Erice and Maria Grammatico

The view from Erice isn't so good today.

Perched on a mountain 750 meters above the port city of Trapani, Erice is reachable by road with lots of switchbacks and treacherous drop-offs or by cable car.  There are two major reasons for visiting, the views and Maria Grammatico's pastries.  When the clouds cover the mountain thank god for Maria Grammatico and vino liquoroso Sicilia.

Frutta di Martorana or marzipan fruit, tomatoes and oranges.

Sicily’s rich tradition of ‘dolci’ has been shaped by diverse cultural influences throughout history, from the almonds and oranges introduced by the Arabs to the cocoa beans introduced by the Spanish to the pastry making nuns. Each culture left behind its own gastronomic influence, resulting in a love affair with all things sweet.

Maria Grammatico crushing almonds for 'Seni di Vergine'.

She's instructing the group on shaping the 'Seni di Vergine'

'Seni di Vergine' ready for the oven    

'Seni di Vergine' hot form the oven 

Maria lost her father when still a little girl. Her mother was alone with five children and waiting for the sixth. Realising that she simply couldn’t afford to feed her children, Maria’s mother placed her in a convent at age 11.  Maria and her companion orphans in the convent would get up at dawn to begin working.  The rest of the time, the orphans read their missals, and went to Mass and confession.  The saving grace of this isolated existence was learning the art of making almond paste, ‘pasta di mandorla’, and marzipan.  

Maria Grammatico filling cannoli 

Young Maria was attentive and watched the nuns as they went about the business of making the much-loved ‘pasticcini’, observing the way they prepared, weighed and mixed the ingredients.  She finally left the convent in 1963.  On June 1, 1964 she set up her own small shop, La Pasticceria di Maria Grammatico.  Maria still uses the traditional methods she learned from the nuns to make her world-famous creations.  She places a strong emphasis on using local, natural ingredients, seeking milk that’s been produced by hand, and always using 100% Sicilian almonds from Avola.  She has become a celebrated pasticceria expert, specialising in ‘torrone’ and ‘pasta di mandorla’.  The bakery on Via Vittorio Emanuele, in the center of Erice, has remained the same. The desserts displayed in the windows carry on the tradition of the nuns of the San Carlo who are gone.  Thankfully that tradition remains in the hands of Maria.

Biscotti al Fico on the left, and Lingue di Suocera on the right    

If you would like to know more of Maria her story is told in a book, Bitter Almonds, coauthored by Mary Taylor Simeti, available in English.

Now on to something to get rid of the chill and damp of this day, Ben Ryé from the island of Pantelleria, made from Zibibbo (Moscato d'Alessandra), the grapes dry naturally in the sun and the wind for 20-30 days to yield a naturally sweet wine or Morsi di Luce made from Zibibbo grapes cultivated on the island of Pantelleria producing a must with a high sugar content to which, after partial fermentation, wine distillate is added.  That Creme di Patacchi looks interesting as well.  Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Segesta

Due to its rural setting, Segesta in springtime is a magical place.  Built before 430 BC, the Doric temple is the focal point of Segesta. The temple is just over sixty meters long and twenty-six meters wide, built upon four steps, with a total of thirty-six Doric columns.  High upon a neighboring hill are the ruins of the city itself.  A small amphitheater is the most impressive, with a spectacular view over the Gulf of Castellammare.  Productions are still staged there in the summer.  Remains of a church and public forum can be found, as well as street paving from Greek and Roman times.  Built on top of these more ancient ruins are the remains of medieval buildings.

amphitheater with a view of a modern autoduct.    

Situated strategically on the slopes of Mt. Barbaro, close enough to the coast to support a trading port.  Segesta established itself as the most important regional town of the Elymi people.  Little is known of the Elymi, founders of the place initially called "Egesta."  Originally from Asia Minor they arrived in western Sicily around 1200 BC.  From the 7th century BCE Segesta, to use its more familiar Latin name, became an established Greek polis or city-state and the regional political capital.  Trade flourished, they assimilated architecture from Greece, there was an independent army and a mint.  A dog seen on 4th century BCE coins may refer to the myth where a dog personifies of the river god Crimisus who fell in love with a local nymph, Egesta,  their offspring, Egesto, is credited with founding the city.

