En quittant la Sicile...

Salutations de départ à l’hôtel Novecento, à la propriétaire Donatella et au personnel (entre autres Luigi). Avons vraiment apprécié cet hôtel, sa suite et ses petits déjeuners très copieux! Ne regrettons en rien l’idée de s’y être installés pour 5 jours, et d'avoir rayonné dans la région à partir de l’endroit (plutôt que d’aller d’une ville à l’autre, d’un hôtel à l’autre, tous les jours). (ce qui me rappelle que je "leur dois" un commentaire sur le site de "Trip Advisor" - ce qui est fait!)



Modica, dernière visite avant de quitter l’île. Sans trop d’enthousiasme, non pas que Modica ne nous intéresse pas, mais on en a vu tellement ces derniers jours (surtout des églises, toutes du style Baroque)! D’autant plus qu’il fallait rendre la voiture au plus tard à une heure, ce qui allait écourter la visite considérablement! Modica est à proximité de Scicli, un petit détour en route vers le traversier pour Malte qui se situe à Pozzallo. « Petit détour » mais c'était peut-être sans compter sur une circulation plutôt dense vers et dans la ville, en cette veille du Jour de l’an. Arrivons néanmoins à ce faire un chemin jusqu’au centre-ville, pare-choc à pare-choc, et à stationner sur une des rues principales (Umberto 1er).Faisons la visite à pied, comme il se doit d'aileurs...

Modica, comme bien des agglomérations de la région que nous visitons – entre autres Scicli et Ragusa Ibla – est construite dans une vallée plutôt escarpée oàu se rencontrent deux cours d'eau, recouverts cependant, d’une part pour s'assurer le contrôle des eaux – et éviter les crues périodiques – d’autre part pour accommoder les rues nécessaires à la circulation urbaine… On y descend d'abord, pour ensuite monter à flanc de colline!...



Nous nous rendons d’abord en face de l’église San Pietro (photo çi-contre) une des 2 cathédrales de la ville (celle-ci pour Modica Bassa, l’autre pour Modica Alta), puis montons les escaliers vers la cathédrale San Giorgio (photo çi-bas) que nous découvrons au pied de longues escaliers (250 marches nous dit-on) menant à son parvis. Une église dont l’histoire remonte au XIème siècle, et qui fut affectée non pas par un tremblement de terre, mais deux – celui de 1613 mais aussi celui de 1693!) Le style Baroque qui les caractérise toutes deux aujourd’hui remonte évidemment au XVIIIème siècle.



Nous nous arrêtons au théâtre local, Teatro Garibaldi, à l’initiative de Cynthia (déformation professionnelle?), surtout pour y voir les œuvres récentes du peintre Piero Guccione, né à Scicli et un des membres du « Gruppo di Scicli », qui y tient une exposition (l'énorme peinture, représentant la cathédrale locale San Giorgio, qui orne le plafond du théâtre, est récente et de lui d'ailleurs, si j'ai bien compris - photo ci-bas).


Partons pour Pozzallo, à une quinzaine de kilomètres de là, oàu nous laissons la voiture (la petite Panda de Fiat nous a bien servis au cours de la visite, prisée spécialement pour sa taille réduite, à la mesure des rues et des disponibilités de stationnement de la région - encore que sur l'autoroute vers Syracuse, nous nous serions bien accomodés d'un modèle un peu plus gros!), pour monter abord du même catamaran (nous découvrons également que les horaires du bateau sont plutôt flexibles – nous sommes partis de Malta 10 minutes avant l’heure fixé; nous quittons Pozzallo 20 minutes après l’heure annoncé! Notion du temps plutôt approximative en Italie… vaut mieux errer cependant dans le sens de la précaution...)

Cynthia profite du trajet vers Malte pour faire une dernière relecture du guide, sur la cuisine locale. Il s'agit du Blue Guide Sicily, par Ellen Gready; excellent guide, même si un peu lourd, très fouillé, l'un des meilleurs publiés apparemment - encore que pour une 7e édition, il y reste un peu trop de coquilles à notre goût... par exemple page 345).

