“The heart of Sicily”: Enna through the eyes of Die Genussreise
Over the past few weeks we welcomed a group of travel buyers to show them our land from the inside: a handmade paper workshop, a distillery, the lake, the rock caves. Among them was Fabio Pittella of Die Genussreise, a German tour operator that organises food and wine trips to Italy in the spirit of Slow Food: small producers, food artisans, regions that stay off the beaten track.
Back home, Fabio told his readers about the trip. On 23 October he published “Enna: Das Herz Siziliens entdecken”, discovering the heart of Sicily, on the Die Genussreise blog and in his newsletter. It opens like this:
“I must admit I didn't know this area, and I was VERY pleasantly surprised, so much so that I would strongly recommend a trip to Sicily there, especially if, like me, you want to avoid overtourism.”
The heart of the island
“Everyone knows Sicily's coasts,” he writes. “Those who really want to understand the island travel to its heart.” And the heart is Enna: almost a thousand metres up, Italy's highest provincial capital, the “navel of Sicily”, with views over wheat fields, hills and olive groves all the way to Etna on clear days.
What struck him
The myth, first of all: Demeter, worshipped here since antiquity, and Lake Pergusa, where according to legend Hades abducted her daughter Persephone, our Kore. Then the Castello di Lombardia, the Rocca di Cerere and its panorama, the Cathedral, the octagonal Tower of Frederick II and, across the valley, Calascibetta on its crag.
Half an hour from Enna, the Villa Romana del Casale in Piazza Armerina, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with its mosaics and the famous “bikini girls”, strikingly modern for 1,700 years.
And of course the food, “honest, robust and deeply rooted in farming tradition”: Piacentinu Ennese PDO with saffron and black pepper, Leonforte PGI peaches ripening one by one in their paper bags, Colline Ennesi PDO olive oil, fresh ricotta, homemade pasta, pulses and wild greens, and to finish, cannoli and almond pastries.
Finally, Enna as a base for exploring the whole island without repacking every day: Catania about an hour away, Etna, Caltagirone and its ceramics, and day trips to Agrigento, Taormina or Cefalù.
“Far from the tourist crowds, you will find warm hospitality, genuine traditions and landscapes of quiet grandeur.”
Thank you, Fabio
This is exactly the land we try to share every day, and hearing it from someone who knows travel in Italy so well means a great deal to us. Thank you to Fabio and Die Genussreise: we look forward to welcoming you again, next time with your travellers.
