{"id":1791,"date":"2016-07-20T17:14:35","date_gmt":"2016-07-20T16:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nanopausa.com\/?p=1791"},"modified":"2016-07-20T17:16:56","modified_gmt":"2016-07-20T16:16:56","slug":"notes-south-east-sicily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/notes-south-east-sicily\/","title":{"rendered":"Notes from short trip to South-East Sicily – Scicli and Rosolini"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"coffeeLast week, I went on a short trip to South-East Sicily with my friend and co-author Luciana<\/strong>. Enrico Russino<\/strong>, a visionary\u00a0producer of aromatic herbs featured in Marketing del Gusto<\/a><\/strong>, invited us to present our\u00a0book in his headquarters.<\/p>\n

Sicily is one of the regions I hold dearest – and since I’ve travelled a lot across Italy, I guess that must mean something.\u00a0The historic centres are full of the\u00a0surprise<\/span> effect that was\u00a0so typical of Baroque architecture. Even when some facades look neglected and worn, spoilt by earthquakes that were\u00a0too\u00a0long ago to justify their current state, there’s a\u00a0melancholy I find hypnotising. Besides, wherever you walk, you always expect Montalbano to turn round the corner and greet you.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We rented a car from Catania’s airport and drove south towards Scicli<\/strong>. It took us a while,\u00a0with a stop in Rosolini<\/strong>, almost half way. We drove across the\u00a0town, looking for an open caf\u00e9, craving for an authentic granita<\/em><\/strong>. Almost every\u00a0shop was closed, hardly\u00a0anybody walked in the streets. A deserted village on a summer day, right after lunch.\u00a0There was either a curfew, or everyone kept\u00a0indoors. Of course it was the second option. The best remedy to the heat is\u00a0and always will be a nap\u00a0behind closed shutters. Like in the good old days when shops closed for a few hours at lunchtime – enough time to enjoy a family meal, and not just gulp it in 30 or so minutes.<\/p>\n

\"aA visit to Enrico Russino’s Gli Aromi<\/h3>\n

Enrico Russino\u00a0is indeed a visionary entrepreneur.<\/strong> He took on the family business, a nursery of aromatic herbs called Gli Aromi<\/a><\/strong>, and transformed it into a national enterprise, selling his plants all over with excellent use of social media, newsletters and the like.\u00a0The presentation was held under a gorgeous passiflora porch, with the sea at sunset in the backdrop, The wind was strong, so strong it was hard to keep our books in display. Yet they told us it would calm down as soon as\u00a0the sun would set, and indeed this was the case. Nature’s magic. Enrico invited some chefs and patrons from local restaurants. This made the discussion around the book both\u00a0stimulating and lively. Plus there were other clients as well who gave the ever precious customer’s point of view.<\/p>\n

\"gliAfter the presentation he took us on a guided tour of his farm. Throughout this\u00a0sensorial journey he invited us to touch and smell the leaves of the many varieties of mint, geranium, thyme and other herbs\u00a0and plants. For each variety he seemed to have a story.<\/strong>\u00a0There was mint that came\u00a0in Africa. Leaves as soft as velvet.\u00a0A\u00a0plant originally\u00a0from Japan with huge cream and brown flowers. A\u00a0special geranium with a scent of rose all the noble families in Sicily would want to have in their gardens, in the old days.\u00a0He even showed us how the plants are propagated, from minuscule to\u00a0very small to small and on. A work requiring so much patience most people would go mad after half an hour.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0tour ended with a delicious aperitif made with vegetables and pulses and herbs of course – so refreshing.<\/p>\n

\"aruciAruci’s delicious brittle<\/h3>\n

Other producers were\u00a0also there, including winery Planeta and a confectionery I fell in love with. It’s called Aruci<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and is based in the very Rosolini<\/strong> that seemed so deserted at lunchtime. Nanni Buglisi<\/strong>, a young graduate in Economics returned to Sicily to run this business with his mother. They\u00a0started a short time ago in the family kitchen until they realised the response was so good it was worth taking the leap and open\u00a0a lab and a real shop. They now also organise tours and tastings. Everything is handmade. Any machine serves as an aid without forsaking the artisanal production.I can’t recall tasting a brittle so fragrant and crispy. Delicious. They\u00a0source all the ingredients locally, including the sesame seeds and almonds.<\/p>\n

