Plumeria: the flower of Sicily

If you’ve been in Sicily at least once you must have noticed a white flower with a sweet-spicy scent inside Sicilian gardens or balconies? Well, that’s the Plumeria, also known as Frangipani or Pomelia, as they call it around here.
Sicilian women used to plant the Pomelia and give it to their daughters (or granddaughters) after the marriage to adorn their new home, and that’s why the flower acquired a deep meaning bound to a sense of familiar affection and heritage.

Legends of Sicily: the Hundred Horse Chestnut tree

We want to tell you a story, a short one don’t worry. There is a tree that is considered the oldest and biggest in Europe. It’s located in Sicily, in Sant’Alfio, a lovely hamlet near the Eastern slope of the Mount Etna. Believed to be between 2.000 and 4.000 years old, the tree is known as the Hundred Horse Chestnut tree. Why? It is said that under its huge branches the Queen Joanna of Aragon and her company of one hundred knights found shelter during a severe thunderstorm.

Have you ever eaten a snail? Here they are Sicilian “babbaluci”

“Babbaluci” is the Sicilian name standing for tiny snails. It probably comes from the Arabic babush which meant the women’s shoes with the tip pointing upwards. Other erudites think the name comes from the greek boubalàkion (buffalo) due to the horns of both animals.
Babbaluci are something typical in Sicilian culinary tradition, especially in Palermo. In the summer time you can find them in big wicker baskets from the grocery.