Where I haven't been

In Italy, I mean.  I've been to most of the country's 20 (21?) regions.  I haven't been to Val d'Aosta.  Calabria.  Sicily.  Sardinia.  I like the wines from Aosta but I wouldn't want to go there in winter.  Sicily and Sardinia?  Oh yes I would love to go there.  Everyone raves about Sicily, and I love Sicilian food (not those heavy desserts though) and the native grapes are really promising, whites in particular, though I've always had a weakness for Frappato on its own or blended with Nero d'Avola.

So if you have any suggestions about where to go and who to see in Sicily and Sardinia, email me.  I'd hope to go there in March or even a little earlier. 

Grazie mille.

In September we are on the road one more time before fall.  A whirlwind tour from Venice > Verona > Piemonte > Montalcino > Maremma > Basilicata > Campania > Rome. 

For what it's worth, I love the roads less traveled in Italy - the Maremma is unexpectedly beautiful and unspoiled and Basilicata feels like another country entirely, big-skyed and beautiful.  Can't wait to go back.  And taste a lot more very interesting wines, of course.

Comments

[Thor]

Occhipinti in Sicily. (Don't fall in love.) Her dad & his partners at COS. Frank Cornelissen. (Bring your wallet.)

Caffe Sicilia (corso Vittorio Emanuele, 125) is an artisanal gelato and cannoli place in Noto that you absolutely will not believe; the gelati are from things foraged the day before by the proprietor, and the cannoli will make you forget every other cannolo you've ever experienced (except perhaps the one in The Godfather).

Maurì (via Tagliamento, 22) in Portopalo di Capo Passero, just for the antipasti.

Erice, for at least a night (the thing is the sleep there, but maybe not try to drive or park there). Eat at Monte San Giuliano (vicolo San Rocco, 7) for the fish cous-cous.

Definitely a meal at Cantina Siciliana (via Giudecca, 36) in Trapani, especially for the octopus.

Bartoli in Marsala. Piazza Armerina. All of the Greek temples you can find time to see. Taormina, but only with the right (touristy) expectations. Palermo, of course. The basilica in Cefalu. Mt. Etna on a clear day (one out of ten).

Hire a driver. Don't drive. DO NOT DRIVE.

[Strappo]

Thor, what great recs, thank you.

But why the emphasis on not driving?

[Thor]

Well, let's see...

We were rear-ended (by an Aston-Martin) within five hours of our arrival. While stopped at railroad tracks. With an oncoming train well within sight.

There are no lights or stop signs in many towns; if you honk first, you get to go, unless you don't. And unless you're on a Vespa. People drive with their side mirrors folded in (which you will also do), because there's no way to drive down streets or even on freeways without those inches of extra horizontal room. Impossibly twisty one-lane roads are, of course, four-lane roads as used by Sicilians. And, naturally, they're high-speed four-lane roads.

We were almost run off the cliff by a Lamborghini (high enough for a full thirty seconds before our fiery death) on the way up to Erice. Thank God for his turning radius.

We waited 25 minutes to merge at an intersection in Palermo...in light traffic. I'm not exaggerating. And no one was even honking at us, because it's apparently completely normal to wait that long. If we'd been willing to have a crushed front fender, of course, we could have gone at any time. Take a look at coaches and limos there, and they all have them.

We returned the rental car full of scratches and dents, and were told they were completely normal for Sicilian rentals and we wouldn't be charged, as long as the Aston-Martin guy drove an hour and a half to Catania and handed over his insurance info. (Which, thankfully, he did.)

Driving in any other part of Italy is to driving in Sicily as driving in rural Kansas is to driving a cab on the leading edge of a Manhattan rush hour.

The Sicilians were wonderful, warm people, and we enjoyed each and every one of them. Until they got behind the wheel of a car. At which point they all drove like they had one-inch penises. And I mean that affectionately, of course. ;-)

[Strappo]

Thor, this is very entertaining. I'd actually like to make a post of it.

At the same time, it is a pretty daunting prospect to drive in Sicily. Sounds like the Gowanus.

If 3 of us go there we'll have to be driven around in a big Mercedes like a group of mafiosi. That could be good when negotiating prices, of course.

I often return cars to rental companies with dents, scratches & scrapes. I too drive like I had a one-inch penis.

[Thor]

I thought compensation is what the *car* was for. ;-)