular basis.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

Just from living here for a couple years, I feel like, especially when the weather starts getting nice like it has been, the Dutch people look for anything, any excuse to be outside and just to live in it. And it's great.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Yeah. I mean, even yesterday I was walking Rex by the lake right near our house. And um, and people had pulled out a table and set up a bar and like a little buffet, and people were just having a party, like a pop-up party, just right there.

SPEAKER_02 2:40

Yeah, I watched a TikTok video and we've seen it in Amsterdam, but it was talking about how the people in Amsterdam, or even here I see it on Bergweg. Um, if you live in an apartment, they just bring a cardboard table down to the sidewalk, set up a table, and just hang out outside on the sidewalk. And nobody looks at them like they're crazy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Yeah. No, it's really it's a it's a nice time, especially because the winters here are tough. So I feel like when when it's nice, everybody, everybody is so grateful and so happy to be outside and so happy to be part of a community.

SPEAKER_02 3:11

Yes. So the moral of the story is even after the tulips are gone and King's Day is over, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, still a great place to come visit. Lots of fun to be had. All right. So speaking of fun to be had, we're gonna stick with summer. And and today we're gonna talk about my personal favorite. Like yours was Croatia, yes?

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Well, I mean, if you're talking about Italy favorite, it's you know, it's so hard because everybody, everywhere is so lovely.

SPEAKER_02 3:38

I mean in when you say favorite, it's just like the the top of the favorites because they're all great. But my personal favorite, I know it's not yours, is Sicily. I love Sicily, and we've I've been there three times, and I would go back every year if I could, but not everybody in my circle likes to go to Sicily all the time.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

Well, it's not that I don't like it. I always want to go someplace we've never been before. No, I do too. And B, it's not easy to get to with the puppy dog. It's not. And C, the beaches are amazing. There's a lot of history, but there's also a lot of the middle of the island, there's not a whole lot to do besides the cities and some same with Sardinia. Yeah, but it's a little more lush on the inside. Sardinia or Sicily is like a desert on the inside.

SPEAKER_02 4:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Anyway, let's dive in. Okay, so I've been there twice, you've been there three times.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

I have, yes.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

So do you want to start with your first time and your introduction?

SPEAKER_02 4:34

Yeah. So the first time we went, so we moved here in 2017, and um, through Dylan's basketball team, he made a friend, and his family and Dylan and I went to Sicily uh the first summer after our first year in Florence, and they they had connections there, like work connections. So we we got two beach bungalows on the beach, not fancy, like it was in a like a campsite.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Yeah, they call it camping, but it's a it's a hard structure.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

It's a hard structure, it has bathroom, two bedrooms, kitchen's outside, it has air conditioning, which is that's important to me. So Dylan's friend's dad wanted to make sure we saw the island, saw everything great about the island. So he took us to Ortizia, he took us to Marzamemi, he took us to Noto, he took us to Ragusa, he took us to the uh I call it the Valley of the Gods. Is that what it's called?

SPEAKER_01 5:27

Oh, that's what I've always called it.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

Yeah, so I call it the Valley of the Gods. Um, we didn't go north, we didn't go to uh Catania, we didn't go to Palermo, we didn't go to Tormino, we didn't go to um Sheffaloo, but we stayed south and but we saw everything and we feasted like Sicilians the first night we were there. He was friends with all the people in this village, and it was this woman's like 87th birthday, and so they had a big dinner for us, and we sat at this dinner. But in Sicily, what I will tell you that I learned is they don't eat dinner till well after 10 o'clock, like well after 10 o'clock. Sometimes we weren't getting served dinner till midnight, and both of the boys were already asleep in their chairs, but we did everything on the south part of the island, and I just I fell in love with it and I told Lisa we've got to go back, like and we did, and we did go back, we went back COVID summer, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

And then we stayed in Syracusa for the right outside of Saracusa, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:24

In a really nice uh nice apartment that had a huge yard, it was right on the sea, kind of a bay. So from our house we could see Saraco, right?

SPEAKER_01 6:35

And we could so when you went down to the sea from that house, there was cliffs on one side and then a beach on the other. And so it was perfect for us to go down and do our after dinner swim every night because we could take Rex. Or it was Cash then. Sorry, Rex.

