The 10 Best Gift & Specialty Shops in Sicily, Italy

The Azienda Agricola Montalbano has been cultivating the land, transforming and commercializing its products. The basic rules of the farm are: Respect for the environment and care for consumers. The farm has a surface of 450,000 square meters, cultivated with vines, olive trees, citrus trees, and vegetables. A correct management of the farm, such as the use of biological plant food, is the base of our work. We offer a wide selection of products: Wine, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Honey, Oranges Jam, Lemons and Mandarins, Sundried Tomato Patè, Black and Green Olives Patè, Artichoke Patè, Extra Virgin Olive Oil Salad Dressing with Oregano, Rosemary, Lemon, Orange and Garlic.

In the center of Palermo, Tre Erre, the family firm produces ceramics based on 16th-century Sicilian models, but always with a sophisticated, modern twist. The result is a shop that's frequented by visitors on shore excursions from cruise ships who stock up on jardinieres, planters, anthropomorphic vases, lace-edged bowls and platters. Prices are lower than you'd expect.

The main tourist attraction of the "workshop of the rock" is represented by the extremely suggestive ambience because the walls of the houde are aslo rock of Caccamo's castle. Today it has become "The house museum of the rural civilization" with kitchen of the early '900, old utensils and work tools. Admission is free, the tasting of sicilian products, tourist information, illustrated descriptions, map of the city and brochure in six languages enriched with 20 photos are also free.

The pasta factory "Il Mattarello" has been in activity since 20 years. It is situated in Bronte, a small city on Etna's hillside, in the province of Catania and it is famous for the so called "Green Gold", the pistachio. In particular, the pistachio characterizes the Sicilian food and cuisine by making flavours and tastes unique in the world. The Pasta factory "Il Mattarello" means quality and food freshness. Our pistachio ravioli suits perfectly customers' palate thanks to their flavour, taste and texture. Ravioli are a type of filled pasta: pistachio is both in the dough and in the filling mixed with beef meat. We do not use any type of artificial preservative but only natural flavours. The pasta factory "Il Mattarello" is not only know for the fresh pasta's production, but also for typical Italian egg-pasta, such as maccheroni, tortellini (pasta filled with meet), tagliatelle paglia e fieno (white and green noodles), ravioli filled by spinach and ricotta or beef. We always use advanced tools and we are capable of working in a fast and precise way by following all the European rules. It also has to be mentioned our artisanal way to produce strozzapreti, a kind of pasta made by a special tool which turn over the dough giving it a twisted shape. The slightly different dimension between one and another single piece is the mark that guarantees the best artisanal quality.

Tasting of typical Sicilian products, in particular those of Bronte, based on the famous Green Pistachio of Bronte DOP, Pistachio natural, pesto, cream, liqueurs, Crunchy, Nougat, Nougat all pistachio course on property you will also find some wines Etna, a variety of jams and honeys Sicilian. Besides the free tasting of typical products of Bronte, we will discuss the various processes of harvest