En quittant la Sicile, je ne peux m’empêcher d’observer que notre opinion de l’endroit a considérablement évolué, du cliché traditionnel d'une Sicile campagnarde, peu moderne, et liée d’une façon ou d’une autre au phénomène de la mafia, à celle d’une collectivité tout aussi sophistiquée qu’ailleurs en Europe, très consciente de ses origines bien particulières, qui la distinguent du reste de l'Italie et de la région de la Méditerranée, et des ses contributions uniques au patrimoine culturel italien et du monde occidental, tout au cours de son histoire, de l’antiquité à nos jours. Et non des moindres influences qu’elle peut exercer, sa cuisine et ses vins, considérés à plus d’un titre comme étant au cœur même, sinon à la source, de la cuisine italienne et d'au-delà (et non pas uniquement de la crème glacée)!

Le 31 décembre 2010

Art in Scicli

Art plays quite an important role in this very culturally-inclined city! First, the churches, with all their paintings, sculptures and statues. But also contemporary art!

Visited a few galleries. The first one exhibiting the works of several local painters who produced their own versions of ”L’Annunciazione”of Antonello da Messina (1474), preserved in Siracusa. There is also an exhibition in nearby Comiso ("Asterisco Caravaggio Contemporaneo Comiso 18 dicembre 2010 - 8 gennaio 2011") of contemporary works by local artists inspired by Carravaggio (the troublesome painter of the16th – beginning of 17th century who fled Rome, then Malta, eventually to come to Sicily…and to go back on the mainland to die!) Did not have a chance to go though.

Visited another gallery, at the suggestion of the Novecento owner, the Tecnica Mista Gallery, operated by Antonio Sarnari, the son of Franco Sarnari, the celebrated Roman painter, identified as a member of the “Gruppo di Scicli” (photo below). We get a sense of what local artists can produce at Novecento itself which has many lythographs hanging on its walls, including 6 in our room.


Then we are invited at a gathering of local painters at the gallery Correnti, next to the hotel. Quite a discussion amongst younger painters and one painter from the original Gruppo di Scicli, Franco Polizzi(?), on the meaning of a “gruppo” (which we would have totally missed, had it not been for the kind translation of Barbara Sarnari, daughter of Franco Sarnari, the painter, and sister of Antonio, who speak a very good French.) And why so much a concentration of artists around Scicli…the discussion carries on… Most of them, as we are reminded, work at other things for a living, but like to get together from time to time to exchange, and support each other I suppose. Antonio acts as a catalyst it looks like, bringing them together for instance in this place, Correnti, where some of their work is shown tonight.

We get a lithograph (aqua-tinta) of Franco Sarnari at Antonio’s gallery, entitled “Mornolo in fiore” (photo at the top)…

December 30, 2010

P.S. found an interesting website in English on arts in Scicli area (http://www.copai.it/ing/articoli/gruppo-scicli.htm)

Ragusa Ibla, Sicily

A tale of two cities, Ragusa Superiore and Ragusa Ibla. The first one sans intérêt vraiment, the second one, probably the most interesting agglomeration to visit of our stay! Rebuilt after the great quake of 1693 on the same rock, at the bottom of a valley, the whole city is a maze of churches and pallazzi! (at one point, in the 17th century, when the 2 cities were competing for the archbishop seat, it is reported that there were some 41 churches for a population of 15,000, between the 2 of them!) Several of them and the whole city have been classified UNESCO “World Heritage” sites.


One of the churches, Chiesa dell’Idria, was built for the knights of Malta (their cress overlooking the principal door); next to it is the Pallazo Consentini, renovated and the site of a painting exhibition that marked the recent re-opening of the place. Walked all the way to the Piazza Duomo, dominated by the church of San Giorgio and its dome, to go all the way down to the lovely public gardens that overlook the valley of Irminio down under.