SPEAKER_02 6:50

Yeah, but Cash didn't go. You guys went in the water. I wouldn't go in the water from the cliffs because I like to see where I'm going, and it from the cliffs you're just going into deep. So we would see Lisa and Dylan off, then Cash and I would go out, go to the street, go down to houses and go to the beach and meet them at the beach.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Um, but we'd always watch the sunset out there, and it was just so beautiful. And we had this great yard, which I think one of the things that I may have said this before, that I love about Italian summers are eating outside and like having dinner in you know, in the patio or in the yard or the outdoor kitchen whole aspect. Like it's such a Italian thing, too. Yeah, it's it feels so Italian, and you hear all you hear is clicking and people talking at that time of night.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

Yeah, but I would tell you when we would eat outside in Sicily, especially, we were always eating way before everybody else. Remember, we would close curtains and be like, I hope they don't see us eating. When we go to bed, we hear clicking, okay?

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Um, but yeah, but it was, I mean, and Syracuse has uh and Ortizia have a lot of ruins, Roman ruins, a lot, and history, and you know, just walking around and and the market. The market's incredible.

SPEAKER_02 8:06

Ortizia is fantastic. It's fantastic, and they've got the best pistachios.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

And you can do, I know you bought my like$50. Um, but it's one of those places where you can go to the market, they'll open the oysters for you right there, hand you like a plastic cup of wine, and you eat oysters and drink wine while you're doing your shopping for dinner. Like it's such a cool experience to be and it's so local and authentic, and just it's my favorite.

SPEAKER_02 8:37

I I I totally agree. Ortigia is like a little island just right off of Saraco. So you have to go through Saraco to get to Ortega and you just cross this little bridge. So it's kind of part of Saracusa, but it is it, it's a like an ancient village. It's so cool. There's so many like alleyways and places to walk. It's there's not like one main big road. Yeah. So I've gone twice on it's called an Appa tour. Appy, right? Appy is Appy. Yeah, it means ants. Yeah. So they're like these little tuk-tucks, but they're motorized basically. And they I love them. I love a train, I love a tuck-tuck, I love all that stuff. So um, but the one I went on with Lisa and Dylan, the guy was great, and he goes, I'm gonna take you to my family's restaurant and show you something that nobody's seen. And he took us, which we think he says that to everybody, right? We still felt special. We did feel special. So he takes us through this restaurant and then down these stairs to like an old Roman bath, like the that still had water.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:36

It was crazy. It was crazy.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

Um, but yeah, I feel like I feel like that part of Sicily, like every way you turn, it's things are so historic and ancient and have such a history that you can't even begin to wrap your head around.

SPEAKER_02 9:53

I feel like all of Sicily's that way, to be honest. Like, I don't feel like it's been built up much.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

Well, there's obviously stuff that's been built on top of like that.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

But um, but yeah, I mean, I there's layers and layers and layers of history. And and it's it's definitely worth exploring. I don't want to give off the vibe that I'm like anti-Sicily. It's just there's pl some places that I enjoy more, but there's there's a lot of there's a lot of history to be seen, even you know, taking away the beaches and all of the things that you think about when you think of something.

SPEAKER_02 10:26

Yeah, I think the dis difference between you and me is you would be perfectly happy at a place where we could do the beach all day or hike in nature all day.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

And eat.

SPEAKER_02 10:35

And eat. I like to have city stuff too, not like big city, but I like to go to villages. I like to like be do like I like to be in a town sometimes. So I like also to explore our historical towns. I don't, I just they make me feel good. So that's why I love Sicily so much. But what I will say about Ortizia is you can you can get lost for days if you wanted to, like in the tiny little alleys. Yeah, it's so nice. But so our house was outside of Saracusa, so we had access to all the beaches around.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Yeah. And the thing about where we were, but I think it's it's true of most of Sicily, there are like you have to carry cash because there's all these little like fruit and vegetable stands. Yeah, like as you're driving down these little streets that you can get amazing food at.

SPEAKER_02 11:21

But so from this house, we had access, we went to Noto from this house. Yeah. And um, because we were almost all close to Noto as well as Saracusa from where we were. Yeah, like a 25-minute drive from Noto. Noto is also an ancient village that has a great um what is it what are they called? Church. It's a cathedral. It's a cathedral. Yeah. Um well it's their duomo, but like with a big staircase. It was I I love it. I love Noto. They have a good gelato.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

I had my very first cannoli in Noto.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

You did?

