Castellammare del Golfo

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09-13Maggio2019

First, grazie a Giorgio (son-in-law of Carl and JoAnne Swirsding) for recommending Castellammare del Golfo. A small beach town beautifully situated at the base of the mountains with views of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Bonnie found a small hotel close to the shops and bars, making easy access to our leisurely before-dinner drink. An important criterion.

Screenshot
Gelato lines (sometimes mobs) start about 5:30 pm.
We’ve seen s lot of these. Gelato in a brioche bun. Very popular.
Early evening drinks around 7:00 pm

Day trips

We managed a few day trips from Castellammare with varying cultural and gastronomic benefits!

Amaro dell’Ape

Our cousin Luciana put us on a quest to find a specific liquore from Sicily that she enjoys. After asking in many shops without success, we contacted the producer/distributor who gave us their address near Marsala. After about an hour of driving in the countryside we ended up in front of a large warehouse in the middle of vineyards. The staff graciously showed us their operation, explaining they are a cooperative with a catalogue of an overwhelming number of organic food products. We ended up with plenty of liquore, more Modica chocolate, and some tuna.

Did we mention we got these at wholesale prices!?!?! Adrian Nolfi and Abramo Sabbatini would be proud!

The liquore
Robert’s new friend

Marco de Bartoli

After reading about a possible comeback for Marsala wine in the New York Times, Bonnie reserved a tour with this winery rather than Florio. It was close to the city Marsala where we took a break to see the sights and have a quick lunch. The winery was founded by Marco de Bartoli, and agronomist and grandson of a famous Marsala maker, in the 1970s in response to the over-commercialization of wine in Sicily and the resulting loss of its connection to the locale. He selected primarily one type of grape—grillo—to make wine and marsala.

No irrigation—limestone acts like sponge
Vines are kept low because of the winds. Shoots of young grapes are selectively removed to lower yield and increase quality. They are worried also about wearing out the vines too soon.
They make sparkling wine by aging wine one year, then adding newly crushed juice of the same grape, and bottling for a second fermentation to be aged 18 months.
They are experimenting with clay jugs. Full process occurs in the jugs.
Younger wines in the top barrels. 40+ year-old wine in the bottom barrels. Barrels kept half full for the desired oxidation.
Five sampler tasting.

Marsala—The city

We took a quick trip into the town to see some of the architecture—Arab influenced.

Erice—Why?

Erice is a tiny medieval town high in the mountains. Why go there? Ask Bonnie—Pasticceria Grammatico Maria. World-famous sugary almond-paste pastries and cookies. Maria is profiled in the book Bitter Almonds by Mary Taylor Simeti. Actually Erice is a town of many dueling pastry shops, some run by convents.

Our self-selected sampler
Marzipan

Erice—The other stuff

To clarify, our prima Dea (Mattei) lives in San Mateo.
The twisted style of pasta from this area is called busiate.

Tempio di Segesta

And you thought we were done with Greek temples. At least Robert thought so!

This Doric temple dates to the 5th century BC. Diety unknown. Never completed because a war that interrupted construction.

Nearby amphitheater from 2nd century BC with later Roman alterations—capacity 4000

We made it to Palermo. More coming.

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