Experience package
Private tour in western Sicily
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A private journey through western Sicily following a dish that holds much more than a recipe: Trapani couscous.
In five days we will follow its ingredients, its gestures and above all its people.
We will start from San Vito Lo Capo, where couscous tells of the meeting between the shores of the Mediterranean. We will get to know the world of the tuna traps and fishermen, enter Trapani cooking, put our hands in the semolina in Marsala and reach Favignana and Mazara del Vallo to find again the sea from which everything begins.
It will not be a journey to taste five versions of the same dish. It will be a journey to understand why that dish exists precisely here.
Arrival and check-in at the selected accommodation.
The journey will begin in front of the sea of San Vito Lo Capo, because before entering the kitchen we want to understand the Mediterranean that allowed ingredients, words and techniques to travel from one coast to another.
With a local guide we will get to know the town and its relationship with the sea.
We will sit down to a fish couscous prepared according to local tradition.
We will learn the first words of our journey: semolina, mafaradda, incocciatura, couscoussière, broth and catch.
In the afternoon we will reach Macari and the western coast.
Dinner at leisure and overnight stay in the San Vito Lo Capo area.
Breakfast and departure by private vehicle along the coast.
We will reach Bonagia, an ancient fishing village tied to the history of the tuna traps.
We will enter the story of tuna fishing, learning about the role of the rais, the organisation of the tonnaroti, the boats and the nets.
When possible we will meet a person tied to the memory of the tuna trap or to local fishing. We will continue to Trapani.
Lunch will be devoted to the local catch, favouring when possible species that are really available in the period.
In the afternoon, a walk in the historic centre and the harbour area.
Dinner and overnight stay in Trapani.
Breakfast and departure for Marsala.
Having tasted couscous and got to know the world of fishing, today the central moment of the journey will arrive.
We will meet a traditional cook or a chef tied to local cuisine.
In front of us we will have semolina, water and a mafaradda, the traditional vessel in which the semolina is worked.
We will prepare the couscous ourselves.
We will learn the gesture of incocciatura and everyone will try to turn the semolina into the small grains that characterise this preparation.
We will then move on to the catch and the broth, understanding how the fish used can change according to availability and season.
We will eat together what we have helped to prepare.
In the afternoon we will reach the Stagnone and the salt pans, introducing another fundamental element of cooking and preservation: salt.
We will wait for sunset over the landscape of pans, mills and islands.
Dinner at leisure and overnight stay in Marsala.
Breakfast and private transfer to the port. Boarding for Favignana.
We will visit the Former Florio Plant of the Favignana and Formica Tuna Traps, entering the history of tuna fishing and processing.
When possible we will meet a fisherman, a sea operator or someone who directly knows the seasonality and local species.
Alternatively, conditions permitting, we can experience the island through a boat excursion.
Lunch will be devoted to the island's cooking.
When provided for by the configuration of the journey, we will find fish couscous again.
This time we will not cook. We will listen.
Return to the mainland. Dinner at leisure and overnight stay in the Marsala area.
Breakfast and departure by private vehicle to Mazara del Vallo.
We will enter the Kasbah and the historic centre, discovering a city in which the Mediterranean has for centuries been a space for fishing, trade, migration and encounter.
We will reach the harbour and meet the world of Mazara fishing.
When possible, we will meet a person tied to the local fishing fleet and hear what it means to live the sea as a place of work.
Red Prawn, catch and the great routes of the Mediterranean will let us understand how far away the story of what reaches our table can begin.
We will conclude the journey with a lunch devoted to seafood cooking and the Mediterranean catch. Five days earlier we had a dish in front of us. Now, inside that dish, we will recognise semolina, sea, salt, fishermen, families, tuna traps, boats and encounters between cultures.
At the end, transfer to the agreed location and end of services.
Activities at sea and connections to Favignana depend on sea and weather conditions. Experiences linked to the catch follow, as far as possible, real availability and seasonality. Meetings with fishermen, cooks and local protagonists are subject to their availability.
Tell us the dates of your trip and the number of travellers: we will check the availability of the experiences, the accommodation and the private services and prepare a proposal built around the needs of your trip.
Trapani Couscous