3 Best Sights in Sicily, Italy

This husband-and-wife team makes artisanal cheese from the rare breed sheep that graze on their fields, and also grows and collects their own saffron to make a distinctive local cheese, Piacentino Ennese, flavored with saffron and studded with black peppercorns. If you want to watch the whole cheese-making process, you will need to book several days ahead and be prepared to rise well before dawn. Otherwise, give them a ring and pop by for a morning bowl of hot ricotta curds with fresh bread. Groups of nine or more can book a lunch or an aperitif.

Denny Almanza took over his grandfather’s beekeeping farm just outside the little village of Madonna delle Grazie at the age of 15. Now he has hives in three zones—by the sea, above the Lago di Venere, and on Montagne Grande—and his bees produce five or six different kinds of honey, including prickly pear, clover, rosemary, heather, and mountain strawberry, that tend to sell out very quickly as he is the only person on the island to produce honey at any scale. 

Along with honey-making, Denny makes two dry white zibbibo wines and a passito, and produces truly excellent capers and oregano. Contact him beforehand to organize a wine tasting accompanied by local snacks such as caper and almond pesto and primosale cheese.

On the western side of Etna, just above the town of Bronte, Musa offers immersion into all things pistachio at their agriturismo. The property, with its stunning views of the volcano, is home to horses, donkeys, goats, fruit trees, and, of course, pistachio trees. You can wander the grounds (where they occasionally host small concerts) and see pistachios fruiting on the trees; the harvest happens in the early fall, every other year. On Sunday, Musa offers a set menu lunch (€30 per person; cash only) at a long wooden table under shady trees. Pistachios figure prominently on the ever-changing menu: think pistachio and artichoke lasagna; penne with pistachio pesto, ricotta, and a veritable mountain of ground pistachios; braised pork with pistachios and porcini; pistachio cannoli; and so on. It is possible to arrange a visit to the full pistachio orchard, though it helps if you speak Italian.