That’s the beauty of Sicily: it’s always been in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, a crossroads of cultures, a melting pot (far, far before old Christopher Columbus put out to sea), from Magna Grecia to the Arab influence<\/strong><\/span>. All things you can still sense in the local cuisine. As in\u00a0the sesame seeds which we so often associate with the Middle East, and are instead so close to us.\u00a0Pastry chef Corrado Assenza from Noto (I’ll write about him in the next few days) recently said “kilometro zero” cooking, the one that only uses very local products is limited. He says it doesn’t take into consideration how our cultures are all intertwined, even when it comes to food. And in times like these, this is something we should always remember.<\/p>\n

\n\"marketingScicli by night<\/h3>\n

That we had perhaps chosen the wrong moment to visit Rosolini was\u00a0something we realised later on that night. After the lovely evening at Gli Aromi, we went for a short walk around Scicli. We were staying at the “albergo diffuso”. It’s a scattered hotel,\u00a0a network\u00a0of rooms around the historic centre. They’re all equipped like hotel rooms though\u00a0they are not in the same building.<\/p>\n

Map in hand, we walked through the alleys and squares, looking in awe at the Baroque facades. We\u00a0entered a church with striking blue and white decorations inside: nothing you’d expect having seen the monochromatic outside. And we saw the streets crowded with people of all ages. Some were still sitting at the tables set in the squares, some were walking around just like us. Thousands of people who had been hiding when the sun was too high, too hot. By now it was quite clear.<\/p>\n

