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Fresh pasta, made of regular wheat flour, was made in Italy as early as the Etruscan era. Dried pasta, which can be stored, was most likely invented by the Arabs using Sicily’s semola , a hard durum wheat flour.

The amazing variety of pasta dishes makes use of all the bounty Sicily has to offer. A typical Palermitan dish is pasta con le sarde (with sardines, fennel, pine nuts, raisins and anchovies). The pasta itself, made with local durum wheat, is firm and full of flavour.

Maria Grammatico spent many years in the orphanage inside Erice’s cloistered San Carlo monastery, learning the nuns’ centuries-old recipes for their dolci , the sale of which provided their keep. The sweets are the opposite of monastic life: colourful and luxurious – try sospiri (sighs), cuore (hearts) and cuscinetti (little pillows).

The oldest pastry shop in Trapani, run by three generations of the Colicchia family. Their summertime speciality is granita served with an aniseed biscuit; in winter you’ll find the best cannoli in Sicily.

Since 1880 the Russo family has been producing Catanese pastries using the finest of local ingredients, including pistachios, almonds, oranges and honey.

The Caviezel family came to Catania from Switzerland in 1914 to make Swiss pastries. Now their recipes have been Sicilianized, although French buttercream still features in their pastries.

The three flat islands that form this group are romantically isolated in the middle of the Mediterranean. Lampione is uninhabited, while Linosa is known for its fertile, volcanic soil and crystal clear waters. Lampedusa, the largest of the three at 20 sq km (7.5 sq miles), responded to a tourism boom with modern buildings, but is still good for swimming, diving and watching sea turtles, dolphins and whales (they migrate in March). The coast of Lampedusa was the object of the 1987 Libyan missile strike that fell short, dumping missiles into the sea.

A 10-room pensione in this tiny fishing village. Rooms are nicely decorated with iron or wooden bedsteads, and several have a view of the sea. The ground-floor sitting area has a fireplace and the owners cook excellent Sicilian cuisine, mostly fresh seafood and vegetables from their garden.

In addition to ceramic plates, this family business produces traditional figurines of Sicilian peasants for nativity scenes and miniature terracotta replicas of traditional foods.

The daughter of Demeter and Zeus (also known as Kore or, to the Romans, Proserpine) rules as both Queen of the Underworld and Goddess of Fertility.