SPEAKER_01 11:52

Uh-huh. In Noto? Yeah, at that. Um, it was a restaurant down all the way past, like we walked for a bit, and I'm sure we were eating it like right at noon. Remember? And it was off to the left.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

Oh, yeah. And we were there wasn't very many people there. There was hardly anyone there. Yeah, and there was no window.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

I think we were eating it like oh, that's always your first canolo. The canolo.

SPEAKER_02 12:11

That's that's a single cannoli. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

No, I don't think I had one though. I think I had the two little.

SPEAKER_02 12:15

You didn't have them in Ortesia first.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

No.

SPEAKER_02 12:18

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

And that was that lunch was good too.

SPEAKER_02 12:21

That was, I'll put I think I have it on the website, but if not, I'll put it up there. I've got all the beaches. I've already got a beach guide up on the website, so you can check all that out. Because the beaches there are fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

And then so we we were at that house for one week or two weeks?

SPEAKER_02 12:34

We were I don't remember because this was our it was COVID summer, and we went from there to Sardinia for a week. So we must have been two weeks because we spent two nights in Ragusa.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

Right. Which created a love for Ragusa that made us go back there the next time.

SPEAKER_02 12:50

Yeah, which we fell in love immediately. We stayed in the coolest hotel.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

Yeah, coolest hotel, yeah. Um, and then the town is just really special. It's on a hill, so you have to be prepared to walk up. But it's a really cool town with great, great restaurants. So the town, we took the train ride in Ragusa because you love a train.

SPEAKER_02 13:12

I love a train.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Um, but it's a really cute, cute town with really one main main street, um, and then you know, offshoots. But we had great food there, really nice shopping. We got um tablecloth. Your tablecloth, yeah. Really just kind of a great place to get lost. And yeah, like you said, great gelato. Um, Cash and I would walk along sort of the edge of the city, which is you kind of look down on a forest. Remember where we parked that one like the first day? Yeah. Where there's kind of it's a sidewalk, but it feels like you're in nature because there's all these like beautiful areas down below with water and trees and whatever. Yeah, it's just a really kind of unique and special little city.

SPEAKER_02 13:55

It's amazing. And so it's Ragusa, and it's about a 20-minute drive up a mountain from the sea. But our hotel had a beach club down at the beach. Remember when they set us up with two chairs? Yeah, and so we drove down to Marina di Ragusa to the beach down there. I love that beach.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

That's one of my favorite beaches.

SPEAKER_02 14:13

I love that beach so much. It's shallow out to a certain point, it's clear, it's not super crowded. So I mean, that's why we went back. We went back to stay in Marina di Ragusa the next time we went to Sicily.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

And I love the sand there because it's like there's little flecks of gold, and like if the sun hits it just right, like it's literally like gold and turquoise like coming together um between the water and the sand, and it's just really, really special.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

In 2022, we went back to Sicily with our friend Katie, and we stayed in Marina di Ragusa that time, and we stayed we went to the same beaches, but we did like um a wine tasting. What's the vineyard? Donna Fugata. Donna Fugata. That was so nice, and it's the biggest wine in Sicily, I think.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Well, and it's I mean, I most people have heard of it because it they they export so much. There's like one of the biggest export companies in Italy.

SPEAKER_02 15:06

Yeah, they have a partnership with Dolce and Gabbana, and so Dolce Gabbana designed some of their labels, which is what I just love. But we went to this, and the vineyard is huge and beautiful, and we had like this fantastic aperativa with our tasting.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

That was a really good tasting, and it's also nice because I think we got like five different wines to taste because they make a lot of different variations and a lot of different um, I think they have red and white, and the minerality is very, very strong in their well, and I guess all of Sicilian wine because of the sea breeze. Oh, yeah. Because it was, it's built on the hill. And so the the sea breeze comes up and it gets a constant wind. And the interesting thing that we learned, well, I learned in wine school, but then we talked about it there, was that it's so dry and they are usually you are not allowed to irrigate at all. Right, right. And they don't actually have to, even though it's so dry, because they get so much of a sea breeze coming up and in, that it's incredibly rare that they actually have to use any sort of irrigation. So interesting, interesting thought.