Around 600 BC the Greek colony of Selinunte, 60 kilometers south of Segesta, which had dramatically grown since being founded around 650 BC, alarmed the Segestans.  Around 580 BCE, the rivalry with Selinunte finally broke out in war.  Likewise the Carthaginians viewed the Greeks as a menace on the northern coast.  Segesta allied itself with Carthage.  With the Greek victory over the Carthaginians at Himera in 480 BC, the Segestans quickly changed sides, allying themselves with Athens.

The Doric Temple of Segesta looks as though it were built a few hundred years ago, not twenty-six hundred.  Clues have led scholars to believe that the temple wasn’t ever actually finished, building tabs that should have been removed are still present, columns weren't fluted, and there was never a roof.  In 450 BC, Segesta's rival, Selinunte, allied herself with Syracuse.  Segesta turned to Athens for aid.  To the Athenians, Segesta was a city of little importance.  Before they would consider an alliance with Segesta they sent a delegation of diplomatic envoys to investigate the city's claims of wealth.  In order to deceive the Athenians into thinking they were prosperous, the Segestans built the temple to impress their visitors. Once the envoys departed, convinced of Segesta's wealth, work on the Temple ceased.

La Martorana e La Fontana della Vergogna

The “Quattro Canti” is the junction in Palermo dividing the four areas of the old town center.  Going southeast down Via Maqueda you will come across Piazza Pretoria that is home to a splendid fountain known for generations as La Fontana della Vergogna, or the Fountain of Shame.  Originally built in 1555 by the Florentine sculpture Francesco Camiliani for a Tuscan villa owned by the Viceroy Pedro de Toledo, his son on inheriting the villa in 1574 and in debt up to his neck, sold it to the City of Palermo who erected it where it now stands.  The large central fountain is the focal point for sixteen nude statues of nymphs, humans, mermaids and satyrs.  The men are missing the distinguishing mark of their sex, apparently having been too much for a nearby convent, the nuns made a midnight requisition. 

The Baroque facade with the Romanesque belltower    

Nearby are Piazza Bellini and the Church of Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio (more commonly known as La Martorana).  La Martorana was commissioned in 1143 by George of Antioch, a famous Admiral of the fleet of King Roger II.  Admiral is a word originated in Sicily from a conflation of Arabic: أمير البحر‎, amīr al-baḥr, "commander of the sea", with Latin admirabilis "admirable", although alternative etymologies derive the word directly from Latin.  Antioch where George was born was an important city of the Byzantine Empire in what is now southern Turkey.  George was a devout Greek Orthodox Christian in command of Sicily’s navy and mercantile fleet. Unfortunately for the Byzantine Empire, his power and wealth came from plundering Greece. 

Romanesque belltower

Baroque frescoes

The choir where the nuns could be heard but not seen.

Initially dedicated to the celebration of Greek Orthodox rites the church changed in the 13th century when it became Roman Catholic. During the 17th century many of the original mosaics were removed for Baroque frescoes.  The surviving mosaics are amongst the most impressive in Sicily.  The craftsmen were brought from Byzantium by King Roger II for work on the Palazzo dei Normanni and the Duomo at Cefalu’, also contributed to this church. The bell tower outside is the culmination of Norman-Arab architecture.

George of Antioch kneeling to Theotokos 

Roger II receiving the crown directly from Christ 

The walls display two mosaics taken from the original Norman façade, depicting King Roger II, George of Antioch's lord, receiving the crown of Sicily from Jesus, and, on the northern side of the aisle, George himself, at the feet of the Virgin in Greek Theotokos.  His prostrating requests forgiveness for a life of piracy and other actions.  Theotokos is holding a scroll in Medieval Greek saying “He who built this house of mine from its very foundations, George, first among the first of all princes, o Son, protect him and his people from harm and forgive him for his sins; for you are empowered to do so as the one and only God, o Word.”  The depiction of Roger was highly significant in terms of its iconography.  In Western Christian tradition, the Pope crowned kings, however, Roger is shown being crowned by God himself.  Roger is standing wearing the ornate ceremonial robes of an emperor of Byzantium.  He is the only sovereign, apart from the emperors of Constantinople, portrayed in a similar scene.

Islamic inscription in Kufic reads: "In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate, God is sufficient for me and He is the best advocate."