A great week-end on the Etna slopes

There is no winter in Sicily without a trip to mount Etna to enjoy nature on the volcano slopes, its snow, its woods and the excellent food you can get at the local trattorie and osterie in the paesi etnei.

As you can see from the picture, the weather was great, warm and sunny, the view spectacular as usual and the food excellent.

We started the day with a beautiful cappuccino and took the funicular up to 2500 mt above sea level and had lots of fun. Smoke was rising from the active crater and every so often as the wind blew towards us we could smell the sulphur in the air.

When we finally got down from the volcano back to Nicolosi we went for a walk in town and then to an osteria for dinner.
Our dinner at Osteria Garibaldi included a coppo, a paper cone filled with mixed fried vegetable, a dish of fagottini pasta with a filling of provola affumicata and speck in a white meat ragù and braised pork shank with vegetables.
The dessert? A fantastic pastry with a light creamy filling covered in wild little strawberries produced in the area.

I think you can understand now why it is a pleasent must to go pay respect to the volcano every winter.