What is the height for a Milanese who goes to Sicily looking for party sweets? Meeting in Licata, at the home of a 98 year old aunt who, at the end of dinner, offers you the "Panetùn"! I had landed in Catania with two good intentions: to visit the aunt and go hunting for the Sicilian Christmas sweets. Now that the panettone is on everyone's lips, the idea was to bring something "original" to Milan to amaze relatives and friends. The company proved to be more difficult than expected, given that the Milanese leavened has become traditional almost everywhere in Italy.

Ricci di mandorla, the flavor of a Sicily that no longer exists

The day my aunt made me find panettone on the table, I had come to her with a tray of Curly almond bought where legend wants them to be born: al monastery of the Most Holy Rosary of Palma di Montichiaro, the country of The Leopard. The Cloistered Benedictine nuns The ancient recipe for biscuits has also been handed down for centuries, also mentioned in the novel by Tomasi di Lampedusa. Sister Maria Nazarena has lived in this convent for over 60 years. There are only two other sisters left with her, who revive a piece of Sicily in flavors that no longer exists. Faced with my curiosity, he decides to reveal to me ingredients dei Ricci: Agrigento almonds, sugar, orange peel and eggs. THE tricks to get them, however, remain guarded, together with the cookbook, behind the bars from which the tray passes me. Or rather the trays. The desire is to try them all – the Ricci are not, in fact, the only ones. There are also the New pasta filled with orange preserve, the Soft nougat, the Real pasta cassatine with pistachio, the Martorana's fruit, the Shortbread donuts with almond. The list would continue. I stopped here. Notice: indecision, if you find yourself faced with such sweetness, will be maximum.

In Scicli it's not Christmas without Iadduzzi!

The second stop in search of Sicilian Christmas sweets was Scicli, in a bakery far from the baroque center. So out that, dodging the potholes along the way, there may be doubt that you are lost. The entrance is that of a two-story house. Overlooking the courtyard, the shop window of the La Fornarina bakery. It takes a while for Mrs. Carmela to show up. She is more curious than I am. What is a tourist doing here on December 6, her eyes eloquently ask? "I came to try your Iadduzzi." Answer: "Ah, don't you have panettone in Milan?" … Carmela explains to me that she still makes them by hand, one by one. That his children, with whom he runs the business, would like to quit because it takes so long, too much in a world where everything runs, even in Sicily. But she doesn't give up "because in Scicli it's not Christmas without Iadduzzi!", Some big biscuits whose name means "Roosters". In stuffed she puts "wildflower honey, almonds from our countryside, orange, cinnamon, no sugar". L'dough external is made with water and durum wheat flour, yeast and a little honey. Sweet at the right point, aromatic, fragrant and soft. You start with one and you don't know when you stop.

Sicilian Christmas sweets: there is also sweet couscous

The third and final stage of my glycemic mini-tour in Sicily was Agrigento, in an other monastery, that of Holy spirit. The building is located in the upper part of the city, you can get there from side streets and steep stairways, at the end of which you can guess it on the right for its tuff-colored grandeur. It's one in the afternoon. The church door is closed, but next to it there is another with a bell. Sound. A few minutes of waiting and the door looks out Sister Maria Gabriella. He did not expect this visit. «Nowadays, not many people come to pick up sweets from us, let alone tourists. Some families from Agrigento book them in advance, but today as today, panettone is the most popular. Here I came on purpose to try a specialty of the Cistercian nuns that over the centuries have followed in this monastery: the sweet cous cous, which seems to have Tunisian origins. Sister Maria Gabriella has been here for 20 years and together with her six sisters she has been preparing couscous in large terracotta pots with pistachios – strictly from Rafadali -, candied fruit, chocolate and many small secret delights. The other dessert for which the monastery is famous are the Real pasta shells in turn, filled with sweet couscous: an explosion of sweetness in the mouth. Sister Maria tells me that if I want sweets, she can send them to me in Milan. They also ship, just notify them in advance. I reply that this time, while I am here, I will take care of it, but that I will definitely show up for Easter.