Sicilian pastries, based on the island's simple but excellent products like almonds, pistachios, honey and ricotta are famed throughout Italy. Sicily is renowned for its superb sun-dried and candied fruit, pistachios and almonds and nut based sweets like marzipan, which is sculpted into various fruit and vegetable shapes.
The strongest outside influences on Sicily came from Saracens and other Arabs in the Middle Ages. They brought spices from the east and introduced cane sugar for the making of sorbets, pastries and cakes, including the elaborate cassata that heralded Sicily's reputation as a treasure island of sweets. Arabs founded a pasta industry near Palermo in the 12th century, using grain from fields planted earlier by the Romans.
Sweets
Cannoli
Cassata, a dessert of Arab derivation, made from run soaked sponge cake filled with sweetened ricotta, chocolate and candied fruit, and covered in marzipan fondant.
Croccante, a special cookies from eastern Sicily made with Sicily's famed Bronte pistachios and almonds from Avola
Granita, ices, made with lemon, coffee or almonds is a Sicilian specialty
Dessert Wines
Malvasia delle Lipari DOC is a delicious dessert wine from the volcanic Aeolian isles surrounding Sicily.
Marsala DOC from the Marsala region of Sicily is not only a lovely fortified dessert wine for sipping, but is also used in thousands of classic Italian recipes both savory and sweet.
Moscato di Noto DOC
Moscato di Pantelleria DOC is considered one of Italy's finest dessert wines. It comes from an isle off the coast of Sicily near Tunisia.
Makers
Falanga