Our Posti del Cuore | The best trattoria in northern Sicily
The kind that requires you to roll out and towards your next destination
Welcome to another issue of our Posti del Cuore, places “of the heart”. Trattorie, specialty shops and food labs are amongst the collection curated by the La Panza Piena team, whose aim is to celebrate the hard work the people in each place do, and have been doing for generations.
Our Posti del Cuore | Trattoria Pane e Vino in all of its abundance and simplicity
by Francesco Pellegrini: wine lover, obsessed with NY cheesecake and nature photography fan.
August 2020, Tindari, province of Messina. It's scorching hot and time for lunch… a granita or gelato with brioche would be the most simple and logical solution to fill up on, but you know, easy roads never lead anywhere. So my friend Antonio - a local - and I opt for Trattoria Pane e Vino, 1 km from the splendid Sanctuary of Maria del Tindari.
A mystical place, at times “spiritual”, that exudes hospitality, warmth and simplicity… and I don’t mean the Sanctuary, but the Trattoria! We walk in and are accompanied to a worn wooden table, where we’re immediately brought cutlery, bread and offered a jug of red wine (strictly “house” wine, there is no other choice). Diners here have no say on the menu: there isn’t even enough time to pour the wine before three different waiters have covered our table with appetisers of every kind and shape, all in the space of two minutes.
We start with an endless selection of pickles — olives, artichokes, mushrooms, aubergines, dried tomatoes, the list goes on, followed by abundant platters of kilometre zero cold cuts — fresh, aged and spicy — and cheeses — pecorino of various ages, fresh and smoked ricotta and more. Being incapable of choosing turns out for the best since honestly, I would have had a hard time leaving anything out.
As soon as the appetisers are served, they ask us if we’d like the mixed grilled meats, to which we answer: certo! And what a beautiful mistake that was! Almost full to the brim following the appetisers, we "sacrifice" ourselves to the exceptionally juicy meat just off the grill, emanating the scent of the embers — braciole messinesi, lamb, beef and pork.
On the verge of exploding, we are brought biscuits and zibibbo...
On our way out, we roll towards the cash register where cured meats and cheese can be purchased. We pay and leave as full as we are satisfied with this unforgettable lunch.
Tradition, excellent quality (not to mention quantity!), price and genuine hospitality: the essentials for a historic trattoria... like Pane e Vino!
