Tag Archives: sicily

Best Hotels of 2015

My list of favourite hotels veers toward the luxury end of the spectrum. But there are some budget friendly considerations included. In large part, hospitality and appreciation won out over bling or lavish excess. Continue reading

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Best Restaurants of 2015 (Excluding London)

The tikichris of 2015 series continues with a look at some of the most amazing restaurants I visited this year. Continue reading

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The Best of Sicilian Cuisine for Christmas

Come Christmas time, Sicilians get busy planning the feast they will be preparing and sharing with families and friends. They love their food and they are proud of their culinary culture. During the holidays is one of the best times to visit the place because the atmosphere is cheerful and you will find the aromas of food waffling through the air in every corner you go. Continue reading

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Find Sicily’s Tastiest Spots with the Free Agromobile App (OneTravel)

A recent and delicious visit to Sicily was made all the more juicy, fruitful and scenic with the Agromobile app. Agromobile is a website and a free to download app sharing food and wine related itineraries in Sicily. Interested “land … Continue reading

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Le Vie della Zagara: Zestful and Juicy Sicily

I hope you’ve enjoyed this online tour of Sicily’s via Le Vie della Zagara. I certainly had a wonderful time discovering this distinctive destination for myself and sharing the most zestful bits of that journey with you. Continue reading

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Le Vie della Zagara: Ceramic Dynamic Caltagirone

Caltagirone was one of those places where soon into my time there I started wondered about the price of local property. Could I afford to chuck it all in and relocate? How could I make such a transition work – and what kind of work would I even be able to do if I actually did settle there? Such a feeling of immediate attraction to a place often used to overwhelm me when travelling in my 20s and early 30s. It’s a less frequent – but much deeper and more exacting – experience when it hits me these days. No, I don’t think I’ll actually up and move to Caltagirone (and I very much love my life here in London), but that possibility lingers still in my thoughts as I remember it. And I sorely hope I’m don’t have to wait too long to return there for further exploration. Continue reading

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Le Vie della Zagara: Palazzo Adriano

Okay. I’ve covered the citrus side of my Sicilian excursion – with bits about Ciaculli mandarins, Ribera oranges, blood oranges, Interdonato lemons and Syracuse lemons – and now I want to talk about some of the other equally fruitful aspects of my trip. So in the next few posts of my Le Vie della Zagara series I’m going to highlight a handful of the more remarkable sights encountered while touring Sicily. First up is the quaint and scenic mountain village of Palazzo Adriano. Continue reading

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Le Vie della Zagara: Limone di Siracusa

A fertile coastal plain stretching between the mountains and the sea with plenty of sea air and consistent year-round sunlight make conditions right for growing Limone di Siracusa, aka Syracuse lemons – some of the juiciest and zestiest on the market. Such conditions add up to a gorgeous place to visit too. The last of the low hanging PGI fruits picked along my journey across Sicily, here’s why I’m a sucker for the aroma and flavour of this mighty if diminutive squirt! Continue reading

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Le Vie della Zagara: When Life Hands You Lemons Make Granita!

One of the zestier episodes during my zip across Sicily’s Le Vie della Zagara was a visit to the seaside town of Alì Terme in the province of Messina. Here and along the Valle del Nisi, aside perhaps from the tourist trade, the locally grown Limone Interdonato is the main draw – whether on its own with a skin so sweet you can eat it raw or transformed into one of many refreshing delicacies at the local bar/pasticceria/gelateria/bomboniere. Continue reading

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Le Vie della Zagara: Sicily’s Beautiful Blood Oranges

The three varietals of Sicilian blood oranges include the deeply crimson Moro, the Tarocco (a great all rounder and Italy’s most popular orange), and the sweet and succulent Sanguinello. During my time travelling Le Vie della Zagara, I got a taste of all three blood oranges (and more – keep reading!) while visiting two places involved in the production of aranchia rossa: the lavish San Giorgio Estate with its upscale luxury Aranjaya villa and the more pragmatic but nonetheless impressive processing facilities of Pannitteri & C. Both are located in the eastern area of Sicily within the province of Catania and bestowed with jaw-dropper views of smoking and snow-capped Mount Etna. Continue reading

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Le Vie della Zagara: Balanced and Scenic Ribera

The world’s only orange with PDO certification (protected designation of origin, DOP in Italian) grows in Ribera, Sicily. Belonging to the family of yellow navel oranges, it’s not all that different in appearance to any run of the mill orange you’re apt to come across at any supermarket anywhere in the world. But bite into a Ribera or drink some of its juice and what sets it apart becomes clear. It’s a juicy fruit with a balanced ratio of sugars and acids – not too sweet or tart – with a firm and smooth flesh and no seeds. Continue reading

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Le Vie della Zagara: Ciaculli and its Anti-Mafia Mandarins

First stop on Le Vie della Zagara was the Palermo suburb of Ciaculli, home of the juicy Mandarino Tardivo di Ciacualli, where land once owned by the Mafia has been confiscated and converted into citrus groves by the locally run Consorzio il Tardivo di Ciaculli. Continue reading

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Le Vie della Zagara: Experiencing Sicily with Gusto!

Le Vie della Zagara is a new initiative encouraging visitors to Sicily to take at least a little time of their beach bound holiday to explore the island’s surprisingly diverse landscape and enjoy its equally varied bounty of citrus and many more treats along the way. Continue reading

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Vini di Famiglia Wine Festival at Carluccio’s (Londonist)

Vini di Famiglia Wine Festival at Carluccio’s Londonist, June 27, 2009 12:37 PM Among the offerings, the Planeta Alastro (a fruity Grecanico/Chardonnay blend – £12.50 for a bottle) was especially easy to drink; indeed, the evening started and ended with … Continue reading

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