Gluten Free Restaurants in Sicily
February 16, 2010 by SicilyGuide
Filed under Food & Wine, Restaurants
I have a couple of friends and some relatives with celiac disease (intolerance to gluten, a protein found in pasta, bread, beer, etc…) and I am aware of how troublesome it can be traveling without worrying about food. The wait staff usually thinks of it as another allergy, so the problem of cross-contamination (gluten-free food touching gluten) is usually underestimated.
For an updated list of gluten free restaurants in Sicily, check the database of AIC (Associazione Italiana Celiachia). Scroll down the page and select Sicily in the region field.
I have just been to Sicily and tried using your guide to gluten free restaurants, but didn’t have any good luck with it. I am writing to tell you what I found to be available to gluten free people trveling in Sicliy.
The following restaurants were recommended by your guide:
Ristorante Haiku, Via Quintino Sella, 28- 30, Catania (Puglisi Gabriella, 095-530377; 339-8162555): There was no such numberered building in the area. We never found it.
Ristorante Metro, Via Crociferi 76, Catania (095322098): The building was boardered up, indicating it was out of business.
Ristorante Primopiano, Via A. Decurtis, 8, Catania (Vincino Fabio, 095- 355051): No longer there.
Ristorante Rigoletto, Via le M. Rapisarda, 114, Catania (Pietro Santoro, 095- 355051): This bulding was not open and appeared to be a catering hall, not a restaurant.
We did find a few places to eat gluten free in Giardini Naxos, a resort city, just south of Toarmina. I told these places, “Io sono celiaca.”, which means, “I am a celiac.”, and they were extremely happy to go out of their way to feed me and to please me:
La Spelonca: They have gluten free penne and will ,make fish gluten free for you. If you buy gluten free pizza dough (I think the Pharmacy may have that) they will make gluten free pizza for you.
Sandokan, Via Recanati, Baladogli Del 2, Giardini Naxos (094254125, cell: 388 4858674): This restaurant is run by a very cute young couple. He has many food sensitivites and understands your gluten free needs thoroughly. They will make sure your meal is gluten free (fish, meat, antipasta), but they do not have gluten free pasta or bread.
I was surprised to find out that the gelato is not gluten free. When we went to oder some gelato, I said, “Io sono celiaca.” and the clerk would not let me buy the gelato, but sold me flavored ice instead. It seems everyone is savy to our gluten free needs! Everyone, everywhere knew what gluten free means. They didn’t always have gluten free food, but they told you that and sent you somewhere else to get it. They explained which foods you could eat and couldn’t eat. In fact, one man was proud to tell us that they are the only country in Europe who knows so much about gluten free foods. He told us that celeiacs get time off from work to shop for gluten free food and also to cook it. He also said that celiacs get $100 extra a month to buy the expensive gluten free foods. If you go into a pharmacy with a government issued card stating you are a true celiac, you will get gluten free food for free. I went into a pharmacy and told the pharmacist the I was a celiac. She went into the back of the store and took out some gluten free cookies which I purchased.
I ate well on my trip and never had a glutenous reaction. Just remember to say,”Io sono celiaca.” (“Io sono celiaco.” if you are male.)
Kathi:
so sorry you had to go through this. This page is a bit outdated. We filled in the information based on a gluten free guide given out by the celiac association in Italy. We are very familiar with the gluten free diet and the cross-contamination problem. A good friend of us is celiac and highly intolerant. As you wrote about gelato, most of the times contamination is the problem that people fear and / or glucose while in the US glucose is substituted with corn syrup.
We just got back from vacation and promise to update this page. Thanks for the info you sent and again our apologies. We will check the new edition of the gluten free restaurants in Italy and Sicily.
We hope this did not spoil your vacation too much.
Best,
SicilyGuide
Hi!
Many thanks for you!
we are planning to spend 1 week in the end of October (21-28) in Sicilia at the place San Vito Lo Capo (TP). My two childs are celiac and they are dreaming about this trip and Italian gluten-free pizza and ice cream.I would be happy to receive updated information before our trip
And many thanks for Kathy – her information is very usefull!
Dear Kathi and Alla:
a celiac friend in Italy just informed us of the long list of new restaurants in Sicily. Since we cannot keep updating this page according to all the changes that AIC (The Italian Celiac Association) regularly makes, we decided to add a link to their database. You should be able to see the most up-to-date list there. Remember to scroll down the page and select Sicily in the region field.
We know how hard it can be to travel and not to be able to find anything gluten free. It can really spoil the magic of travel.
Best,
SicilyGuide