It is so very hard to let go and settle back into our lives here in Canaan after such unique experiences and meeting so many wonderful people in Sicilia during our visit.
If like us, your idea of a great place to travel to is a place where you can become part of the local day to day happenings. Meet the people... Learn their language... (Sicilian)... Become immersed in the culture.... Sciacca in February is where to go!
Where to stay: Our home at Le Casette in the Port of Sciacca was in the middle of activity. The day and night activity of a working fishing port. We joined the flow of the fleet as fishermen went out and then returned with their catch. If you are looking for a real life "seaside" agritourism experience you can't get closer to life in a fishing port than an
apartment here at Le Casette on the Porto del Sciacca.
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| Building where our apartment was located in Sciacca. Ours was the two windows on the second floor. |
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| The view at breakfast from one of the window/doors. |
Le Casette del Porto
Lungomare Cristoforo Colombo, 23
92019 - Sciacca (AG) Sicilia, Italia
Phone: +39 320 8320192
Email:
info@sciaccacase.it
Website:
www.sciaccacase.it
Bar Charlie: Was right next door to Le Casette. Calling it a "Bar" is so limiting a word for this place. The favorite with the fishermen and many others outside the port it became our favorite "Bar" too. For Franco's cannoli and other "dolce" (sweet) pastries, fried stuffed treats, panini, ice cream in a sweet roll, on and on! And of course cappuccino, beer, sambuca... They also were kind enough act as our
poste mail drop!
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| Bar Charlie. |
Bar Charlie (next to Le Casette del Porto)
Lungomare Cristoforo Colombo, 21
92019 - Sciacca (AG) Sicilia, Italia
WiFi Access: Even though we wanted to be "really away" we wanted to still be "connected". This is something the founders of Art Cafe knew about travelers like us when they started the cafe. Thank goodness! Not only did we find this a very pleasant environment but it had drinks, snacks and art on the walls. But especially it had two great guys that helped us with our Italiano too!
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| Art Cafe WiFi and lounge. |
Art Cafe
C. So. Vittorio Emanuele 135
92019 - Sciacca (AG) Sicilia, Italia
Phone: 320 970 4330
Email:
artcafesciacca@gmail.com
Website:
Facebook
Pane: There are two bakeries that we frequented. Joey and I have our favorite but they both were very, very good! Especially when you can pick up a hot loaf early Saturday and munch it all the way to the
market up the top of town near Piazza Geraldo Noceto!
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| Panifico Leo di Angela. |
Panifico Di Leo Angela
Salita Consiglio N. 12
92019 - Sciacca (AG) Sicilia, Italia
Phone: 0925 24236
Panifico La Fonte del Pane, Girolama Bono
Viale della Vittoria 24
92019 - Sciacca (AG) Sicilia, Italia
Phone: 0925 26411
Pizzerias: Yes, we went to Siciliy and had pizza! Great pizza! We
returned to La Grotta where we first when in 2007. It is a grotto, white walls and ceilings with cavern nooks. Beautiful. Pizzeria L'Arco Antico was a larger pizzeria with great pizza as well. Many families and friends, kids all having a night out. We even talked with a some. it was very friendly! After an awful car trip back from Catania, very late (even for Sicilian evening meal standards) the Trattoria Amadaus was a welcome treat and very good! Of course I have to mention another pizzeria. The one we happened on
in the town of Cianciana where my Grandfather Calogero Re was born and immigrated from in 1913. Cortile Halykos was beautiful! The pizza and antipasto delicious! And it was owned and operated by a distant relative as well!
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| At the Cortile Halykos in Cianciana. |
Pizzeria La Grotta
Via Incisa 74
92019 - Sciacca (AG) Sicilia, Italia
Phone: 0925 28646
Pizzeria L'Arco Antico
Corso Vittorio Emanule
Piazza Corte D'Assise 216
92019 - Sciacca (AG) Sicilia, Italia
Phone: 0925 83934
Website:
www.arcoantico-sciacca.it/
Trattoria Amadaus
Corso Vittorio Emanule 186
92019 - Sciacca (AG) Sicilia, Italia
Cortile Halykos
Via Siracusa 16/20
92012 Cianciana (AG) Sicilia, Italia
Phone: 338 3142813
Antipasto, Primo and Secondo: For this type of meal two stand out. One the Trattoria Osteria Cappellino where we had our first full three course meal while here. It was a small but beautiful place and the meal of what they bill as "typical" Sicilian dishes were very, very good indeed. But the Trattoria del Buongustaio was by far the most delicious full three course and more dinner we have ever had while in Sicilia. Our server was amazing at conveying to us, even without much English and us without much Italian what the options were, recommendations and was just very, very friendly. It was a totally enjoyable experience in Siciliano style gourmet dining!
