Sicily is one of Italy's best secrets.  We have had our fill of Tuscany and now its time to look at the other nineteen regions of Italy and discover their hidden delights.  I remember falling in love with Sicily as I fell in love with a Sicilian boy who took me there on holiday many years ago.  It is a land of contradictions, a stunning backdrop of mountains dwarfing a tiny fishing village, a vision of crystal clear water with industrious fishermen combing its depths, or big bustling cities and towns filled with noisy traffic and well-fed Sicilians taking a stroll through its parks.

Amongst the decadence of collapsing Baroque palaces, or decay of buildings still gutted from the war, or the neglect of its people, because of its many corrupt governments, there are still many surprises awaiting the adventurous tourist who is prepared to scratch beneath the surface to discover the treasure that abounds in Sicily.

What makes Sicily unique is its firm belief in itself.  It has struggled under the dominion of many conquerors but the Sicilians live on, making do the way they always have, incorporating the new into the old.  I remember seeing wild fennel at the Vucciria market , an essential ingredient for a huge number of fish and pasta dishes, piled beside a  stack of  enormous 'patate americane' – sweet potatoes! Food and wine are such an integral part of daily life here and everyone know what is in season and which dishes should be  cooked at this time.   I remember seeing street vendors who proudly sell panini filled with 'milze' or speen and 'polmone' or lungs – a hearty snack for any worker who did not have breakfast!  The markets are bursting with a profusion of meats, fish, fruit and vegetables but Mc Donalds still does a roaring trade in the main square of Palermo.

Sicilians are eternally busy, working at something, like rebuilding the old parts of the cities like Palermo or Siracusa, or carving meat in the open air  of the Ballaro or Vucciria markets, or butteflying sardines at a rate of knots and flicking them into a bucket, or picking almonds, lemons, olive or whatever is in season to eat, or carefully sun-drying everything they can think of for the winter months -  the wonderfully blood red and unctuous tomato extract which  is proudly displayed in the markets or grapes which are sun-dried and turn into the sticky , rich, and sun-golden passito wine.

Sicily is startling with its stunning array of Baroque palaces and every time I see a sign saying floors to rent or buy I want to dash up the stairs and sign up for one immediately.  Many need complete renovating which in Sicily means no kitchen or bathroom so you have to do it all! I love Noto, Ragusa and Mollica which are baroque towns, completely re-built after an earthquake in 1692. I visited the many beautiful churches in Noto made of a soft golden stone, built by the grateful nobility thankful for their survival. I love Ortigia in Siracusa and would love to convert one of the palazzi into a cooking school with a huge terrazzo overlooking the water for guests to eat, drink, and ponder the meaning of it all!

I visit Sicily's wine museum in the Via Maqueda, offering wine tastings of all that Sicily has to offer, The grapes to try are Inzola for white wines and Nero D'Avola for reds. Sicily is now producing some cabernet, shiraz and merlot, as well as chardonnay. Look out for the Donnafugata wines with names taken from the most famous Sicilian novel – The Leopard.  Everyone who wishes to visit Sicily needs to read the book and watch the film to understand the way some Sicilian still continue to live.

The  favourite part of my trips to Sicily is a visit to Regaleali, the winery and cooking school of the Tasca D'Almerita family. It is over an hours drive round windy mountain roads till you reach paradise. The Marchesa Anna Tasca Lanza greets me with a well-bred English accent, wearing jeans and runners – very practical for some one running a cooking school! I am invited to attend a one day cooking class and lunch but I enjoy speaking to the guests and walking around the estate that I am invited to stay the night and to attend a dinner at her sister Costanza's house.  Vencelsao, the Marchesa's husband is a very distinguished man, always dressed in jacket and tie, no matter what the temperature, and he regales us with stories about life in Sicily and reveals that his brother is the adopted son of Giuseppe Lampedusa, who died after writing  a famous novel – yes, the leopard strikes again!
 

I visit an Agriturismo near Messina which is rearing goats for their milk to make an exquisite ricotta to- be served with vine-ripened roma tomatoes and fresh golden semolina bread drizzled with lashings of olive oil! I love Sicilians passion for food. It is a daily topic of conversation and I am amazed at the knowledge of every Sicilian on the street.  I meet a very handsome electrician in Siracusa who spends an afternoon strolling through the mountains, stopping every few minutes to explain a herb or medicinal plant that we passed. Their knowledge of the land and what it brings to them in such abundance is incredible. He explains to me that Sicilians even use catnip as a herb or tie a bunch of pine needles together as an oil basting brush at barbecues to imbue lamb with a smell of the forest!

I meet a food writer from a Sicilian newspaper in a restaurant in Palermo who cannot believe that I am in Sicily to organize a food and wine tour! He cannot believe that I want to bring people to eat and drink in Sicily.  "Not even to see the Greek ruins?"  he asks. "No we won’t have time!" is my flippant reply! He is astonished as everyone who goes to Sicily visits  Siracusa for its archaelogical museum or Agrigento and its Valley of the Temples.  I am really exaggerating as Sicily is one big Greek ruin, even near the villas I am staying in are some strategically placed Greek ruins to tempt my guests.

I am overwhelmed by the generosity of wine makers and restauranteurs eager to explain the idiosyncracies of their culture. I visit Spadafora's winery, west of Palermo, owned  by a prince and a very handsome one at that, complete with one diamond stud earring, a charming smile to melt any woman's heart, and arms ouspread in welcome.  Francesco maybe titled but he is up at five thirty to feed his animals  and prepare his wine. He loves music and can be seen wondering around the winery, glass of wine in hand, and singing away to latin American tunes or opera!

I also visit Maria Grammatico, a famous pastry chef who has a shop and caffe in Erice. This tiny medieval towon is situated on a hilltop overlooking Marsala and I was spellbound watching tray after tray of tantalising 'biscotti' appear before me and my Australian companions who were happy to be with me as they samk their teeth into genovese pastries, rich shortcrust domes filled with custard, or munched on almond pastries of every known shape and colour including the very rich pasta reale or almond paste that is traditionally made into tiny fruits and vegetables but I even saw baby burgers and hotdogs – amoderm interpretation! The making of sweets was brought to Sicily by the Arabs, until it became the prerogative of convents up until early  last century but now making pastries is an art all over Sicily, which has been exported to to other parts of Italy and all over the world.

I also have to thank the book 'Midnight in Sicily' for pointing me in to the most wonderful restaurant in the heart of Palermo- Sant'Andrea. I was overcome by their Sicilian antipasto, - seven tiny plates appeared magically before me each with a tasty morsel – fried calamaretti, a polpette di pesce spada, a fishball of sword fish, a tiny baked eggplant in tomato sugo, caponata which is a wonderful Sicilian eggplant dish, 'panelle' or chickpea fritters, sold on the streets of Palermo in a panini but now a very trendy antipasto, a dep-fried piece of caciocavallo cheese, and green olives lovingly prepared by the owners. I couldn't face main course after all that! I took everyone I met to Sant'Andrea and even ended up helping the maitre d'(a woman) translate the menu into English.  She offered me a Sicilian gelato made of 'gelsi' – which I thought I would recognize instantly but  when I tasted it was unfamiliar. I raced home and got my dictionary to discover I had been eating mulberries.

Sicily is not for the faint-hearted but if you are prepared to accept certain features, the extremes of poverty and wealth, the continuous sunshine which makes this land so lush and the people who are fiercely proud of their origins and yet are happy to share their world with us, then come and learn its secrets.

Why Sicily?

Because for me, simply letting myself live in Sicily is beautiful!