Pasticceria Costa

The bright refrigerator display case illuminates a long line of pastries filled with cream pastry and topped with fruit, cannoli filled with ricotta, chocolate and fruit cakes, cassatas and almond cookies. "Sicilian pastries are unique in the world," says Riccardo Costa proudly. Alongside his father and sons, Riccardo runs the historic Pasticceria Costa, a true Palermo institution that opened its doors in 1960, a classic bar and pastry shop where you will find Sicilian confectionery excellence. "It all began with my father, Antonino," says Riccardo. Flash back to the post-war years; 1946, to be precise. Antonino Costa was only eight years old and to escape a destiny of hunger and poverty in a city still destroyed by bombs, he began to work as an apprentice, first in a bakery and then in a pastry shop. At the age of eighteen, Antonino Costa opened his own confectionery workshop to supply the various bars in the area, but it was in 1960 that he opened the historic pastry shop that bears his name, on Gabriele D'Annunzio Street.

Osteria Mangia e Bevi

Imagine you are Marcel Proust at the beginning of his novel In Search of Lost Time, or the feared food critic Anton Ego in Ratatouille, the Pixar masterpiece that won the 2008 Oscars for Best Animated Film. In the exact moment you taste a madeleine dipped in tea or a forkful of ratatouille, your palate is activated you are catapulted back in time, to that first Sunday morning you tried the dessert or to that time when, after falling off your bike, the dinner your mother prepared you somehow seemed to make everything better. It is this emotion, this involuntary memory flashback, that cousins Nico Virga and Angelo Fascetta had in mind when they opened their restaurant. Located on Via Cavalieri di Malta, behind the Church of San Domenico – known as the Pantheon of Sicilians – Osteria Mangia e Bevi is a charming eatery that offers not only simple home cooking from Palermo, but also a true taste of grandma's cooking. Grandma Antonietta’s, more specifically.

Ciccio Passami l’Olio

“I'm a big pizza eater,” Francesco “Ciccio” Leone confesses. “But what I like most is being together with friends, conviviality.” The broad-shouldered Palermo native, 50, greets everyone who enters his establishment with a welcoming smile. It was during a dinner party held at his home that he came up with the idea for the name of his pizzeria. “The name came about by chance,” he recalls. “My friends would come to my house to eat, they would say, ‘Ciccio, pass me this; Ciccio, pass me that,’ and so I thought of calling the pizzeria Ciccio Passami l’Olio, which means ‘Ciccio, pass me the oil.’”

Al Fresco: A Fresh Start

Upon entering Al Fresco in the Ballarò neighborhood, we are struck by both the kind welcome and the special location – the restaurant is set in a garden enclosed within the walls of Casa San Francesco, a former seventeenth-century convent, lit by strings of lights dangling between plants and saplings. There is an immediate sense of openness, freedom and freshness. This is no coincidence: while “al fresco” in Italian can refer to the chill of being out in the open air, it is also an expression used to mean “life in prison.” The double meaning makes sense in this case – despite its first impression as a regular eatery, perhaps the most special feature of Al Fresco is that working in the kitchen and in the dining room are former inmates who have joined the team following their release from prison.

Santa Lucia Day: Celebrating All Things Arancina in Palermo

It’s hard to choose among all of Sicily’s justifiably famous foods, but if we had to pick one as the most the most iconic and beloved it would have to be arancine. These small rice balls, filled with enticing ingredients, coated in a crispy breading and deep fried, are a true culinary masterpiece that embodies the passion and creativity of Sicilian cuisine. Traditionally, arancine were prepared in two flavors: meat and “butter.” Meat arancine are stuffed with meat sauce and peas. Butter arancine, despite the name, are actually filled with mozzarella cheese, cooked ham and béchamel sauce. Over the years, however, local rosticceria – fry shops selling the treat – have added different variations: today, you can find spots offering arancine stuffed with everything from sausage to swordfish, spinach, “alla norma” (with fried eggplant and tomato sauce) and even Nutella – a far cry from the historic roots of this famous dish.

La Delizia: Geniuses of Gelato

When we meet Mr. Giovanni Scalici, owner of the gelato shop La Delizia, he explains the formula for his success in one word: "Simplicity." We are in Sferracavallo, a seaside suburb of Palermo located between the mountains and a beautiful gulf. Here the coast is filled with dozens of seafood restaurants, but if you venture slightly off the promenade you will find this gem of a gelateria on Via Dammuso.

Nni Franco U Vastiddaru: The God of Spleen

Walk around Piazza Marina and you will come across several city monuments and historical sites. You’ll be enchanted by Palazzo Steri, which today houses the university rectory but until a few centuries ago was home to the infamous Inquisition Tribunal. You will also find the place where the famous New York policeman of Italian origin, Joe Petrosino, who came to Palermo to investigate the Sicilian mafia, was murdered in the early 20th century. At the center of the square, in Villa Garibaldi, designed by the famous architect Basile and dedicated to the leader of the Unification of Italy, stands the largest Ficus tree in Europe: a true natural monument that unloads the weight of its prominence on branches that end up expanding its roots by breaking their way through centuries-old sidewalks.