Exploring Noto & Marzamemi ❤️

Ciao friends! Andrej and I have been on the road visiting the east coast of Sicily. In the previous episodes we started our visit in Catania, then spent some time in Taormina and drove down to Syracuse. In this episode we'll take a day trip from Syracuse to the UNESCO heritage town of Noto and the picturesque seaside village of Marzamemi. We just arrived in Noto which is a UNESCO heritage site and from the moment that you just walk into the city you see why. So we came directly to Cafe Sicilia because we haven't eaten. It's 1 28 and the sun is very very high so we have to stay away from that. So we're gonna have some granita and brioche which is what this place is known for. We'll cool down and then we're gonna go around show you this beautiful beautiful place. Here I had the, you guessed it, almond again and this one is very different. The taste is even more delicate like the almond has been peeled before it was crushed or something. It's so good. This is one of the most beautiful brioches we've had. She is lovely. She's beautiful but of course I'm gonna dunk her. Let's see. The brioche itself is very flavourful. It's like a cake. It's so good. I've been to all of Italy, Milan, Florence, Rome. We are in front of the Cathedral. This cathedral was built in the 18th century. All the construction started in the 18th century after the whole town was destroyed in the 1693 earthquake. As you walk up the huge stairs and get closer to the imposing Sicilian baroque facade you can't help but marvel at the grandeur and magnitude of the building. The cathedral was initially built in the 18th century as part of a widespread reconstruction of the city following the 1693 earthquake. The dome is a modern addition replaced after a catastrophic collapse in 1996 resulting from a structural weakening caused by an earthquake in 1990. It is dedicated to Saint Nicholas of Myra and has been the cathedral of the diocese of Noto since the diocese's establishment in 1844. The interior is elegant and simple painted white as the 18th century interior decoration was destroyed in the collapse. A 16th century silver arc contains the remains of the city's patron saint. There's such grandeur and beauty and uniformity in the buildings that you see here. Palazzo Nicolacci is an opulent palazzo dating back to the 18th century that belongs to the Nicolacci family. The sprawling 90-room palace was built in the baroque style and is one of the most impressive attractions in Noto today. The palazzo starts luring you in with its wrought iron balconies outside supported by carved corbels with the likeness of lions, children, centaurs, winged horses, chimeras and mermaids. Once inside you're greeted by a magnificent marble stairway leading to lavishly decorated rooms such as the ballroom, the music room, the game room and others. Here we are at Sabinirica. Roberto and Vincenzo kindly offered to tell us what they specialize in. What we did with you earlier is a cutting board in which we put potatoes, pistachio pesto, which is typical Sicilian, and then we also put speck and finally scamorza. So I got this beautiful sandwich called pizzolo. Yes, because it reminds a little bit the pizza, its shape. I've never had this type of bread. It's really good. It's a flat bread, very crunchy and almost a little bit charred. And inside there is mortadella, which is a kind of a ham, you know, and it's mixed with ricotta cheese and sun-dried tomatoes. It's really interesting the combination. This must be the best sandwich ever. Ricotta cheese is a soft spreadable cheese that is kind of on the sweet side and sun-dried tomatoes are salty so the mix is really good, really interesting. We're sitting in the square. It's kind of hard to vlog because there's a live music going on. It's a gorgeous place. Marzamemi is a southern Italian hamlet of Pachino and Noto, two municipalities that are part of the province of Siracusa. It's a short 34-mile drive from Siracusa and it can be done as a day trip, although we wished we stayed longer to enjoy the sea. It's located by the Ionian sea coast and has a population of 367. The local economy mainly revolves around fishing and tourism. It's one of the most picturesque villages in Sicily and when you arrive you'll feel like you've been transported back in time. This place is so nice. We've been here for a few hours and we already saw a music festival and it's so attentive. It is full of locals and people who are visiting Sicily, mostly Italians, full of good food and you cannot beat the backdrop against which you're sitting and eating and having fun and doing aperitivo so this is amazing. So after discovering a little bit Marzamemi we came to Cortile Arabo which is a restaurant right on the water but this restaurant is really highly rated and fine dining so it could be a bit pricey but you eat really really well here so we're very excited because it's one of the most beautiful places. We didn't choose tonight the tasting menu but we wanted to do a tart. This is our welcome, rice and beetroot side with a cream of beetroot and fresh mint. Oh wow, congrats! This seems big. When you take the bite it explodes