Whether you’re soaking up the rays in one of the many coastal villas in Trapani, tasting your way through the wines of Marsala or whiling away the days amongst the Roman ruins of Favignana, you might notice that, while you’re technically in Italy, the architecture is distinctively different. And when you walk around the markets, peer into pastry shop windows or peruse the menus of the local restaurants you’ll see saffron, pistachio, rosewater and cinnamon – certainly not the first things that come to mind when you think of Italian cuisine. That’s because Sicily is in a world of its own, with one of the most unique cultures in Europe. And it’s the island’s fascinating history that we have to thank for this.
To learn more, you only have to look at the dozens of different peoples that have colonised Sicily over the years. Before the Greeks and Romans, the Sicani, Elymi, Siculi and Phoenecians settled on the Mediterranean’s most appealing island. The long list of later arrivals includes Byzantines, Berbers, Moors, French and Spanish. These many colonisers didn’t just come armed with swords and spears; they also brought provisions and culinary traditions, and when the battles were done and they laid their weapons down, it was the unique, distinctive ingredients of their food that endured.
In the century and a half that the Arabs ruled Sicily, the island became a Mediterranean melting pot, blending Berbers (many of them converts to Islam) from North Africa, beside Jewish exiles from Andalusian Spain, plus the native Sicilians who were descendants of Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Lombards and Latins who made their way south from Northern Italy.
Next came the Normans. The high point of the Norman’s Sicilian conquest occurred in the reign of King Roger II (1095-1154), who from his court in Palermo harmonised the cultural, religious and culinary traditions of Christian, Islamic and Jewish Sicilians. It was then that Arab and Norman activity became inextricably intertwined.
By this time, the exotic ingredients and flavours of North Africa permeated the cooking of western Sicily. The new ingredients they imported added sophistication and refinement to the island’s already intricate cuisine.