When we turned off the Piano Battaglia road last Thursday evening, just a few kilometres outside of Polizzi Generosa, it was just before  7.30 pm. The near summer light was soft and the early night air in the Madonie Mountains was cool after a warm day.

My husband and I had been invited to a summer house by Polizzani friends, for a dinner of simple Sicilian food, at a long table set on a roofed terrazzo looking towards Polizzi.

Fragrant ginestra and fruiting fig trees framed the view to Polizzi. Sitting sentinel like along its spur at 917 metres above the sea, Polizzi appeared to be slumbering. And the lights strung along via Giovanni Borgese cast a warm, yellow glow as darkness slowly enveloped the village streets. 

The layered mountains to the northwest, silhouetted by the setting sun, were a reminder that Sicily is 'an island of myth'.

That night we ate well at the table of three fabulous Sicilian cooks as darkness fell around us.

I will tell more about the food we enjoyed that Thursday evening a little later on.

Salve,

Suzanne