SPEAKER_02 16:09

Interesting. Well, now is Donna Fugati, would you consider that an Aetna wine? No, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:14

No. Um, no, but um, because that's Aetna's on the other side. Yeah. But um, but yeah, there's still a super high minerality because of the sea.

SPEAKER_02 16:23

If you haven't tried Sicilian wine, you should. It's it's really good.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

And what's nice about their reds is that they're like summery reds. You know, I think when people think of red wine, they think of a little bit more wintery, a little bit more cold weather, a little more heavy. And that's not the case with Sicilian wines.

SPEAKER_02 16:38

So after Roguta, on our way to Sardinia, we had to go out of Palermo. So we stopped for two nights in Tormina. And Tormino is beautiful. Uh, it's not on the sea. You have to take a gondola. Is it a gondola? I guess. You have to take a gondola from Tormina down to the beaches, but the beaches are beautiful there.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

But yeah, the beaches are really, or that beach that we went to was really, really but beautiful. Beautiful. And um, and the water was really very warm.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

That's where all the fancy hotels of Tormina are down there on the beach.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Yeah. But Tormina's a little fancy in general.

SPEAKER_02 17:13

Tormina is a little fancy. It's fancy.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

And we went to a fancy cooking class.

SPEAKER_02 17:17

We did. So there's this place called Villa Britannica, and it is a villa, a beautiful villa that you can stay at. It's so cool. And it's an Italian man and his British wife, and then they have she has a Italian chef with her, and they have a they you cook your meal. You learn how to cook. We learned how to make capanata.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

And then the best thing we had semifredo for the first time.

SPEAKER_02 17:44

Uh, was that our first time to have semi? Oh, semi freddo.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

Is it's like it's like half melted ice cream, but that doesn't really do it.

SPEAKER_02 17:52

With like ice crystals.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

And and we had um pistachio. Yeah. And so there was like little chunks of nuts, and oh my god, like life-changing. It was a dream, especially when it's that hot. It's like the perfect ending to a great meal. Like it was, and we we cooked inside and then um And you feel like you're in your own kitchen with friends, like she was great.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

Louisa, I think was her name.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

Yeah, but so we cooked inside the kitchen and then they brought our food when it was ready out to the terrace. And so, you know, sea views, perfect food, because we made it, and um, and just like such a fun experience. Definitely hit up Villa Boschannica. Yeah, I mean, whether it's for a cooking class or just I'm sure staying there is fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

Yeah, the rooms are beautiful, and I think they have another villa now, too. I thought I saw that on her Instagram page. Also, we had great meals. Every meal we ate there was great. Yeah, so you can't go wrong in Toromina. It's hot. It's hot. Yeah. And then we went to Palermo to go out of Palermo to go to Sardinia.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

And uh Palermo is a special place in terms of you have to pick and choose very carefully of where you go. And we you wanted to avoid the port. And we didn't know that. And we didn't know that. And it is more convenient to be near the port to, you know, get your ferry in and out. Um, but I don't recommend it.

SPEAKER_02 19:22

Like once you get in from the port, I love Palermo. There's there's great stuff in there, but the port, the port area was just a little um on the outside of town, I think.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

Yeah, it's a little um it's a little different personality there.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

Yeah. But Palermo's a beautiful place. There's great food there. They have a really big, huge market. Yeah. Um and they have the best pizza in the whole world. I mean, don't you think it's the best pizza you've ever had?

SPEAKER_01 19:52

Yeah, and not traditional. I mean, they have some traditional stuff, but they also do a spit on it, which is nice.

SPEAKER_02 19:56

But and it's right by the port, but it's called Art A Sort of. And I swear to God, it was the best pizza that I've ever put in my mouth. And now I want to go back to Palermo all the time.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

Yeah. No, it's definitely, definitely worth going to the um my my not so favorite side of Palermo to have dinner.

SPEAKER_02 20:14

Definitely. So so then that was our first trip. And then we told you that we went back to Marina di Ragusa with Katie on our second trip together there. And we stayed in another Airbnb, which all this is up. I've got all this up on the website, um, which was a it was nice too. It had a good yard. It had a private pool. It was right across the street from the sea. It was walking distance to some of the beaches in Marina di Ragoza. I have no complaints. No. Um, and then we moved up to Marsala and we had a huge Airbnb.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

A huge yard Airbnb.

