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...