Sicily's Hill Towns offer history, gourmet treats, ceramics you'll want to take home, and Baroque masterpieces
Sicily's Hill Towns
Erice, Santo Stefano di Camastra and Noto
[Regions of Italy]
| Sicily is a triangle of land created by volcanoes and is consequently fairly young in geological terms. Earthquakes joined with the volcanoes to create a landscape that is ruggedly beautiful, with dramatic seaside cliffs, soaring peaks and sweeping valleys. There are many hill and mountain tops suitable for human habitation. Sicily's native people and foreign conquerors have taken advantage of the higher elevations to build some picturesque and interesting towns. Three of the most interesting ones sit roughly at the corners of the triangle, Erice on the west, Santo Stefano on the north and Noto on the south. |
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Erice is perched at about 2500 feet above sea level. The town today must look much as it did around the year 1100, when the Norman conqueror Count Roger ordered the destruction of all pagan temples and the construction of a new medieval city with appropriate churches. It is certainly one of the best preserved towns from that era. Most of it was built between 1100 and 1400, yet remains in good condition. Subsequent residents have worked within the gray stone medieval shell, leaving the old façades intact. The result is a town with a true feeling of times gone by, with massive battlements delineating and guarding the periphery. |
| The site of Erice has been a holy place for three thousand years, attracting the attentions of Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans in ancient times and of Moslems, Arabs and Christians in more modern times. There is a mystical atmosphere about the place. Like Sicily itself, the town is triangular, with narrow stone-paved streets, some so close as to admit only one person at a time. The triangle is not flat and the streets are by no means level. Early builders must have struggled with the tough terrain, but luckily they were not deterred by it. |
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The locals boast that on a clear day, you can see Mount Etna to the east and Cape Bon, Tunisia to the south. On a cloudy day, the town is encircled in swirls of mist, through which one catches only glimpses of the sea below. Erice is at its most mystical and mysterious on those days when you half-expect Venus or some other goddess to step out of the fog. |
| Erice is also home to a culinary landmark, the pastry shops of Maria Grammatico. Sicilian nuns taught Grammatico the art of marzipan and pastry, carrying on traditions which had been started years earlier by Arabs who ruled the island in the 8th and 9th centuries. Grammatico has a retail shop of rustic decor, where she offers all manner of marzipan figures and other pastries to take home, and a tea room, elegantly decorated in a simplified Baroque style and presenting an opportunity to savor her marzipan creations, which are remarkable for their realism. A bowl of her fruit is almost impossible to distinguish from the real thing until you bite into it. Her cassata, a sort of ricotta cheesecake with marzipan decorations, is light and flavorful. The cannoli are dark brown, crunchy tubes of pastry filled with delicately flavored creams. Sicilian tradition is carried on with great style here. |
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On the northern coast of Sicily, with stunning views of the Aeolian Islands, is Santo Stefano di Camastra, a tiny enclave that sits at the edge of a cliff, unprotected except on its sea side. The town was laid out in the late 17th century by the Sicilian-Spanish Giuseppe Lanza, Duke of Camastra, with one main street that curves gracefully along the edge of the cliff. Buildings on this street boast spectacular views. The other main street is still used as part of the main highway between Palermo and Messina. The resulting traffic through Santo Stefano is welcomed by the town's retailers. |
| The buildings of Santo Stefano are pleasant but undistinguished. What is remarkable is the flood of bright colors that pours out of store fronts on the Palermo-Messina road. The hills around the town are a source of excellent clay which has made Santo Stefano the ceramics capital of Sicily. The main street is lined with merchants and manufacturers displaying all manner of beautiful and useful objects, from traditional to modern designs, from small plates to giant urns. The prices are some of the best to be found anywhere, clearly lower than those in more touristy destinations like Taormina, and only a fraction of those charged in the ritzy establishments of Florence or Siena. Shopkeepers in Santo Stefano are also glad to negotiate and offer substantial discounts for large purchases. When you barter, you are likely to be talking to the actual artisan who made the pieces. Pride of workmanship is apparent. No particular ceramics shop stands out above the others. There are a few which feature more modern pieces. The traditionalists have lots to choose from. Just remember to enjoy the views as you walk from shop to shop. |
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Noto, in the southeast corner of Sicily, is a Baroque Disneyland. The old town was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1693. The "new" town, which we visit today, was built at the height of Spanish rule of the island and was intended to be a model of Baroque city planning and architecture. Indeed, it is. |
| All the buildings of central Noto are made of golden sandstone and are covered in the decorative elements of the Baroque: columns, pediments, pilasters, accented by complex carvings of everything from bunches of grapes to mythological animals. Each building is different but the same elements are included everywhere. The central street opens up onto three grand piazzas surmounted by cascading broad staircases. The overall effect is dramatic, formal, elegant. |
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For years this effect was hampered because the buildings were covered in scaffolding. Earthquake tests in 1986 showed that any significant temblor would level the "new" town. The beautiful sandstone, while easy to carve for ornate decorations, turns out to be rather fragile. Indeed the entire massive dome of the Cathedral collapsed, leaving the whole beautiful interior open to the elements. So important is this pure Baroque town that the European Union allocated money for restoration, and the new cathedral was inaugurated in 2007. |
| Behind the Municipio, or town hall, is the modern wonder of Noto: the pastry and gelato shop of Corrado Costanzo, renowned throughout Sicily for his creations. Working from the Arab and nunnery traditions, he has for nearly 50 years created the most delicious confections, among which the gelati and sorbetti are especially noteworthy. The original concept for these treats came from the Arabs, who mixed snow with various flavorings. Costanzo's best sorbetto is mandarina, a blend of ice and mandarin orange flavors. Even more remarkable are his gelati. He offers "normal" flavors like chocolate or hazelnut, but what really shines are his more exotic flavors, such as rose or jasmine. Flower-flavored ice cream sounds strange at first but, in the hands of a master like Costanzo, the results are worth a trip to Noto. |
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Erice, Santo Stefano and Noto could hardly be more different in appearance, location or local specialties. Even the hilltops are different in shape and size. What they do have in common is the Sicilians' warm hospitality, which comes from a sense of appreciation for the visitor who has sought out their little corner of the island. It's worth the trip just to meet the people.
by Sims Brannon, Los Angeles
Maria Grammatico is at Via Vittorio Emanuele 14, Erice; tel. 0923/869-390. Click here for her website. Available in the U.S. is her memoir and cookbook Bitter Almonds: Recollections and Recipes from a Sicilian Girlhood (written with Mary Taylor Simeti and published by Morrow).
Corrado Costanzo is at Via Spaventa 7, Noto; tel. 0931/835-243.
[Regions of Italy]