Page 58 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

people turning up to eat.

Coffee, tea and soft drinks

One of the most distinctive smells in a Sicilian street is that of fresh coffee. The basic
choice is either an espresso (or just caffè) or a cappuccino. The latter is primarily a
breakfast drink – no Italian would order a cappuccino after a meal. A watered-down
espresso is a caffè lungo, with a drop of milk it’s caffè macchiato (“stained”), while

coffee with a shot of alcohol is caffè corretto. In summer you might want your coffee
cold (caffè freddo), or try a granita di caffè – cold coffee with crushed ice that’s
usually topped with whipped cream (senza panna, without cream). Tea, too, can be
drunk iced (tè freddo), usually mixed with lemon. Hot tea (tè caldo) comes with
lemon (con limone) unless you ask for milk (con latte).

For a fresh fruit juice (usually orange, lemon or grapefruit), squeezed at the bar, ask

for a spremuta. Fruit juice mixed with crushed ice is that Sicilian speciality, granita;
a frullato is a fresh fruit shake, while a succo di frutta is a bottled fruit juice. As an
alternative to Coke try the home-grown Chinotto (Coke-like, but not so sweet, with a
tamarind flavour). Tap water (acqua normale) is drinkable almost everywhere, and
you won’t pay for it in a bar, but mineral water (acqua minerale) is the usual choice,
either still (senza gas or naturale) or fizzy (con gas, gassata or frizzante).

Beer, wine and spirits

Beer (birra) – generally lager in Sicily – usually comes in 33cl (piccolo) or 66cl
(grande) bottles. The Sicilian brand Messina, and the Italian Peroni and Dreher, are
widely available – ask for birra nazionale, otherwise you’ll be given a more
expensive imported beer, and note that draught beer (birra alla spina) is usually more
expensive than the bottled variety. So-called “dark beers” (birra nera, birra rossa or
birra scura) are also available, which have a slightly maltier taste, and in appearance
resemble stout or bitter.

Local wine (vino locale) is often served straight from the barrel in jugs or old
bottles, and costs as little as €2 a litre. You may be flummoxed by the vino locale not
being the colour you’ve ordered, but you’ll get whatever they make – in the west, for
example, it’s often a tart but refreshing rosé, in Marsala it’s amber. Bottled wine is
more expensive, though can still be good value, usually from €8–10 in a restaurant
(though often much higher in tourist resorts).

The most famous Sicilian dessert wine is marsala, made in the western town of the
same name. If you’re heading to the offshore islands, watch out for malvasia (from the
Aeolians) and moscato (from Pantelleria), while around Taormina the local speciality