in your mouth and this passion fruity lemony taste just comes gushing out. Okay this is olive oil emulsion and it looks yummy. You can taste the olive oil, it's almost bitter but it's really really good and the bread is this is the bread that they make in house. Scombro is a fish like akin to tuna marinated with portarga sauce, egg with almonds and centore di scombra rossa. Centore is like a filling of roasted scombro so also that is kind of a cream that recalls the flavor of the scombro. Oh wow, that's a texture that I didn't expect. It's almost like having salmon, cured salmon like that you have you know for breakfast but it's so intense the taste, it's so good. So risotto with lemon, parmesan, raw prawn and algae dust. So good, it's creamy, you can taste the lemon, you can also taste the the prawn that has been squeezed like a there's a prawn cream that is really delicious and also the the algae dust gives it a very fishy kick which is pleasant. So this is the dessert passeggiata patinese and made with tomatoes so it also looks like tomatoes. It's a gorgeous presentation, a gorgeous plate on a bed of pistachio little crumbs. I've never had a tomato dessert before and you know when you look at it it really looks like a tomato so it looks savory but inside you can already tell something is different it looks like a gelato. Wow, now the taste is so interesting. You detect notes of tomatoes of course but then there are so many other notes that are sweet. It seems something almost closer to strawberry with like almost caramelized strawberry or something like that. It's delicious and the finely grated pistachio has a very pleasant texture and there is also basil okay I don't know what's going on but something pleasant definitely. Mutard that comes from the prawn is our pastry chef and bread maker and Jimmy who helps us in the kitchen who is from the Congo. Anyway, a little bit from all over. From all over, north of Italy too. We try to bring a little color to the kitchen in different ways. And listen, what is it that gives you inspiration for your dishes? I was curious a little to understand. A dish is born from an experience, from an emotion. It can be born from a thought that you feel a scent of a woman. And instead the dessert, the Pasteggiata Paghinese, how is it born? The Pasteggiata Paghinese is born from, as the word says, the Pasteggiata. Pasteggiata because I, in the summer, I move close to the Correnti resort. My husband has tomatoes, he has a small company that produces tomatoes. And then I, when, you know, in the afternoon when you are quiet, you want to be alone for a while, I would take a walk and there were these fields with tomatoes and aromas. Because they made aromas inside the greenhouse. And it all comes from sand. So it has a lot of flavor. It comes from the sand. Water, salmonella and the sun That is the main thing. That is the main thing that gives you a ten, ten tenths of sugar. So it's a caramel. Natural. In fact, I almost remembered a, like a caramelized strawberry. There was something really fruity and caramelized. Because it was all that you try to bring to a dish, it can't give it all to you. Sure. But you try to transmit your feeling in a dish. I don't need words. Sure. A cook doesn't need words, but he needs his work to be able to prove himself. And then the team, right? Obviously, that is the fundamental thing. Anyway, I have to say, we are really amazed. My wife is from the welcoming culture that we are finding in Sicily. It's something that everyone here embraces openly, all the gentlemen. Yes, yes. It's our way of life. We are isolated. It's a thing. We are isolated. It's like that because we have been used to it, even for a while. So we had a certain type of tourism. Yes. It was the Germans who came in the time of the children of the flowers. Now it has changed into tourism 2.0, let's say. Sure. And therefore, the need for welcome. Because anyway, whoever comes, you can't be shy. First of all, to show a smile. Sure. Which is the first thing, always the most banal, but the most important. And then to make them feel at home. Absolutely. We are hungry for people. Yes. We are hungry for a new culture. We are hungry for welcome. Yes. But instead here we want to welcome people. Because we have so much to recover. Sure. Here we are the last in everything. Here we have to recover that too. Nice, nice. But if you pay attention to it, even around, when you go out or you need something, if there is the person, he helps you. Sure, sure. Here they give you everything. In fact, in general, it is an incredible thing. Yes, yes, yes. It is not typical of the area. Yes. It is like this. We give ourselves in everything and everywhere. Yes, yes, yes. We move to Sicily. It is favorable. It is favorable. Guys, thank you very much. Thank you again, as always, for everything. I'll take you there. Yes. Let's finish the last things. Thank you, it was a pleasure. Thank you all. I say hello too. Let's go, let's go. Oh, okay. We have here our drink, coffee base, finocchietto, vodka and amaro di parmigiano. So it's a revisitation, a bit like an Espresso Martini. Thank you very much for the dinner.