SPEAKER_02 20:49

Well, and it had like a uh casita. So there was one bedroom that was separate from the house that had its private bathroom, and then a two-bedroom house with the kitchen. The kitchen I didn't like the kitchen. There was no windows. And it was small. Yeah. Um, but the the pool and the yard and the eating area outside were like eating areas.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

There was like three different places that you could eat.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

Huge. And we took advantage, like we actually didn't see much sea on that week because we spent so much time in the pool.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

Yeah, no, it was a lovely house. And um and walkable to the beach as well. And we did, we did go. It's just it wasn't like a that wasn't our only option. So we sort of we we used everything. But I will tell you, there has never been a happier dog than Rex in this house because he would run around and chase lizards and like tear around in circles and jump in the pool and go for a swim. And it was just the happiest dog alive.

SPEAKER_02 21:43

We found that Rex is a swimmer and he'll swim even if we're not there. So we had to keep a really big eye on.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

Yeah, it was very cute.

SPEAKER_02 21:50

So we went to a Marsala wine tasting and we went to some salt mines, like they where they do the salt. Well, not mines, but where they harvest sea salt.

SPEAKER_01 22:01

Yeah. And if you just note to the wise, don't drop your phone in the salt mine.

SPEAKER_02 22:05

Yeah, Lisa's phone was never the same after that.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

Um, but it was cool because we got to do it ourselves too. Like we wore big wellies and did like they gave us shovels and we got to like see exactly how it worked. And it was really, really pretty.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

It was. And we had great food. Like, I you just can't go wrong with food on the island of Sicily, I don't think.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

We went to two wine tastings because we went to one in a bit of a city, and then we went to the one where there were the people from Oklahoma.

SPEAKER_02 22:34

So the city was the Marsala. Katie wasn't with us on that, and in Marsala, and then um, I don't remember what that other wine tasting was, but it was up in the mountains a little bit. And I bought a cookbook. Uh, did I buy a cookbook?

SPEAKER_01 22:46

Yeah, and that's the store was kind of on the outside.

SPEAKER_02 22:48

Yeah, and there were probably like 10 other people there, and like there was a a whole party from Oklahoma from like from my town.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Like well, they live in Denmark now, but they were originally yeah, which is just crazy.

SPEAKER_02 23:00

You don't run into very many Oklahoma people in Sicily. You should in a random vineyard. Nice.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

Um but yeah, I I would definitely Marsala is a cool area, yeah. Not a whole lot to do on the inside. No, but the um, but the wine tastings and the water definitely, definitely worth a visit.

SPEAKER_02 23:25

So I do want to get back and go to Catania. I've only flown into there before. Um, I want to go to Chefaloo.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

Yeah, we definitely have more exploring to do on the north.

SPEAKER_02 23:36

Yeah, but I I could honestly go back and stay in Artesia over and over or Raguza.

SPEAKER_01 23:42

Yeah. All right, so can we talk about the really important stuff? Yes, please. The food in general, like what's from there?

SPEAKER_02 23:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 23:49

So I'll let you start because I don't like this, and you do.

SPEAKER_02 23:51

The orangini?

SPEAKER_01 23:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

So arencini are uh they're like rice balls, and the ones I like have like a like a ragu with peas in the center, and then they bread them and they deep fry them. Oh, they're so good.

SPEAKER_01 24:05

And then campanata is like a caponata is my favorite. Eggplant tomato, onion, raisins, raisin, often served like with bread, like so you sort of put it on the like a as a crustini on bread. Um very tasty.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

I didn't think I would like it, but when we made it ourselves at Villa Botronica, that's now I just crave it all the time.

SPEAKER_01 24:34

Yeah. Um, and then I love this pasta. I don't know that you love it as much as I do, but pasta alla Norma.

SPEAKER_02 24:40

I don't mind it, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:41

Um it's big chunks of um eggplants, ricotta. Really nice. And nice vegetarian.

SPEAKER_02 24:52

Yeah, obviously cannolis.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

Right.

SPEAKER_02 24:55

And then our my favorite breakfast. Do you want to well? I've never actually tasted it, so go ahead. So the Sicilians, they really know how to breakfast. They like to take a brioche bun and then just fill it with granita. I like to put lemon granita in mine, and you just kind of have a granita sandwich, and it's the best thing.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

But explain what granita is. Granita is It's almost like a sorbet.

