Page 590 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

Elio Vittorini Conversations in Sicily. A Sicilian emigrant returns from the north of
Italy after fifteen years to see his mother on her birthday. The conversations of the title
are with the people he meets on the way, and reveal a prewar Sicily that, while
affectionately drawn, is ridden with poverty and disease.

SICILIAN CUISINE AND COOKBOOKS

There are Sicilian recipes in all the major Italian cookbooks, starting with Elizabeth
David’s classic Italian Food (published 1954), the book that introduced
Mediterranean flavours and ingredients to Britain. (Olive oil, famously, was
previously something you could only buy in chemists’.) Antonio Carluccio,

Britain’s avuncular Italian master, is good on Sicilian fish and snacks in his
Southern Italian Feast – his arancini recipe is definitive – while Southern Italian
Cooking by Valentina Harris has an excellent chapter on Sicilian cooking.
However, there are also plenty of specifically Sicilian books on the market, notably

Sicilian Food by Mary Taylor Simeti, which combines recipes with fascinating
detail about life and traditions on the island. Simeti also co-authored Bitter
Almonds: Recollections and Recipes from a Sicilian Girlhood, alongside Maria
Grammatico, who was raised in a convent where she learned the pastry-cooking
skills that she employs in her outlets in Erice. For an anecdotal trawl through the
classics and the lesser-known dishes, including several from out-of-the-way places

like Pantelleria and Stromboli, consult The Flavors of Sicily by Anna Tasca
Lanza, the respected owner of a cooking school established at her family estate on
the island – hence also her Heart of Sicily: Recipes and Reminiscences of
Regaleali, a Country Estate. At the other end of the social scale, Pani Caliatu, by

Susan Lord and Danilo Baroncino, explores the austere cuisine of the Aeolian
Islands in a fascinating and beautifully designed book that combines social history,
interviews, recipes and photographs.

HISTORY, POLITICS AND ARCHEOLOGY

David Abulafia Frederick II: A Medieval Emperor. Definitive account of the
Hohenstaufen king, greatest of the medieval European rulers, with much on his reign in
Sicily. It’s a reinterpretation of the received view of Frederick, revealing a less
formidable king than the omnipotent and supreme ruler usually portrayed. Also see the
same author’s Italy, Sicily and the Mediterranean, 1100–1400.

Sandra Benjamin Sicily: Three Thousand Years of Human History. An instantly
engaging, intelligently researched book that brings the history of Sicily vividly to life.
If you buy only one book on Sicily, make it this one.

Samuel Butler The Authoress of the Odyssey. Eccentric book by the author of