Page 250 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

Filicudi’s magic begins to make itself felt in the little whitewashed village of Rocche
Ciauli, above the port and accessible by road or up a stiff stepped path from the
quayside. There’s not a lot to the village – just a hotel, a few houses and a huge
bar/pensione/pizzeria/disco, but if you’re not bothered about having the sea on your
doorstep, it’s a lovely place to spend a few lazy days.

ACCOMMODATION AND EATING: ROCCHE CIAULI

La Canna Via Rosa 43 090 988 9956, lacannahotel.it. Lovely bright rooms
with tiled bathrooms, which open onto spacious terraces with a magnificent view over
the bay below. There’s a small pool (summer only), and the restaurant here (daily
lunch & dinner, closed winter) is excellent – home-made pasta (€9), fresh fish (€13),

local caper salads (€4) and plenty of home-produced wine and fruit. In Aug, half
board is obligatory in rooms with a sea view. It’s a stiff climb up the steps from the
port; call ahead and they’ll pick you up from the dock. €150

Villa La Rosa Via Rosa 24 090 988 9965, villalarosa.it. Open all year, Villa La
Rosa is, inevitably, the social hub of Filicudi, where locals gather to watch sports
matches, play pool or ping pong, eat a pizza, buy a loaf of bread (they make their own)

or boogie the night away. There is even a rudimentary selection of groceries (pasta,
tinned tomatoes, eggs, oil and the like). Cook Adelaide Rando produces some great
dishes (and has written a book on Filicudari cuisine). Try the lasagne with fresh tuna
and wild fennel; the herbed rabbit; involtini; swordfish wrapped in lemon leaves; or
the prickly pear pudding. Expect to pay €25–30 a head for a full meal. Baked in a
wood oven, pizzas kick off at €6. Restaurant opens daily for lunch & dinner; call

ahead out of season. There are also rooms in a couple of houses nearby. €130

Pecorini Mare

Eighteen kilometres from Filicudi Porto, at the foot of a narrow switchback road
below the hamlet of Pecorini (no more than a few houses grouped around a church), is

the little harbour of Pecorini Mare, a mere scrap of a fishing hamlet with a small
dockside, a Carabinieri post, a “saloon” selling drinks and gelati, a fine trattoria, a
marvellous grocery shop with fresh fruit and veg and genuine local produce (bottled
tuna, anchovies, honey, capers, almonds and various conserves) and a lovely desert-
island-feel lido (€10 per person per day). It’s a gorgeous, end-of-the-line place, with a

long pebble beach backed by fishermen’s houses and holiday homes, and perfectly
clear water. In the evenings take a slow stroll up the hill (preferably with a bottle of
wine) and out to the clifftop belvedere above to watch the sun set over the offshore
rock known as La Canna, the Italian slang for joint (which may clue you in to the
mindset of Filicudi’s first wave of tourists back in the 1970s).