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In Italy, panettone cake is the protagonist of the Christmas tables, the Christmas dessert par excellence, surpassed perhaps only by our Sicilian cassata, but this is because we Sicilians have a weakness for sweet ricotta cream; so we cannot do without it! So, well... here's what I offered my guests last Christmas: a panettone stuffed with ricotta and candied fruit, precisely because, as already mentioned, we love our cassata, so on that occasion, I presented my hybrid version of panettone cassata, delicious!
Returning to panettone cake, the real one and done well, even if it is not a typically Sicilian dessert, here in Sicily, we boast of the real masters of artisan panettone.
In Mezzojuso, a small town in the heart of Sicily, between the Sicani Mountains, the family-run Pasticceria Gesualda offers a Sicilian pastry of excellence. Giuseppe Zito, son of Mrs. Gesualda, is the pastry chef who creates genuine works of art of taste, a skill also confirmed by the international trophies he won thanks to his panettone and chocolate sculptures. He combined the goodness of a Nordic dessert with the Sicilian scents, laurel, and sultanas with the varieties of panettone created.
We have Marco Arculeo and his creative panettone in Palermo, always using the Sicilian DOC technique and ingredients with art, free from preservatives and additives, for an all-natural and organic taste.
Suppose I'm making you a little hungry and curious to see and taste this wonder in my proposal for daily tours of Cefalù and Castelbuono. In that case, you will discover the secrets of this fantastic dessert. In fact, in Castelbuono, a stop at Fiasconaro's shop is a must: the scent of citrus-flavored butter winds through the medieval stone streets. Their creations, strictly naturally leavened, are works of art to be savored at other times of the year as well.
The Fiasconaro family began operating in the 1950s. They managed to build a Sicilian pastry business from a small ice cream parlor, also known outside the island. This is also thanks to the children who, taking the company's reins, have been able to reinvent a purely Nordic dessert, such as panettone, enriching it with Sicilian tradition. Thus was born what we Sicilians call the Fiasconaro, referring to that artisan panettone cake, of excellent craft, which we bring to the table at Christmas when we want to make a good impression - bella figura* - with our diners. (* Sicilian expression to say that we want to be impeccable with our guests).