Walked back to the Ristorante Duomo, on the street at the back of the church, for surely the meal of the visit, at this 2-star Michelin establishment! (there are apparently only 2 Michelin-starred restaurants in Sicily, both in the region!) A small place, very comfortable and warm, around for the last 10 years or so. Chatted with the chef, Ciccio Sultano, and attended to by the sommelier Angelo, shared an antipasti of red mullet and a pasta with sardines (a recipe from Palermo), that preceded by no less than 3 amuse-bouches (swordfish with caviar; shrimps on spaghetti in a pork belly sauce with lentils; and an oyster and snails in a potato cream – simply out of this world!). Not to mention the various breads accompanied by (very)local olive oil...As main course, Cynthia had the lamb, I had the pork. For wine, a few glasses of Sicilian woman wine maker Alice Bonaccorsi’s 2008 Valcerosa (carriante grapes), followed by 2 glasses of a very fresh (but how complex!) 2006 chardonnay Milazzo from Selezione di Famiglia winery, to finish with a fantastic red – Rosso del Conte 2005 from Tasca D’Almerita winery – grapes: Nero d’Avola and a few plants of Perricone (to the best of my ability, my handwritten notes having gone by then pretty uncertain!), a special reserve wine from the Regalaeli domain created some 50 years ago, which Angelo described as the best red wine in Sicily!... Could not finish without sharing a chocolate dessert (with an accompanying sorbet), plus a cappuccino and an expresso. Memorable!
http://www.ristoranteduomo.it/cucina.htm

Skipped dinner that night!...


December 30, 2010

Syracuse (redux) & Noto

Back to Syracuse to see the theater ruins. The Greek theater is truly impressive, more, at least for me, than the Roman amphitheater located on the same grounds.
Two different époques though – the first one built in the fifth century BC, the second some 6 centuries later, probably in 1st century AD (the first one, it is to be understood, was rebuilt in the 3rd century BC in the present configuration, although I suspect it must have endured several alterations, especially under the Romans who wanted to use it as well as a stage for gladiator combats before they built their own amphitheater!


The Greek theater (Greco Teatro) is known to be one of the largest surviving of the kind – 138 meters in diameter! Well understood is the seating area, the auditorium ("cavea" in Latin), with the rows carved out of stone, going up along the slope of the hill – with some 60 rows, it could seat as much as 15,000 people we are told! As Cynthia pointed out though, much less understood are the arrangements on the stage for performances; lots of marks in the stone floor of the stage, but it does not tell much. As impressive as it may be, I get the sense also that we are getting only a very partial understanding of what it must have been or looked like in the antiquity- probably far more marble and color that have been dissipated with the years throughout history; different ages giving different importance to public theatre…The oddity on the ground is that building that sits at the top of the hill, at the back of the theater – we are explained that this is a medieval stone structure that has obviously been restored and that served as a watch tower in those days; I suppose it is also part of history, worth keeping…

We know that the great playwrights of the day, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, among others, were played out at the theater – the first production we are told was a play about women: "Women of Aetna" by Aeschylus (unlikely a feminist-inspired work!) I read somewhere that the theater got used again in the 19th century when Greek theatre was back in favor, played in Italian I would think…


Interesting to note, theater in the antiquity was played early in the morning – we tend to forget that they depended on the sunlight- but why so early in the day!...



Proceeded to Noto, known as “the” Baroque city of Sicily, and for a very good reason: the 1693 quake destroyed the city totally, which actually was rebuilt somewhere else, closed by, at the time when Baroque style was prevailing. Quite spectacular though! When standing in front of the cathedral, all you can see are Baroque structures, palazzi and all!



Had to visit the local “teatro” – built in mid-19th century, the city had just become the capital of the province (Syracuse), it had to have its theater to serve its burgeoning aristocracy! Renovated after the Great War and abandoned again, it was restored in the 60s, and then some more. Great pictures – thanks to Cynthia. (As a P.S., saw a plaque commemorating the renovation of the sixties and mentioning the inspiration, Salvatore Adamo; thought of the singer as he was born in these parts, but no, it referred to the mayor of the day…I guess it is a common a name around Sicily!)

On va passer sous silence le lunch au “Il Barroco” à Noto – mediocre, and I am generous!

