Description
This Sicilian dinner at Villa Chiarelli Manostalla takes place in a baglio, an old farm estate among vines and olive trees in western Sicily. You arrive as the sun goes down and sit down to a long, unhurried meal, with Baron Chiarelli Rossotti telling you about his family, the land and the wines.
The meal follows the classic order of a Sicilian table. It opens with antipasti built on local produce: olives, sun-dried tomatoes, cheeses and cured meats from nearby, vegetables done the old Sicilian way, bread baked at home and a good pour of extra virgin olive oil. Pasta comes next, then a main course, and the menu shifts with the season and with what the area is growing.
- Four courses: antipasti, a pasta, a main and a sweet finish
- Wines from the Chiarelli Rossotti estate, chosen to go with the food
- Italian coffee and a glass of amaro to finish
Between courses you hear how different Sicilian grape varieties go with the food, and how the estate makes its wine. The setting matters as much as the menu: baglios were farms laid out about an inner courtyard and were once the centre of country life, and at Manostalla you eat among the same vines and olive trees.
The evening lasts about two and a half hours. It is an easy way to taste Sicilian cooking and wine at the table of the family behind the estate. The dinner is offered in English and Italian.