Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
( www.carnevaleacireale.com ) The best time to visit Acireale is during February's Carnevale when
the town puts on one of the best spectacles in Sicily. The stars of the show are the elabor-
ately decorated floats, some bedecked in technicolour flower displays, others carrying
huge papier mâché caricatures of local celebrities. All around bands play, costumed dan-
cers leap about and confetti rains.
The exact dates vary each year but you can get details on the event's comprehensive
website. And if you miss it first time round, don't worry, there's a rerun, albeit on a smal-
ler scale, in early August.
Eating
La Taverna
( 095 60 12 61; Via Ercole 4, Acireale; pizzas from €5, meals €25-30) La Taverna is a straight-up trat-
toria, serving traditional Sicilian food at honest prices. Given its location in the midst of
the fish market, it's at its best at lunch when hungry locals pop in for grilled catch of the
day or calamari arrosto (roast squid). Seafood is the obvious choice, but it also does some
fine nonfish dishes.
Try the pasta con funghi porcini (pasta with porcini mushrooms) and all the usual piz-
zas.
TRATTORIA €€
L'Oste Scuro
( 095 763 40 01; Piazza Lionardo Vigo 5-6, Acireale; meals €30-35) With the shouts of the nearby fish
market ringing in the air and views to the Basilica di San Sebastiano, this is a fine setting
for a filling fish meal. Tuck into the seafood classic pasta con gamberi, zucchini e zaffer-
ano (pasta with prawns, courgettes and saffron) followed by a towering sauté of mussels
and clams.
SEAFOOD €€
Trattoria La Grotta
( 095 764 81 53; Via Scalo Grande 46, Santa Maria la Scala; meals €30; Wed-Mon) Eating at La Grotta,
the best of the Santa Maria la Scala restaurants, is a memorable experience. As you enter
you pass the fish counter where your order is picked out and weighed before going in the
pot. The dining area is atmospherically set in the body of a cave. When it comes, the food
is superb.
The house speciality is insalata di mare (seafood salad), a mouth-watering mix of
prawns, calamari and octopus, and the grilled fish is quite sensational.
TRATTORIA €€
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