Spending New Year's Eve in Sicily is an excellent choice if you want to recharge for the new year in a beautiful natural setting. Be sure to explore local traditions during New Year's Eve in Sicily, such as the famous "Cenone di Capodanno" (New Year's Eve Dinner) which features dishes made with fresh, high-quality ingredients such as appetizers of cold cuts, cheeses, caponato, arancini, panelle and more; followed by fish-or meat-based pasta dish. For main the speciality of deep-fried cod - baccalà alla siracusana or lentils with the famous cotechino sausage. And the delightful ending with Sicilian desserts - Cassata and Cannoli. Additionally, the stunning scenery of the island makes celebrating New Year's Eve in Sicily an unforgettable experience.
On New Year's Eve on the laid tables of the Sicilians you can find olives, platters of cured meats and cheeses, caponata, meatballs. New Year's Eve in Sicily begins with appetizers: olives, classic platter of cold cuts and cheeses, caponata, meatballs, canapés, panelle, croquettes, arancinette, prawns and so on and so forth! In short, as we Sicilians say, everything that can be "spizzuliare" (nibbled) while waiting for the real courses is considered an appetizer. The pre-meal "spizzuliata", which can go on for hours, is obviously accompanied by the first inevitable toasts of the evening.
We continue with the first courses, which can be either fish-based, such as spaghetti with seafood, or meat-based, such as the more classic and inevitable baked pasta or the tasty lasagna. If this already seems like enough to you, wait until you see the second courses: cod breaded in semolina and then fried, beccafico sardines, cotechino and lentils, roast with mashed potatoes and the classic orange salad.
Just like at Christmas, New Year's Eve dinner in Sicily ends with a series of sweet delights: Sicilian cassata, panettone, nougats, cannoli and dried almond pastries. And after dessert? Here comes the "cesta pu scacciu" or "cannistru", a mixture of dried fruit such as walnuts, almonds, peanuts, peanuts and chickpeas. This basket will remain on the table throughout the rest of the evening and will keep the group company during the long-awaited "card games"!
After dessert and "scacciu", everyone home? But obviously not! The most awaited moment of the evening arrives: we all sit around the table and while we continue to "spizzuliare", we entertain ourselves with the most popular games among Sicilians: the inevitable Sicilian cards to play Seven and a Half, Teresina and Cuckoo , but also the cards and the board for Tombola and Bingo. Everything becomes magical in this festive atmosphere, a now rare opportunity to spend some time with the family. Does New Year's Eve in Sicily end here? No! For Sicilians, Midnight is the time to ring in the new year!
A few minutes before midnight, we stop playing and prepare for a series of "rituals" that guarantee the Sicilian a year free of bad luck and ailments. There are those who prepare an even number of grapes (a tradition of Spanish origin) or a spoonful of lentils to eat at the stroke of Midnight: in fact, both foods are rounded in shape and symbolize coins, a ritual clearly carried out to ensure wealth for the new year. And to attract luck and ward off bad luck? Old dishes are broken, red underwear is worn and the first kiss of the year is given to a person of the opposite sex. Would you like to find true love in the new year? All you need to do is pit a pomegranate and eat it like Proserpina did before falling in love with Pluto according to the ancient Greek myth. Buon Anno!
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