Page 70 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

Ballarò and Capo in Palermo and Catania’s fish market, for example, are sights in
themselves, while any market can provide inexpensive souvenirs and gifts like
stove-top coffee pots or espresso cups. You’ll be taken for an imbecile if you

don’t haggle for everything except food – ask for “uno sconto” (a discount).

Other day-to-day items, toiletries and basic supplies can be bought in local
supermarkets. Food and drink souvenirs are almost endless: a bag of dried wild
oregano or salted capers from the Aeolians or Pantelliera; pistachios from Bronte;
almonds from the Agrigento area; frutta di martorana from Palermo; or marsala wine
from Marsala.

Clothes

Taormina and Ortigia, and islands such as Panarea and Salina, have excellent

boutiques, with clothes and shoes often sourced from the many small Italian designers
who work for big names such as Martin Margiela. All the main Italian labels and
brands have outlets in Palermo, Catania and Messina, and over the last few years
international high-street chains such as H&M, Zara and Mango are becoming more
common; look out also for quality everyday clothes at the Italian chain Oviesse.

Souvenirs

Sicily has a reputation for its ceramics, widely available in tourist shops in the major

resorts but best sourced at the production centres, like Santo Stéfano di Camastra
(Tyrrhenian coast), Sciacca (south coast) and especially Caltagirone (southern
interior).

You’ll also see lace and embroidery in gift shops in places like Palermo, Taormina
and Cefalù, and the quality isn’t too bad. But keep an eye out, especially as you travel
through small villages in the interior or on the islands, where you may find women and

girls at work outside their homes – most will be only too happy to make an unexpected
sale.

Recently, small Sicilian companies such as Siculamente have begun to apply a
graphic eye to Sicilian tradition, producing witty clothes and accessories that make a
change from the ubiquitous Godfather T-shirts. There has also been an explosion in
stylishly packaged local oils, pestos, conserves and liqueurs, ideal for presents –
though if you care more about contents than packaging, you’ll do far better buying

capers, wild oregano, olive oil and the like direct from small producers or markets.

Tourist tat outlets usually sell gift versions of traditional Sicilian theatre puppets
and hand-painted carts, along with a vast array of souvenir fridge magnets.
Anywhere near Etna, you’re also guaranteed to find things in shops fashioned from