Last week, our cruise itinerary included a stop in Sicily, specifically, the port town of Messina. I didn’t see a lot to do there, and didn’t want to travel all the way to Taormina (where most of the shore excursions take you). Instead, I read you can take a fast ferry across the strait to Reggio Calabria.
But, even though we speed walked the 10 minutes from the Messina cruise terminal to the ferry terminal, we missed the early 08:40 boat by a few minutes. Oh well, guess we’ll have to spend the next hour eating pastries!
Our first stop was Pasticceria Irrera 1910. They serve coffee, confections, pastries, and gelato. My son and I started with a pistachio gelato
He also got a tart with tiny strawberries (fragolini?), but by the time I walked back to the counter where the rest of my family was waiting, it had been devoured already! My wife and daughter went back and got this coffee eclair and another one of those tarts:
Again, the flavours of everything were so intense.
After arriving at the ferry terminal in Reggio Calabria, we immediately split up: my wife and kids went off to a local beach, while I walked in the hot sun, zigging and zagging until I arrived at the National Museum of Bergamot. This wasn’t something I knew about 24 hours beforehand, it just showed up on my Google Maps and was exactly the kind of thing I am interested in.
It was so hot: I arrived completely drenched in sweat, the building had no air conditioning, and they had dimmed the lights. I listened half-heartedly to the audio guide while trying to cool down. Finally, the founder of the museum offered me a tiny cup of bergamot sorbet from a slushy machine. It was bitter, sweet, citrusy, and not at all tart.
It’s clear that this museum is a labour of love, and is dedicated to preserving the long history of using bergamot in various applications (culinary and medical!). I bought some dried peel and a syrup. I’m thinking flavoured panna cotta, spritzers… any other ideas?
Wandering around the boardwalk and surrounding area, I dropped into a greengrocer and bought two white peaches, slowly sipped a most intense coffee granita, and also slaked my thirst with a San Benedetto peach iced tea.
Retracing my steps towards the ferry terminal, I ordered some arancini to go from ARANCINI E NON SOLO ROSTICCERIA SICILIANA. They have takeout on one side of the street, and a covered dining area across the street. The posted menu had several dozen varieties, but upon entering, there were only 10 or so varieties on display, many already sold out. I wasn’t sure how it worked, and we were running tight on time, so I just bought what I saw, rather than wait. We tried the al ragù (meat sauce), al prosciutto (prosciutto cotto and mozzarella), burro e parmigiano (butter, parmesan and mozzarella), and pistachio e mortadella (pistachio pesto, mortadella and mozzarella). Even though we ate these while walking, after they had been in the covered takeout container, they were still very good. Crisp on the outside, soft and creamy on the inside, so much so, that they tended to fall apart and made for a very messy lunch.
Of course, we had to try gelato one more time, and as luck would have it, Gelato Cesare 1918 was right there. Turns out this place is well known (recommended in Lonely Planet, and by my wife’s cab driver). Again, the flavours were so pure and intense, truly wonderful.
Back in Messina, we made sure to stop by one more place before getting back on the cruise ship. Pasticceria Gelateria Ragusa Eventi had more gelato (my son had another cup!) and I sampled this cannoli:
Even though it was prefilled, the pastry was crisp, and the filling was rich and satisfying.
Our time in Italy was short (~6 hours!) but everyone had a wonderful time, whether they were frolicking on the beach, or wandering the waterfront. Maybe we got lucky, maybe my standards are low, but it seemed everything I tasted this day was superb.