Footnote: on the way to Syracuse, stopped by an abandoned brick factory, near Sampieri, that would have burnt years ago. All is left is the stone structure, intact with its chimney; it is also near the sea – the whole thing is quite eerie! (Sarnari’s daughter, Barbara, knows the place well, as she lives (or used to live?) near the factory, and recalled how as a kid she used to play there – now totally unsafe as you feel like it is going to collapse at the smallest tremor…)


December 29, 2010

Donnalucata, a fishing village

A few kilometers away, southwest of Scicli. On the sea. A long walk along the deserted beach of Micenci by a cool but very sunny winter morning – quite invigorating,...


and exactly what was needed before a succulent lunch at the local eatery, Ristorante Al Molo, where we shared a spaghetti with clams for primi piatti and, for secondi piatti, a very fresh “serra” (bluefish?) fish from the market next door that the chef prepared for us (baked in the oven with “some oregano, salt, our olive oil, and that is all!”), along with a bottle of white wine (local unique cattarato grapes) from the Alcamo district of the Trapani region, bottled by Firriato (by now a favorite winery of ours!). Completed as dessert by a local version of blancmange (“blancomangiare alle mandarole abbrustolite”) with an expresso – it can hardly get better!


Dinner back in Scicli, at the Pomodoro Ristorante. (i-escape’ opinion: Our top tip…an elegant minimalist restaurant where brothers Enrico and Giuseppe Gugliotta make their own pasta and, more unusually, bread; signature dishes include a cream of beans with mussels and prawns, and tagliatelle with cherry tomatoes, capers, breadcrumbs and Ragusana cheese). Had the pork for main course, and a specially delicious wheat pasta with a broccoli sauce – divine...with a great red wine dont le nom m'échappait et que le chef m'a gentiment rappelé par courriel...("il vino che avete bevuto mi sembra sia stato il C.O.S. Cerasuolo di Vittoria - Giuseppe)!

December 28, 2010

Syracusa, Sicily

The Duomo, the cathedral in Syracuse, is certainly a unique church! Built by Corinthians in the 5th century before Christ as a temple to Athena, it became a Christian church under Byzantium around the 7th or 8th century (reputed as the oldest Christian church in Europe – it is written in Latin in big letters on both inner walls of the nave!), then a Great Mosque under the Arabs for a few centuries, then again a Christian Church when the Normans conquered the Island and under the Europeans thereafter! Not to talk about what was discovered underneath, a century or so ago, that would point to it as an earlier site of various religious cults…



The interior is fascinating: stripped of any kind of Baroque ornaments early in the 20th century, it is very plain, featuring the original arches added under Byzantium that form the nave, and Doric columns on the outer walls that would have formed the “péristyle” of the temple of Athena! It is quite contrasting from its Baroque façade, added much later on, that is so common around here…Interesting to note that the only remnants of Islamic times are battlements outside on the North side of the roof. What is not clear to us is how much the church suffered from the 1693 earthquake – it did suffer – and how much reconstruction has occurred…We missed out on the Apollo Temple, North of the island (that is Ortygia)…and the Greek and Roman theatres (that will be for another visit…)

Lunch at the reputed Don Camillo restaurant on Ortygia (we shared a penne and tuna as antipasti, and a slice of swordfish prepared à la Syracuse for primi platti, with a bottle of white 2009 Santagostino (50% Chardonnay; 50% Cataratto) from the Firriato winery in Tripani). Lots of cachet (under immense stone arches). Excellent food – the swordfish was far from its usual dry – and very good wine; well advised by the sommelier…who does not seem to care much though! Only a few dinners – all tourists. Good but probably overrated on the whole!

Dinner back in Scicli at La Grotta; a dish of chesnuts – unusual – and succulent ravioli of ricotta cheese, with white house wine; honest.

December 27, 2010

Scicli in Sicily

“Scratch a Sicilian and you’ll find a Saracen,” runs an old proverb...(a reference to my namesakes, the Sarrazins?!)



As if it was not “exotic” enough to get married in Malta, we had to go somewhere else for our “honeymoon”! So there we are, in southern Sicily, in the province of Ragusa. We settled for the week in UNESCO Heritage Scicli, a small community – no less than 25,000 people though.