SPEAKER_02 25:16

Yeah, but there's not dairy in it.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

There's no dairy in sorbet. You're thinking of Sherbet.

SPEAKER_02 25:21

I'm thinking of Sherbet. Classy. Classy actually. So it's like a sorbet, I guess. But a little, a little crunchier, I feel like to me.

SPEAKER_01 25:28

A little more icy.

SPEAKER_02 25:29

Yeah. Because you can drink a granita too. But yeah, they just they load it up and it's so good.

SPEAKER_01 25:35

And then Parmesana di melanzana. Yeah. Like the um eggplant Parmesan is also from there, which is really, really delicious with the um layers of eggplant, breaded eggplant, and cheese and tomatoes.

SPEAKER_02 25:49

Yeah. And Marsala wine and Aetna wine.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

Yeah. All right. So we all know you'll go back anytime. Totally. Um, I would too. I would want to explore the north a little bit more and see those some of those beaches.

SPEAKER_02 26:01

We didn't talk about our Jeep tour up to Mount Aetna though.

SPEAKER_01 26:04

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:05

When we were in Toromino, we booked a Jeep tour that took us up to the volcano.

SPEAKER_01 26:10

Mm-hmm. And uh it was erupting. It was erupting. It was, yeah. I mean, we're as we're driving to go to it, we can just see smoke like pouring out the top. And um, and we went down in like the caves.

SPEAKER_02 26:24

Yeah, I was a little scared.

SPEAKER_01 26:25

Yeah, we had to like have flashlights and helmets and climb down to lava tunnels. Yeah. Yeah. It was pretty cool though. And then we got to got to walk along. We did like a fairly decent hike along the volcano. Yeah. Like we were walking in the like ash and the rock.

SPEAKER_02 26:44

Yeah. Yeah. It was a good hike. It was cool.

SPEAKER_01 26:47

It was. And um, and I think it was like half day, right? Because then they took us to a place to eat lunch and then they took us back to our cars.

SPEAKER_02 26:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

Um, you need a car.

SPEAKER_02 26:56

You need a car in Sicily.

SPEAKER_01 26:57

Yeah, definitely. So even if you were to take the ferry over, you should rent.

SPEAKER_02 27:02

There's no trains in Sicily. There's no, I mean, I'm sure there are buses, but it's it's a big island. You you need a car.

SPEAKER_01 27:09

Yeah. Yeah. Um, and to go, like, if you want to do any wine tasting or anything like that, like you got to go inland a bit.

SPEAKER_02 27:17

Yeah. And a lot of the beaches, another reason you need cars because a lot of the beaches are kind of off the beaten path. Like, we went to this one beach that was like a nature preserve and we had to hike for an hour to the beach. Right. Gorgeous beach.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was where I saw that that what was it called? A needle nose?

SPEAKER_02 27:35

Yeah, it's a needle nose, and apparently it can kill you. And Lisa's like chasing it around. I'm chasing.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

I wanted to get a picture so bad. I thought it was a tiny little swordfish, and so I'm like swimming my face off trying to get to it to take a picture. And then I realized maybe that was not the best choice.

SPEAKER_02 27:48

That beach was amazing.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

Yeah. It was like it felt like a nature reserve. I mean, it felt like you were in an aquarium. Yeah. Yeah. Um, okay, so things to be aware of when you go to Sicily. It is going to be center of the sun hot to be prepared, especially if you go to the Temple of the Gods. Yes. Because you are up, you are inland, you are hot. Hot, hot, hot. So hot. Um, have a car. Be adventurous in your food and try things that you haven't tried before because you will not have anything that's bad.

SPEAKER_02 28:18

Nothing.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

Um, go to a market, a food market, and get your food, you know, pick it and eat it that day.

SPEAKER_02 28:26

Every town, they're on every side of the road. Yeah. Did I forget anything? I don't think so. I just I love Sicily. So yeah. So if you have any questions about Sicily, you can just ask me on the website because I love to talk about it or on Instagram.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

There you have it, Sicily, all wrapped up in a in your little podcast. Don't forget to check out the haunted getaways as well for your scary stories. Yep. And we will see you next time.

SPEAKER_02 28:49

Yeah, check out the website www.thegetawayswithaze.com. Thanks for listening. Yep. See you. Bye. Bye.