From Erice-Trapani we drove to Marsala and on the way stopped at the Island of Mozia to admire the sea salt flats. After our over night stop in Marsala, we continued on to Mazara del Vallo to finally arrive in Agrigento or Akragas as the ancient Greeks knew it. Sicily in far away antiquity was a Greek colony and much of what you see today is from that era some 2500 years ago when Rome was still a small town about to burst unto the world and Greece still reign over the Mediterranean. All the major towns in Sicily where founded by Greek colonists and had Greek names with Doric temples, the Romans will simply copy Greek civilization by giving it Latin names but keeping the rest. In fact in Rome an educated person spoke Greek fluently and had Greek teachers, Latin was for the uneducated common folk.
In Marsala we sampled the famous Marsala wine and bought 2 cases of Buffa di Marsala which has a rich amber colour it is a superior variety unknown in North America, has more the quality of a dry sherry than a sweet wine and to enjoy our Buffa wine, we had a little spread of bread with apple sauce and anchovies to taste, delicious! Who knew that these food elements mixed so well. Of course when I say anchovies I do not mean the salty type which comes in a tin or bottle, it is the fish without the salt. The owner of the Enoteca the Drunk Mermaid, Salvatore then gaves us a bottle of Grillo, a very good dry white in the higher end of the price range and then showed us the way to Pino’s New Trattoria. He is a regular at this restaurant, he warned us that the décor was ‘’Brutto’’ meaning plain unsophisticated and the service so so, but Michele would take care of us. We walked in and the room was packed, at least 150 people were having dinner around 10:30 pm, all the patrons were men except for 2 women who were part of a family group. It was a very Sicilian place, men have dinner together, to talk and enjoy each other’s company, women are at home with the kids and mother-in-law. The men eat and talk about all manner of things and with much gesturing, life is theatre after all. The food was fish and seafood, lots of it, you pick your fish, they weigh it, tell you the price and grill it. It is serve with a simple green salad and wedges of lemons. We had our wine and we chose a lobster which was served with gluten free pasta with a simple sauce of crushed cherry tomatoes. Dessert fresh strawberries and an espresso. A great evening and lots of fun. Since Will has an intolerance to gluten, all the restaurants were we have been eating offered to make a pasta dish for him with gluten free pasta. Italy is a country which numbers the highest amount of sicilac cases. So the restaurateurs are aware and able to please their customers.
A delicious dish of warm octopus on a bed of mash potatoes flavoured with lemon juice and fresh parsley. Amazing! We had this dish as an Antipasto, at the Rooster in Love in Marsala (Il Gallo e l'innamorata on Via Bilardello 18).
On our way to Marsala, we drove down the Punic road (see Punic wars) towards the salt flats and the Island of Mozia or Motya one of the world’s most important site of Phoenician civilization settlement discovered by accident by Mr. Joseph Isaac Whitaker (1850-1936) whose family came from Yorkshire to Marsala and developed an important wine business. He was like so many excentric Englishmen of the time, interested in painting little birds of Sicily in the Audubon style and archaeology. The island can be reached by a short boat ride, it is a little paradise of quiet. The house of Whitaker is now a museum with stunning display of Phoenician art including the famous life size marble statue of a young Greek Charioteer measuring 1.94 meters, discovered in 1979, it is exquisite and the only other one I ever saw was in bronze in Athens. The rest of the island is one large archeological dig and botanical garden with a vineyard of Grillo grapes which finances the operation of the Whitaker Foundation to this day.
We had the most lovely time in Mozia and I highly recommend a stop there and also don’t forget to buy some sea salt gathered from the flats.
Joseph Whitaker and the little birds he painted.
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