Trattoria Osteria Cappellino
Vicolo Cappellino 24
92019 - Sciacca (AG) Sicilia, Italia
Trattoria del Buongustaio
Piazza Don Luigi Sturo (Porta Palermo)
92019 - Sciacca (AG) Sicilia, Italia
Telephone: 349 6532437
Website:
http://www.trattoriadelbuongustaio.it/
Ceramic artists: Sciacca is known for its ceramic artists and we visited many shops/studios during our visit there (and even met some aspiring art students). But three studio visits stand out. On a walk trying to find Castello Incantato (
photos) of Filippo Bentivegna (it was closed that day) we instead came across the laboratory (pottery studio) of Gianfranco Friscia.
Joey rang the bell at the gate and after some explaining that Joey was a potter in America he warmly welcomed us in. He spent a great deal of time with us and was very, very open. The traditional painted pottery he does and the more contemporary line of fish and sea themed ceramics is just beautiful! He even had his wife and daughter come up from town to give us a ride back into Sciacca. They were all so very, very nice!
We then met a very contemporary painter, sculptor and ceramic artist, Michele Bono. He had a studio off the main street packed with art of all media and styles. Very, very interesting and some very political. We loved it! We also happened to meet though his son Davide (one of the
art students that we met), Accursio Toto, at his La Bottega della Maiolica. A amazingly talented designer/painter of traditional ceramic art. Beautiful interlaced designs and flowing illustrations!
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| La Bottega della Maiolica of Accursio Toto. |
Ceramiche d'Art Gianfranco Friscia
Corso Vittorio Emanule 40
92019 - Sciacca (AG) Sicilia, Italia
Telephone: 0925 992007
Website:
http://www.frisciaceramiche.com/
Michele Bono
Piazza Campidoglio 1
92019 - Sciacca (AG) Sicilia, Italia
Telephone: 3282 119420
Email:
info@michelebono.com
Website:
www.michelebono.com
Accursio Toto, La Bottega della Maiolica
Piazza S. Friscia 18
92019 - Sciacca (AG) Sicilia, Italia
Telephone: 0925 23944
Other Pasticcerias: Even though Bar Charlie was our favorite here are three others that we enjoyed sampling from and why.
Special Sciacca Marzapane the Cucchitelle di Sciacca.
Bar del Corso
C.so Vittorio Emanule 85
92019 - Sciacca (AG) Sicilia, Italia
Telephone: 0925 24489
Pasticceria Mignon the richest pastry I have ever tasted!
Cafe Dante
Via Dante Alighieri
92019 - Sciacca (AG) Sicilia, Italia
Telephone: 0925 909079
Just sit and watch the traffic go by through where the old wall used to be at Porta San Salvatore.
Gelato In
Piazza Liberta' 4
92019 - Sciacca (AG) Sicilia, Italia
Auto Rental: We wanted to
try and find Carnevale, get to
Eraclea Minoa, explore
the southwest coast and get to
Cianciana so we rented a car for three days.
Gulliver Servizi Turistici made it easy!
Gulliver Servizi Turistici
Corso Vittorio Emanuele 9
92019 - Sciacca (AG) Sicilia, Italia
Telephone: +39 0925 26557
Email:
info@gulliverservizituristici.it
Website:
http://www.gulliverservizituristici.it/
Gift shop: Of course there were any number of ceramic shops and gift shops but Graffeo's had a Jack London,
Call of the Wild fan!
Graffeo
Corso Vittorio Emanuele2
92019 - Sciacca (AG) Sicilia, Italia
Telephone: 0925 24334
Email:
grafc@libero.it
Hair cut: Ok, not everyone goes to Sicilia and is there long enough to need a hair cut. But my long hair was driving me crazy! This barber (
make sure the young barber cuts it though :) was great!
Hair Acconciatori Uomo
Corso Vittorio Emanuele 71
92019 - Sciacca (AG) Sicilia, Italia
Olive oil and Marmelades: We used a lot of olive oil while there but this one stands out. We were high up in the mountain town of Caltabellotta on a cold snowy day and took refuge in this cafe where we were freely offered samples of this olive oil and a selection of marmelades from the local region. Of course we took some back to Sciacca with us! Delicious!
Azienda Agricola Agrigentile
Caltabellotta (AG)
Telephone: +39 389 1830959
Email:
info@agrigentile.it
Website:
http://www.agrigentile.it/agrigentile.html
We hope to come back to Sciacca next year mid-February (and maybe there will be Carnevale too) through mid-March if possible. With a stay in Cianciana too maybe... and get to know some new found family!
To everyone we met
grazie mille!
