EATING IN MONREALE

Tourists can enjoy really good food in Monreale, with restaurants offering high quality food; street food is also quite good and reasonably priced

Bread

The area offers excellent agri-food products, starting with bread: following tradition, it is prepared with durum wheat semolina flour, leavening thanks to mother yeast and is baked in a wood-fired oven heated with wood from the pruning of olive trees. The result is a bread with a golden-yellow crumb. The crispy crust is enriched with sesame seeds. Monreale bread is one of the typical breads of Sicily and is included in the PAT (Traditional Food Products) recognized by the European Community. In Palermo it is sold in stores offering the most sought after inland products, but also in improvised street corner stalls.

TYPICAL PRODUCTS

Pruna Sanacori (Sanacori Plums)

Named after a famous sicilian poem, the sanacore plum “heals the heart” with its sweetness. It is cultivated only in the area between Monreale and Altofonte. It has an oblong shape, with the outside peel in a delicate pinkish-yellow color and the flesh of a bright yellow color; it ripens in July and the fruit is very delicate: once it gets harvested, one must touch it as little as possible in order to not damage its bloom, a specific biological veil formed by fatty acids that covers the plum with a light coating.

In addition to the sanacore plum, another variety of plums typical of the Monreale is the “ariddi i cori”: back in the days, farmers used to wrap them individually, forming long necklaces that were hung in the attics, keeping their load of sweetness until Christmas

Cucuzza virmiciddara (virmiciddara gourd)

Cucuzza virmiciddara also falls under the PAT, the Traditional Agricultural Products. Traditionally, its cultivation is traced back to the Benedictine nuns of the abbey of San Castrenze, who used the pulp of the ripe, cooking pumpkins with sugar, raisins, cinnamon and chocolate, and later using those ingredients to fill their sweets. It was named “virmiciddara” because of the appearance of the well-ripened pulp, which when cooked looks as if it is made up of small vermicelli like(worms) filaments.

Carduni vruricatu (buried thistle)

“U carduni vruricatu” from Poplar, one of the hamlets of Monreale, is a winter festival food and a product linked to the identity of the area and its cultural practices. Cultivation requires care and attention, the right timing and optimal climatic conditions. Its very small production is now controlled by few growers, but in 2022 it was included in the basket of Slow Food, the international nonprofit association committed to giving value to the products of local traditions.

Viscottu ri Murriali (Monreale cookie)

A typical cookie, born in the 16th century in the Benedictine nuns’ Abbey. In the Modica cookie factory, located on Antonio Veneziano Street, the oldest biscuit shop in Monreale, it is said that when the monastery closed after the Unification of Italy, a nun ancestor began to make and sell these cookies, the original recipe of which is still jealously preserved.

The Monreale Doc

The Monreale Doc was established in the year 2000: it includes red, rosé and white wines from an area encompassing the municipalities of Monreale, Piana degli Albanesi, Camporeale, San Cipirello, Santa Cristina Gela, Corleone and Roccamena, all included in the metropolitan city of Palermo.

In 2022 the “Feudo Disisa Lu Bancu, Catarratto Monreale 2020” was included by the famous magazine “Forbes” among the twelve wines considered to be the best in the world, wines that not only represent a territory but also offer good value for money.

Here is a map of gastronomic establishments where you can enjoy traditional Sicilian food and drink good coffee

Here is a map of the gastronomic establishments where you can enjoy the traditional Sicilian food and also drink a good Italian coffee