Today marked the first departures of some family members. Sully, Ron, Naomi, Max and Luke left in the middle of the night to catch their 6/7am flights out of Catania. They had planned to spend the night near the airport but found out that Catania doesn’t really have any airport hotels. By the time we woke up, they were all in the air heading back to their homes.
We spent a lazy morning by the pool and we feasted on grapes that the local farmer surprised us with!
Prior to the trip Jaclyn had found a farm near the villa that makes their own ricotta cheese from the goat milk. The name of the place is literally “Ricotta di Capra.” She found it on Google maps because it was so close to us and it had 4.9 stars out of 150 reviews so she was very excited to check it out!
Grammy was able to call before they left to make a reservation which was very helpful because the owner, Rina, doesn’t speak English. It turns out that it was an even smaller place that we had expected, and it was a good thing we called, because it is by reservation only. Rina asked them to give her an hour to prepare and then she warmly welcomed them into her own home for a delicious meal. I stayed behind so Beckett could nap, while Jaclyn, Brooke, Grammy, Ryan, Christina, Parker and Serafina enjoyed their lunch.
They sat at a long table right in the kitchen of Rina’s house and everything that was served was so delicious and fresh. It couldn’t have been a more authentic experience! The first course included spinach bread, pizza on focaccia bread, caponata, marinated cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, and of course lots of ricotta. Then, they got ricotta stuffed ravioli for the second course.
For dessert, Brooke was offered her first cannoli of the trip (and was super exited), but then disappointed to find out that lemon cannolis are just as common in Sicily as “regular” cannolis. After lunch they all got a tour of the farm and animals. This was another example of a gracious Sicilian local who is hardworking, proud, and eager to share the Sicilian culture and cuisine with us!
After lunch we hung out at the villa for a few hours before heading out to Ortigia in the late afternoon. Ortigia is part of Syracuse and has become a more popular destination than Syracuse itself.
We walked around Ortigia, which is right on the coast, and weaved our way through the small, hilly, windy roads. This was the first time the kids really got the experience of a larger Sicilian city. We stopped in some squares and they really enjoyed the buildings and fountains.
After walking around for a bit, we arrived at the Piazza del Duomo which was a really wide open, pedestrian-only square. The kids loved the freedom to walk/run around. Since it was such a beautiful looking piazza we decided to eat at a restaurant right in the middle of the action and directly across from the duomo (cathedral). During dinner we saw a bride/groom come through to take their wedding photos in front of the duomo which Brooke enjoyed watching. As usual, the kids didn’t eat much, but we enjoyed our dinner. Note to self…don’t order Beckett spaghetti because he can’t figure out how to eat it and became frustrated lol.
After dinner we continued walking around the square and found a street artist making bubbles. The kids loved dancing around, until Beckett accidentally ran through a rope (to close things off) and caused the whole act to stop and the bubble man to get mad, whoops!
After that incident we decided it was best to leave the square. We walked around and stopped at a gelataria and Brooke discovered how much she likes dark chocolate gelato.
At this point it was pretty late so we headed back to the villa. It was another day where we successfully figured out the Sicilian schedule and were able to enjoy the sights without completely wearing ourselves out!