What to Eat in Palermo
Sicilian Palermo has immense charm; it’s one of my favorite European cities. Palermo offers an incredible variety of culinary experiences, whether it’s street food or small local restaurants. Delicious pasta, golden arancini, sweet cannoli, three historic markets full of food… Palermo has all this and more to offer.
What to Eat in Palermo:
- Arancini. Fried rice balls filled with a meat mixture or other types of stuffing, typical of Palermo and all of Sicily.
- Cannoli. Crunchy pastry tubes filled with sweet ricotta cream, a popular Sicilian dessert that has become a symbol of Palermo.
- Pane e panelle. A sandwich with chickpea fritters and caciocavallo cheese, a street food typical of Palermo.
- Sfincione. Sicilian pizza with tomato sauce and anchovies, a specialty of Palermo.
- Caponata. A traditional Sicilian appetizer made of eggplant, celery, olives, capers, tomatoes, and onions, popular in Palermo.
- Involtini di pesce spada. Swordfish rolls stuffed with breadcrumbs, raisins, pine nuts, and Parmesan, typical of the coastal regions of Sicily, including Palermo.
- Cassata. A rich Sicilian dessert made of sponge cake layered with ricotta cream and candied fruit, covered in chocolate glaze, a specialty of Palermo’s pastry shops.
- Pani ca meusa. A sandwich with beef offal and caciocavallo cheese, a traditional street food in Palermo.
- … and 20 more Sicilian dishes from the list: What to Eat in Sicily
- … and 25 more Italian dishes from the list: What to Eat in Italy.
Enjoy your food in Palermo!
Pizzeria Timilia, Palermo
Frutta Martorana: Sicilian Marzipan Fruit
Frutta martorana is Sicilian marzipan fruit and vegetables you can't tell from the real thing from a meter away. They're named after a Palermo convent whose nuns weren't allowed to make them, and on All Souls' Day dead relatives leave them for the children. What the almond paste is made of, why it's softer than the marzipan we know back home, and how to tell hand-painted from spray-painted.
Bar Touring, Palermo
Al Cassaro Ice Cream, Palermo
Bistro Sfrigola, Palermo
Sfincione: A Tall Leavened Flatbread from Palermo with Onion and Anchovies
Sfincione is a tall, spongy leavened flatbread from Palermo with slow-cooked onion, tomatoes, anchovies and breadcrumbs with cheese, one that not even the Italians can quite place - somewhere between pizza and focaccia. The name "Sicilian pizza" came from America. Where it comes from, why it originally had no tomatoes and how it tasted from a cart by the del Capo market.
Sarde a Beccafico: Sicilian Sardines Stuffed with Breadcrumbs and Raisins
Sarde a beccafico are Sicilian sardines opened out like a book, stuffed with toasted breadcrumbs, raisins and pine nuts and baked with the tail sticking up, so that they look like the little bird they are named after. Palermo bakes them, Catania fries them with cheese, Messina stews them in tomatoes. I bought mine at the del Capo and Ballarò markets, two pieces for a euro.
Ballarò Historical Market, Palermo
Caponata: Sicilian Sweet-and-Sour Vegetables with Eggplant
Caponata is a Sicilian sweet-and-sour mix of fried eggplant, celery, olives and capers in a tomato sauce with vinegar and sugar, served cold as an appetizer. The name supposedly comes from an expensive fish the barons ate, though linguists trace it to a galley capon instead. Why the eggplant is fried on its own, why caponata is best on the second day, and how it tasted in a Palermo restaurant devoted to the local football club.
