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Montalbano's places

Mediterranean Sunset is located in Torre di Mezzo, a stone’s throw from the sites of Commissario Montalbano.

Commissario Montalbano, born from the pen of Andrea Camilleri, made us fall hopelessly in love with some unspoiled corners of Eastern Sicily. He introduced us to villages, seaside towns and breathtaking beaches.

Montelusa, Vigata, Mannara and Marinella, these are the places where the events related to Commissario Salvo are intertwined.

These are actually invented names that we can find in the villages and towns of the province of Ragusa. To discover Montalbano’s places, it is necessary to take a trip to eastern Sicily, among the wonders of the Val di Noto, stopping in Ragusa Ibla, Scicli, Punta Secca, Ispica, Modica, Elicona and Vittoria (just to name a few).

Visiting these places means taking a trip to marvelous cities, where the Baroque style is taken to the nth degree, you will find it in the squares, churches and monuments but not only that, you will see a wonderful stretch of coastline, where wild nature makes way for fine sandy beaches.

The famous resort known as Marinella, coincides with Punta Secca, and the commissioner’s seaside home is one of the most booked B&Bs on the coast, credit to the TV series.

Punta Secca is a seaside hamlet of Santa Croce Camerina, it is a small seaside village that has become famous for being home to the Commissario.

Typical cooking

Cooking-wise, the Ragusa area expresses all its tasty variety: cannoli, granite, almond pastries, biancomangiare, arancini and other Sicilian specialties are also found in the culinary tradition of Iblea. Among the best-known typical dishes of Hyblaean cuisine are scacce, Caciocavallo Dop and provola ragusana, Modica chocolate, and Teste di turco from Scicli.

Among the first courses we point out cavati al sugo and ricotta ravioli, we also recommend tasting the ‘mpanate, fresh fish, cucciddatie homemade bread perhaps topped with a little capuliatu. Let yourself be seduced by the sweet flavors: almond nougats, cubbaita, ‘mpanatigghie and the macallè.

The province of Ragusa also produces excellent oil, the Monti Iblei DOP, fresh vegetables, greens and fruit. There are also many wines, the most renowned being Cerasuolo di Vittoria, Sicily’s only DOCG.

There is no shortage of Slow Food presidia: the exquisite Giarratana Onion, the sweet Fagiolo cosaruciaru of Scicli and the Fava cottoia of Modica. Cows of the Modica breed and Ragusa donkeys are also protected. Not to be forgotten is carob, the fruit of a tree that is widespread in these areas and used to make cookies, candies and other sweets.

Cooking-wise, the Ragusa area expresses all its tasty variety: cannoli, granite, almond pastries, biancomangiare, arancini and other Sicilian specialties are also found in the culinary tradition of Iblea. Among the best-known typical dishes of Hyblaean cuisine are scacce, Caciocavallo Dop and provola ragusana, Modica chocolate, and Teste di turco from Scicli.

Among the first courses we point out cavati al sugo and ricotta ravioli, we also recommend tasting the ‘mpanate, fresh fish, cucciddatie homemade bread perhaps topped with a little capuliatu. Let yourself be seduced by the sweet flavors: almond nougats, cubbaita, ‘mpanatigghie and the macallè.

The province of Ragusa also produces excellent oil, the Monti Iblei DOP, fresh vegetables, greens and fruit. There are also many wines, the most renowned being Cerasuolo di Vittoria, Sicily’s only DOCG.

There is no shortage of Slow Food presidia: the exquisite Giarratana Onion, the sweet Fagiolo cosaruciaru of Scicli and the Fava cottoia of Modica. Cows of the Modica breed and Ragusa donkeys are also protected. Not to be forgotten is carob, the fruit of a tree that is widespread in these areas and used to make cookies, candies and other sweets.

Modica's chocolate and its museum

Modican chocolate ,famous all over the world,is a typical sweet from the town of Modica.
Its uniqueness lies in its grainy,crumbly texture and rough,almost raw appearance.
The flavor of Modica chocolate is unique,with an unmistakable aroma of roasted cocoa flavored with cinnamon and vanilla,as well as chili,carob,coffee and citrus.

Cioccolato di Modica has been recognized by the European Community as a PGI product – Protected Geographical Indication, thus becoming the first registered chocolate in the EU.

And to celebrate this fantastic product in Modica, in April 2014, the Museo Del Cioccolato was also inaugurated, located in the Palazzo della Culturaa Modica. Here you can admire 22 chocolate statues, including a bench so lifelike that if you are not careful you risk sitting on it. In the large entrance hall, on the other hand, is a special map of Italy, with chocolate statues depicting the most important monuments of the Bel Paese.

Tasting a bar of Modican chocolate is actually like experiencing the prehistory of chocolate.
Tracing the origins of Modica Chocolate is by no means simple ,partly because of the city’s troubled history ,which has seen many different peoples ,many cultures over the past centuries.
It is thought that it was the Spanish who introduced this particular cocoa processing to Sicily in the 16th century.
However, the recipe was not Spanish but had been brought directly from the Americas , specifically from the Aztec people.
Integrity and typicality of the product are still defended ,in fact the chocolate is still prepared following a recipe that dates back to the 18th century and was later enriched and modified by artisans in the city of its birth.

The processing of Modica chocolate is very old as we have already mentioned,in fact the cocoa beans are roasted and ground forming a mass that is heated until it becomes fluid.Everything is at this point mixed with granulated cane sugar and some spices.The mixture is further processed at a temperature of about 40 °C and poured into rectangular tin molds that are beaten to let out air bubbles and to solidify the chocolate.

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