Sicily's Wild West

The first stop was Favara, a miniature town just outside the more famous Agrigento. It’s gritty yet charming, a Sicilian community which at first glance feels stuck in time. Yet among the crumbling, greying buildings there lies a burst of multicolour, an art centre called Farm Cultural Park, injects new life into the area. The park holds exhibitions tackling important current affairs which are often tied into the struggles which Favara has historically faced. During our visit, the show centred on the emancipation of women and how feminism has evolved over the years. We could have spent hours there but needed to get to Agrigento by sundown and so we reluctantly exited.

As we made our way to the bike, we stumbled across a wide alleyway where a bar was serving Favara’s youth spritzes and beers. A DJ was set up outside playing mellow music, swaying to the tunes and occasionally fiddling with the decks in front of him to continue moulding the atmosphere. On the far end of the alleyway opposite the bar, were four foldable chairs with four elderly ladies seated upon them. In the cooling air of the evening, they had set up their seats to congregate, to talk, and to observe. This is a common activity across Italy’s smaller towns but there was something special about the young and old generations sitting opposite one another engaging in the social practices which they most enjoyed. It was these little moments which flavoured and memorialised a trip the most. 

We wined and dined in Agrigento with views overlooking the eternal Valley of the Temples and the next morning we were on the road again. Just as our heavy motorbike gear was taking its toll in the baking heat, we arrived at the Torre Salsa Nature Reserve, ripped off the heavy clothes and catapulted into calm waters. Torre Salsa is made up of 6km of pristine, protected coastline. A small entry fee grants you access, and these funds go directly into maintaining the uncontaminated flora and fauna. Flanking the sea, are looming limestone cliffs, stretches of  sandy dunes and even a thriving wetland.

Just down the road is the more famous Scala dei Turchi but Torre Salsa is far less populated. For a little while we enjoyed our little bay entirely to ourselves. But we couldn’t linger; we had plenty of road to cover to get to lunch. La Foresteria nestled among the rolling hills of Menfi, is a hotel, vineyard and restaurant under the excelling  jurisdiction of the Planeta estate. They own wineries all over Sicily are one of the trailblazers for bringing their island’s wine to the world stage. 

Since we had come straight from the beaches of Torre Salsa and were hardly well-dressed for a  fine establishment such as this, we stopped on the side of the road just before reaching La Forestiera. Hidden among their acres of vineyard, we stripped out of our swimsuits and into something more fitting (you want to look good for a visit to Planeta) and drove the last hundred metres to the entrance.  

The site is beautiful: a creamy pink building rises out of the green landscape and wrap around terraces are adorned with benches inviting guests to enjoy the views. It gives the feeling of old world Sicilian glamour with a contemporary twist. We sat on a veranda shaded by a pergola  adorned with jasmine and we looked out upon the vineyards which yielded the grapes we were about to drink.

The food was exquisite, hearty yet elegant, authentic yet surprising, classic yet inventive. The olive oil, the pasta, the vegetables were all produced in-house and Planeta’s desire for its guests to understand the abundance of the land which they are surrounded by, is palpable. Sicily has so much to offer but it must be treated with respect and delicacy to reap the best results. Each dish which was presented to us proved the estate’s success in this. 

After lunch, it felt right to find a shady spot among the vines and doze under the late summer sun but we had to get moving once more. There was a very specific place we needed to be at sunset. We drove for hours speeding through the vine-ridden Menfi countryside, a literal chase against time. We hardly stopped; we knew time was against us. But just as the sun was grazing the horizon, we arrived at the salt pans of Marsala in the middle of the western coastline.

This site dates back 3,000 years when Phoenician conquerors found it offered the ideal conditions for harvesting salt. It is still active today and as we arrived, the motionless lagoons were reflecting the orange hues of the darkening sky. Harvesters were speedily shoveling mountains of gleaming salt with the last moments of daylight. 

It was an enchanting view made all the better with the bar which overlooked it. We settled into  MammaCaura with a spritz swiftly delivered to our table and hardly a word was spoken as we observed. We stayed until the last rays had disappeared and the looming windmill which watched over the salt pans, was barely distinguishable against the dusky sky. That was our cue to make the short drive to Marsala town, our base for the night. We dined among Baroque architecture (raw Marsala prawns and sweet Marsala wine) and strolled through piazzas glowing yellow under the streetlamps, before heading to bed. 

The next morning took us on a detour off ‘mainland’ Sicily. With a 40-minute ferry from the port  of Trapani, we arrived on the island of Favignana. We rented bicycles, picked up some pizza slices to-go and began a day of beach-hopping. Each bay was more beautiful than the next and included Cala Rossa (an erstwhile Roman quarry), the grotto perciata (an enclosed body of  water surrounded by jagged rocks), and Cala Grande (an endless stretch of blue where you sprawled upon stony slabs cooling off by diving straight into the tempting waters). Travelling the island by bike unlocked one hidden gem after the other but for our evening activity, we took a taxi to the far end side. Chiacchiere e Vino is a bar and restaurant with its tables scattered  across arid farmland. All the chairs were facing west so that we could enjoy the sunset whilst sipping organic local wine and nibbling on pannelle, caponata and parmigiana. 

The next day we made it back to mainland Sicily to conclude our last few days of uncovering the west. Our adventures took us to the iconic Tonnara di Scopello, the medieval hilltop village of  Erice, the pristine coast of Zingaro Nature reserve, and the pulsating town of Bagheria. Yet it was clear that we had not even scratched the surface and each stop on our journey never felt long enough. There are depths of history carved into this island’s compass point which is rich and  varied due to hundreds of years of different colonising powers. There are unpolluted land and  seascapes, a testament to the locals’ respect for their territory. And the abundance of food, wine, life and hospitality is infatuating, intoxicating and inspiring. Make the journey to the wild west, it won't disappoint.