Chosen in good part because of the hotel, Novecento, “un piccolo Hotel di Charme” to quote the literature on the place. It’s a 4-star (it felt more like a 5-star!), in a restored palace (antique, one would say, as it goes back to the 900s!), located in the heart of Scicli (which is one of the 8 towns of the Val di Noto that rebuilt after the infamous 1693 earthquake!). Got wind of it through our favorite hotel reference and booking site, i-escape (see at the end of this for the i-escape description of the place). We stayed in the suite (room 907). .


Lots to see in Scicli – churches mainly (about 10, 3 of them nearby the hotel – S. Giovanni Evangilista; S. Michele Arcangelo; S Teresa!), but also just the feel of this well-preserved antique, full of relief, city. Walked up to San Matteo Church, dominating the city – just ruins, I don’t think the church was ever finished! Lunch the first day at the restaurant at the heart of the old city, via Francesco Mormino Penna, a place called MilleNnium – Cy had a tagliolini ai funghi porcini con salsiccia (sausage) all nero d’avela; I had a trofie cream di carciofi e bacon; we shared the mozzarelline darate; with house local red wine…

Late afternoon walk in the city – the exteriors of Chiesa Madre (Chiesa de Sant’Ignazio), Pallozzo Fava and Chiesa San Bartolomeo, the latter beautifully nested at the end of a street between sharp rock escarpments goes back to the 15th century (the only church in Scicli apparently to have survived the infamous earthquake) and has been adorned by an elongated pastel-colored façade early in the 19th century. A look at the Palazzo Beneventano with its gargouille-like creatures that ornate its balconies and one of the corners.



No dinner that night – a glass of white wine – local Altavilla Della Corte from the Firriato winery, made of the (Grillo?) or Insolia grape (most current in these parts – « ce cépage un peu oublié a été mis en valeur grâce à une viticulture de qualité (faibles rendements par hectares ) et une vinification qui met en valeur la fraîcheur de ce vin ainsi que ses notes très originales de miel et d’agrumes. Si l’attaque est vive, la finale est douce et longue »), followed by champagne (Mumm) and strawberries, courtoisie de la maison, in the room!

December 26, 2010

Hotel Novecento
http://www.i-escape.com/places_to_stay_overview.php?hotel_key=1149#overview
Scicli, Sicily
Intimate and perfectly formed bijou hotel in a gorgeous but little-known Sicilian Baroque town.
A higgledy-piggledy mosaic of tiny pantiled houses embracing a fine Baroque core, Scicli spills along 3 valleys dominated by dramatic cave-pocked cliffs. Novecento, Scicli’s first (and so far only) hotel, is an ideal base for anyone wanting a taste of life in an old-fashioned Sicilian town, while exploring the Baroque jewels, unspoiled sandy beaches, gastronomy and countryside of southeastern Sicily.

Quietly located in the centre of town, 6 rooms and a suite occupy a 19th-century palazzo of luminous local limestone. Sinuous 1950s Flos chandeliers, exposed stone vaults, tall vases of tangled orchids and willow, an antique sofa reupholstered in cream and black devoré combine to make this the kind of hotel that it feels good to walk into. Owners and staff are warm and enthusiastic, rooms are designed to be comfortable hideaways as well as aesthetically pleasing, and little touches, like hot fresh ricotta for breakfast and a fine collection of lithographs by the artists of the prestigious Gruppo di Scicli, root the hotel firmly in its community.

The two-roomed suite is vast (36 sq.m.), its ceiling retaining original frescos of seascapes, landscapes and angels, and the walls – painted to echo the original deep rose-brick – hung with lithographs by Sarnari, Guccione, Polizzi, Sonia Alvarez and Zucchero.

Breakfast is generous and original, served on circular tables set with heavy taupe linen in an elegant dining room with a Heals-type sideboard, ornate Baroque mirror and Medusa chandelier. Local produce features strongly – there are hand-made jams, Sicilian honeys, creams of pistachio and hazelnuts, hand-made almond biscuits, cakes, ricotta still hot from the farm, lemon and chocolate puddings, fresh fruit salad and plenty of fresh bread. Hot dishes, such as scrambled or fried eggs with bacon, ham or sausages can also be ordered.