Routeagrigento

Agrigento Food

Eat in Agrigento where the Sicilian cuisine with its Arab, Norman, and Greek layers creates a food culture of particular depth, the sweet couscous of the Santo Spirito nuns, the almond products of the inland agricultural tradition, and the Sicilian seafood of the nearby coast combining in a table of exceptional richness.

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1
Sweet Couscous
Taste the couscous dolce from the Cistercian nuns of Santo Spirito where the sweet semolina dish with the pistachio, almond, and sugar topping represents the Arab culinary heritage preserved in the medieval convent kitchen, one of the most unusual sweets in Sicily and the most direct connection to the 9th century Arab conquest that transformed Sicilian cooking.
2
Sicilian Couscous
Eat the savory couscous of western Sicily, the inheritance of the Arab colonists who introduced the dish to the island in the 9th century, the Agrigento version using the local fish and the spice combinations that distinguish it from the North African original, the couscous with fish still common in the coastal restaurants of the Agrigento province.
3
Local Almonds
Taste the almonds of the Agrigento province where the Sicilian varieties of almond particularly the Romana and the Pizzuta produce the finest raw almonds in Italy, the same almonds that fill the Valley of the Temples with blossoms in February and that form the basis of the almond paste, the granita di mandorla, and the marzipan confections of the local pastry tradition.
4
Pasta Dishes
Eat the pasta dishes of the Agrigento kitchen where the pasta con le sarde, the pasta alla Norma, and the local pasta con i pomodori della vigna using the small sweet tomatoes grown in the volcanic soil of the Sicilian interior represent the core of the local first course, the pasta made fresh and the ingredients sourced from the surrounding agricultural land.
5
Seafood from Porto Empedocle
Eat seafood from Porto Empedocle in the Agrigento restaurants where the fishing port below the city supplies the local markets and restaurants with the Mediterranean fish, the gambero rosso red shrimp, and the ricci sea urchins that feature on the menus of the better Agrigento restaurants alongside the land-based Sicilian tradition.
6
Wine
Drink the wines of the Agrigento province where the Nero d Avola grape produces the signature Sicilian red wine in several DOC zones near the city, the wine increasingly recognized internationally as a serious expression of the Mediterranean grape variety grown in some of the hottest and driest wine regions in Europe.