We arrived in Siracusa in the evening and were dropped off by our driver, Giuseppe, at the Algila Hotel on the island of Ortigia. We were pretty tired from our trip so decided to skip dinner and just make it an early night. The Algila Hotel is a very nice and comfortable hotel with a really great staff. Our room is not large but it has a balcony with a nice view of the Mediterranean. They also have a very nice breakfast buffet which is included with the room.

Algila Hotel breakfast buffet

The view from our hotel room balcony

Our guide Serena

After breakfast, we met our guide, Serena, at our hotel. She took us to the local produce market (a short walk from our hotel) where she introduced us to her husband, Eric, who is a professional chef. He helped us to select ingredients for our lunch which we eventually would be cooking at Eric's parents' house. We bought shrimp, calamari, fresh anchovies, small mullet, tomatoes, eggplant, and two kinds of cheese, pecorino and caciocavallo. With the provisions purchased, Eric went home to begin preparing lunch, while Serena took us for a tour around the island.

Shopping with Chef Eric

The market in Ortigia

Foods on offer at the market

The island of Ortigia is very historic, with Greek and Roman ruins adorning the central area of town. It is probably considered to be the Beverly Hills of Siracusa, expensive and well-kept. On several occasions we saw workers sweeping up the sidewalks and making sure that everything was just so. The city center has been designated as a historic site under UNESCO, and so traffic is very limited in the central area and most streets are dedicated to pedestrians. Also, there are very strict rules about what signs can be displayed. The exterior architecture is also protected. This all adds up to a very pleasing walking experience. You feel as though you are transported to an earlier era.

Ruins in Ortigia

Fountain of Diana in the Piazza Archemedes in Ortigia

Fresh water lake fed by underground stream from Mt. Etna. That's papyrus growing in the water.

After our walking tour, we arrived at the house of Eric's parents, Salvatore and Giuseppa. Eric's father worked for the bishop of Ortigia for over 30 years, and was the bishop's personal driver for the last 10 years of his career. He also is a painter, musician, and an excellent cook. He took care of all of the frying for our meal.

Salvatore playing tamborin.

The first dish that we prepared was arancini, or rice balls, filled with delicious things. We learned how to form the rice balls with cooked day-old rice, and to fill the center of the rice ball with the delicious filling. We made two kinds: ragu and spinach. It is a surprisingly technical process and we got some compliments on our beginner arancini making abilities. Salvatore fried the rice balls in hot oil for about 4 or 5 minutes, and then we ate them immediately hot out of the fryer! They were really really tasty!

After learning the art of making rice balls, we got instruction on how to prepare the fried calamari, shrimp and mullet. This involved a fairly standard breading process using flour, beaten eggs, and breadcrumbs. When the breading was completed, the fish was thrown into the deep fryer and cooked just for a couple of minutes until it was well browned. Then the fried fish was transferred into some cones similar to what you would get with a snow cone and eaten out of hand in the cone. This is a very common and traditional Sicilian street food known as Coppa.

Then we made fresh pasta known as cavatelli. Eric had already made the pasta dough for us, and all we had to do was roll out the pasta dough into long ropes and then cut it into small pieces which we then formed into the cavatelli using a special wooden form. Eric told us you can also make them just using a fork.

After we finished our work, we all sat down at the family table and ate some more arancini, Copa, and cavatelli dressed with homemade ragu. It was such a fun experience to spend a couple of hours with this really wonderful Italian family. Unfortunately we don't have our photos from making and eating our meal yet but we hope to have some photos to share soon.

After we finished our lunch, Giuseppa brought out the dessert: lemon granita, or Italian ice. She said it was very simple to make using ice, sugar, fresh lemon juice and lemon zest. And of course it was the best lemon ice I ever had. Incredibly flavorful. I guess its the Sicilian lemons and their zesty zest. I have dedicated myself to try to make some lemon ice similar to that when we get home. I'm not confident that I will be successful but I'm going to give it a try.

With our lunch completed, we bade farewell to Eric's parents, and Serena accompanied us to an architectural park in Syracuse which features both a Roman amphitheater and a Greek theater. Both were very large and very well preserved considering how long ago they were built. There was also a very tall cave with a great echo inside. It's called "The Ear of Dionysius". Caravaggio named it while he was a prisoner there. The high school tour group that went into the cave with us had a great time making whooping sounds and yelling in the cave.

Roman Ampitheater (think Ben Hur)

Greek Theater (Think tragedy)

Super tall cave

Cath and Serena entering the cave

At the top of the Greek theater, there is a waterfall which comes from an aqueduct that has been in operation for over 2,400 years. And it still seems to be working fine. When the tour was complete, our driver Cristian drove us back to our hotel, where we took a little rest before heading out for a light dinner and gelato. What a day it was.

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