(in the large photo, the decorated organ in the church of Santa Teresa)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, I went on a short trip to South-East Sicily with my friend and co-author Luciana. Enrico Russino, a visionary\u00a0producer of aromatic herbs featured in Marketing del Gusto, invited…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1831,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[407,405,406,404,408,403,402],"yoast_head":"\nNotes from a trip to Scicli and Rosolini in South-East Sicily - Nanopausa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nots from a short trip to South-East Sicily, including Scicli and Rosolini, the most refreshing aromatic herbs and a delicious nut brittle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/notes-south-east-sicily\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"it_IT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Notes from a trip to Scicli and Rosolini in South-East Sicily - Nanopausa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nots from a short trip to South-East Sicily, including Scicli and Rosolini, the most refreshing aromatic herbs and a delicious nut brittle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/notes-south-east-sicily\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Slawka G. Scarso\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-20T16:14:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-07-20T16:16:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_0359-e1469030944858.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"598\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"slawka\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Scritto da\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"slawka\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Tempo di lettura stimato\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minuti\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/notes-south-east-sicily\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/notes-south-east-sicily\/\",\"name\":\"Notes from a trip to Scicli and Rosolini in South-East Sicily - Nanopausa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/notes-south-east-sicily\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/notes-south-east-sicily\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_0359-e1469030944858.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-20T16:14:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-07-20T16:16:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/#\/schema\/person\/dd0270b6776ef8b88b88bac9b9d50408\"},\"description\":\"Nots from a short trip to South-East Sicily, including Scicli and Rosolini, the most refreshing aromatic herbs and a delicious nut brittle\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/notes-south-east-sicily\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"it-IT\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/notes-south-east-sicily\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"it-IT\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/notes-south-east-sicily\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_0359-e1469030944858.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_0359-e1469030944858.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":598},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/notes-south-east-sicily\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Notes from short trip to South-East Sicily – Scicli and Rosolini\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/\",\"name\":\"Slawka G. Scarso\",\"description\":\"Short stories, poems and the odd travel note \/\/ Racconti, poesie, e qualche appunto di viaggio\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"it-IT\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/#\/schema\/person\/dd0270b6776ef8b88b88bac9b9d50408\",\"name\":\"slawka\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"it-IT\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3ca44d945ef4a424e502fe3e791f2659?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3ca44d945ef4a424e502fe3e791f2659?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"slawka\"},\"description\":\"I write fiction and non fiction, especially on wine and travel. And poems, too. I'm the author of Il vino a Roma (2010) and Il vino in Italia (2011), two creative non fiction guides to wine, published by Castelvecchi Editore, and co-author of Custodi di Identit\u00e0 (2012) by INEA, Marketing del vino (2014) and Marketing del gusto(with Luciana Squadrilli) both published by LSWR, and a collection of short stories called Mani buone per impastare (2014) published by Blonk. I'm a marketing and communication consultant, specialised in social media, wine and art. I'm also a lecturer in various marketing courses across Italy. My interests include reading, migration and refugee studies, travelling and hiking, contemporary art, symphonic music, volcanoes and volunteering.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/author\/slawka\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Notes from a trip to Scicli and Rosolini in South-East Sicily - Nanopausa","description":"Nots from a short trip to South-East Sicily, including Scicli and Rosolini, the most refreshing aromatic herbs and a delicious nut brittle","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/notes-south-east-sicily\/","og_locale":"it_IT","og_type":"article","og_title":"Notes from a trip to Scicli and Rosolini in South-East Sicily - Nanopausa","og_description":"Nots from a short trip to South-East Sicily, including Scicli and Rosolini, the most refreshing aromatic herbs and a delicious nut brittle","og_url":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/notes-south-east-sicily\/","og_site_name":"Slawka G. Scarso","article_published_time":"2016-07-20T16:14:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-07-20T16:16:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":598,"url":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_0359-e1469030944858.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"slawka","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Scritto da":"slawka","Tempo di lettura stimato":"5 minuti"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/notes-south-east-sicily\/","url":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/notes-south-east-sicily\/","name":"Notes from a trip to Scicli and Rosolini in South-East Sicily - Nanopausa","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/notes-south-east-sicily\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/notes-south-east-sicily\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_0359-e1469030944858.jpg","datePublished":"2016-07-20T16:14:35+00:00","dateModified":"2016-07-20T16:16:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/#\/schema\/person\/dd0270b6776ef8b88b88bac9b9d50408"},"description":"Nots from a short trip to South-East Sicily, including Scicli and Rosolini, the most refreshing aromatic herbs and a delicious nut brittle","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/notes-south-east-sicily\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"it-IT","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/notes-south-east-sicily\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"it-IT","@id":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/notes-south-east-sicily\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_0359-e1469030944858.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_0359-e1469030944858.jpg","width":800,"height":598},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/notes-south-east-sicily\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Notes from short trip to South-East Sicily – Scicli and Rosolini"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/","name":"Slawka G. Scarso","description":"Short stories, poems and the odd travel note \/\/ Racconti, poesie, e qualche appunto di viaggio","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"it-IT"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/#\/schema\/person\/dd0270b6776ef8b88b88bac9b9d50408","name":"slawka","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"it-IT","@id":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3ca44d945ef4a424e502fe3e791f2659?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3ca44d945ef4a424e502fe3e791f2659?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"slawka"},"description":"I write fiction and non fiction, especially on wine and travel. And poems, too. I'm the author of Il vino a Roma (2010) and Il vino in Italia (2011), two creative non fiction guides to wine, published by Castelvecchi Editore, and co-author of Custodi di Identit\u00e0 (2012) by INEA, Marketing del vino (2014) and Marketing del gusto(with Luciana Squadrilli) both published by LSWR, and a collection of short stories called Mani buone per impastare (2014) published by Blonk. I'm a marketing and communication consultant, specialised in social media, wine and art. I'm also a lecturer in various marketing courses across Italy. My interests include reading, migration and refugee studies, travelling and hiking, contemporary art, symphonic music, volcanoes and volunteering.","url":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/author\/slawka\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1791"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1791"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1834,"href":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1791\/revisions\/1834"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanopausa.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}