Trapani Couscous – One Dish, Three Territories

Arrival in San Vito Lo Capo and check-in at the selected property.

Our journey begins in front of the sea, because before entering the kitchen we want to understand how a dish could cross the Mediterranean, change ingredients and become part of the identity of western Sicily.

With a local guide we will get to know San Vito Lo Capo, the town that grew up around its Sanctuary and is deeply tied to the sea.

Here couscous is not just a recipe. Over time it has also become a language through which to tell of encounters, influences and different cultures facing the same Mediterranean.

Two shores in the same dish

We will meet those who make couscous and talk about it.

We will get to know the semolina, the mafaradda, the couscoussiera, the fish and the broth, and begin to understand what characterises the Trapani version.

But on the first day we do not yet want to learn the whole recipe. First we want to taste it and listen to it.

At the table

We will sit down to a fish couscous prepared according to local tradition.

During lunch we will slowly enter its vocabulary: semolina, incocciatura, mafaradda, couscoussiera, fish, broth.

The Mediterranean around San Vito Lo Capo

In the afternoon we will continue the story through the area.

Depending on the chosen set-up, we may follow the coast to discover the traces left by fishing, towers and the old tuna traps, or reach Macari.

Return by private vehicle. Dinner at leisure. Overnight in the San Vito Lo Capo area.

Breakfast and departure by private vehicle for Marsala.

Having tasted couscous, today we will discover what it really means to make it.

Marsala goes into the kitchen

We will meet a traditional cook or a chef deeply tied to local cuisine.

In front of us we will have semolina, water and a mafaradda, the traditional terracotta bowl in which semolina is worked.

No ready-made couscous. We will make it ourselves.

The incocciatura – The gesture to take home

We will put our hands in the semolina and learn the movement of the incocciatura.

Everyone will try rolling their own semolina, guided by the hands of someone who has known this preparation for years.

We will then move on to the fish and the preparation of the broth.

At the table – Now we know what we are eating

We will sit down together and eat what we have helped to prepare.

In the afternoon we can choose between a visit to a historic winery dedicated to Marsala wine or an experience at the Stagnone and in the salt pans.

Dinner at leisure. Overnight in Marsala.

Breakfast and private transfer to the port.

Boarding the sea connection to Favignana.

Having tasted couscous in San Vito Lo Capo and made it in Marsala, today we will take the opposite path: we will go looking for the sea inside it.

Favignana – An island built around the sea

We will visit the former Florio Establishment of the Favignana and Formica tuna traps, one of the most significant places for understanding the relationship between the island, tuna and work tied to the sea.

The experience of the sea

When it is possible to organise the experience with authorised operators and weather and sea conditions allow, we will meet those who live the sea every day or take part in a boat experience.

Alternatively we can take a boat trip along the island’s coasts.

At the table – The sea inside the mafaradda

Lunch will be the moment when we put the whole journey back together.

The protagonist will be the local catch and, when the experience’s set-up allows, we may find fish couscous again, prepared according to the tradition of the house or the cook who hosts us. We will not do another cooking class. This time we want to discover another recipe and another story. In the afternoon, time to complete our knowledge of the island. Then boarding for the return to the mainland and end of services.

ONE DISH, THREE TERRITORIES

San Vito Lo Capo will have told us about the Mediterranean.

Marsala will have taught us the gesture.

Favignana will have brought us back to the sea.

And perhaps we will understand that inside a mafaradda there are not only semolina and broth. There are sea, families, fishermen, encounters, gestures and centuries of Mediterranean.