Restaurants

The following recommendations are entirely subjective and by no means intend to provide a comprehensive overview on dining possibilities in Forza d’Agrò and around. If you found a restaurant not listed but deserving a mention, please write us.

Given its size, Forza d’Agrò hosts a remarkable number of restaurants and the locals of the area love to come up here to dine out.

In summer evenings, piazza San Giovanni behind the small petrol station buzzes with dining guests. This is where you find Pizzeria „L’Abbazia“, which tops the pizzas with an unsurpassable view on Taormina and (clear weather provided) Mount Etna.

However, it is not here where you get the best pizzas in town, but in „Antichi Muri“. To get there, walk up the steps in front of the petrol station to a piazzetta; the tables set up there already belong to the pizzeria which is in the lane behind. To its right there's „Bar Eden“, where you can sip on a nice granita.

Granita, by the way... ▼

Don't miss out on this sorbet-like Sicilian delicacy. Granita is made of snow-like ground ice which is constantly stirred while sugar and various flavours such as lemon, strawberries, coffee, mulberries or almonds are added. The granita culture originates from Arab times when the snow on Mt. Etna was collected and preserved for the summer in giant hollows on its slopes, the niveri, and which in the beginning was mixed with honey and rose water or fruit juices. Half drink, half dessert, this semifrozen is a great refreshment on hot summer days. After trying a granita „con panna“, with very dense whipped cream, you'll never again doubt that „gelato“ was born in Sicily!
Every region, but also every bar and ice cream parlour, has its own granita speciality. Try, for instance, granita al limone in Savoca's „Bar Vitelli“, just as Al Pacino did back in 1972. As rumours know, he had some „Limoncello“, a famous lemon liqueur, poured on top which by changing the melting point of the ice, makes this granita a real treat. Alternatively, Bar Vitelli offers the same lemon granita with a dash of „Zibibbo“, which is a muscatel dessert wine. Also highly recommended is the mulberry-and-whipped-cream granita con gelso e la panna in Bar Romantica on the far end of Santa Teresa di Riva's lungomare.
Together with a „brioche“, a sweet yeast dough roll you'll invariably be offered with the granita, this also is a wonderful simple summer breakfast you can get in any bar en route to your next excursion.

▲ Schließen

The arguably best restaurant in town is „Il Priore Da Gaetano“, and to find it, you walk into the „ring road“ bending sharp right in front of the petrol station and past the very popular „Osteria Agostiana“ it’s one of the next houses on the left side.

Following the steep street down left from the petrol station, you’ll stumble over restaurant „‘O Dammuseddu“ with very appealing mediterranean fare, highly rated by local guests.

On the far end of town, just 50 m away from our house, a new restaurant has opened on a small piazzetta, „La Montagnola da Simona“, with a great antipasti and a good seafood menu.

Also try the fish at „Villa Souvenir“. This small hotel with restaurant is located at the tip of the „ring road“ viale delle Rimembranze.  They have a nice terrace with an overgrown pergola to dine on, and a bar where you can have your morning cappuccino or buy the newspaper.

Right in the centre of town, Trattoria „Anni ‘60“ offers simple but really good and very reasonably priced home-style cooking with nice views from its balcony down the coast and to Augustinian church „SS. Trinità“ on the next hill. If you like fresh fish, order ahead. Just walk from our house towards the main church and you'll see it just before the church on the left side, opposite the ice cream parlour „Prima Gelateria“ which belongs to the same family.

The most recent newcomer is restaurant „Il Padrino“. It's just before the town entrance, and while its name is not too inventive, it offers Sicilian fare and lovely views.

Outside Forza d'Agrò there's good food, too, of course. Try, for instance, Trattoria „Il Conte d'Antares“ in Allume (via Patricchia, 1), a village off Roccalumera. Here you get home made, genuinely Sicilian „slow food“. Drive past the motorway ramp to Roccalumera and half way left on the thoroughfare Corso Umberto I. 2kms later, behind the church on your right, you'll cross a river and directly thereafter turn left towards Sciglio and Allume. Follow the signs to Allume on the small provincial road. Some 200m behind the town sign turn left into Via Patricchia; another 150m bring you to the restaurant behind a fork.

Guus und Christine Gugelot suggest to finish your Etna excursion with a meal at „San Giorgio e il Drago“ Trattoria in Randazzo (piazza San Giorgio, 28). They wouldn't want you to know more, so we keep the secret — just so much: it's worth a detour.

Sylvia und Ludwig Sepp tried Ristorante „Aloha Mare“ in Santa Teresa di Riva (via Lungomare, 102) and found it excellent.