The Sicily You Haven’t Seen

Exploring Trapani, Marsala, and local culinary traditions

Talking with members of our online community, Casa Local Aromas (we have Family Zooms together every Sunday), several mentioned they’ll be traveling to Sicily this year.

What an incredible and unique region of Italy! 🥰

While many travelers head to the more popular destinations like Catania, Taormina, and Palermo, there’s a part of Sicily that we deeply love.

And you’ve probably never even heard of it.

Last year, we spent an entire week there with our dad, filming for our YouTube channel.

Oh my goodness, we have to tell you about it! 💞 Out of all the amazing things we did, we wanted to share a few specific highlights with you.

We landed and stayed in Trapani, located in the northwest of Sicily.

As soon as we arrived, we went to watch the sunset at one of the nearby salt pans. Trapani has a centuries-old salt harvesting tradition, and the sunsets here are absolutely breathtaking.

Since it’s impossible to put into words the colors, the peace, and the beauty of the scenery, we hope this video does it justice.

Benedetta, being a wine sommelier, had another thing at the top of her list—a visit to a winery in Marsala to taste the famous fortified wine … Marsala!

But not just any winery.

We visited one of the oldest wineries in Sicily, Cantine Florio. 🤩

We joined a guided tour that took us through a vast array of barrels, and it ended with a unique tasting session of three distinct varieties of Marsala.

Mind-blowing!

Then we took our dad to the beach. Well, we drove to San Vito Lo Capo because we had to film a delicious local panino, but it was a great excuse for him to see one of the beach destinations Italians love to visit in the summer.

As with all things Italian when it comes to food, less is more. The ingredients have to stand out, so each one must shine in its own way.

Pane cunzato, literally “stuffed bread,” is a traditional panino that simply tastes like Sicily. It’s made with fresh and local ingredients: anchovies, oregano, extra virgin olive oil, tomatoes, olives, and pecorino cheese.

Remember, the simpler, the better. Always!

And since we got into eating, there’s no way out. 😜

In this part of Sicily, there are two totally unexpected dishes that, believe it or not, are genuinely local.

Ready?

Cous cous and pesto. Yes, cous cous and pesto!

But let us explain.

You see, for two centuries, the Arabs dominated Sicily and introduced many ingredients and dishes that have become local and traditional to the area of Trapani.

Like cous cous di pesce trapanese, a fish cous cous where the rich fish broth is the focus. This reflects how Italian cuisine thrives on simplicity, creating great dishes with the few ingredients available.

Then you have pesto alla trapanese (actually, locals call it pasta cu l’agghia, pasta with garlic), which is served with a local corkscrew-shaped pasta called busiate.

Unlike the famous green version from Genova in northern Italy, this pesto uses local ingredients like fresh tomatoes, almonds, garlic, basil, and extra virgin olive oil.

We obviously made the effort of going to a restaurant to eat them so that you could see them. Tough job, right? 😉

And do you think we could ever leave Sicily without having dessert? 😂

Being the professionals we are, we decided we needed to document more than one … so we had 2 … no, 5 … ok, 7!

We tasted and tried 7 different desserts and pastries … for you!

Cannoli, sfincia di San Giuseppe, brioche con gelato, granita con panna, cassata siciliana, paste di mandorla, and frutta martorana in Erice.

If you want to know what they are, now it’s your turn to make a little effort! 😆

After all this traveling and eating, we think you may now have an excuse to go to Sicily!

Or maybe you know someone who’s going and could find our experience very helpful.

So please share! 👇

Have you visited any of these places or tried the dishes we shared in the videos? We’d love to hear about it! 😊

Ciao and talk to you soon! 🫶

Benedetta & Valeria