Modica Chocolate Festival

Yesterday Les and I drove down to Modica for their annual chocolate festival. We spent several hours meandering around the town, tasting chocolates and admiring the old architecture. Chocolate from Modica is unique. I really loved the texture. The sugar is not fully dissolved so it has a bit of sugary crunch. I loved it! We bought three chocolate bars - one with ginger, another with green tea, and one with cinnamon. YUM!

A Chocolate Chef

This clock tower is perched high on a hillside above the town.

A Display in a Chocolate Shop Window

We stopped at the local museum. It was small, but I liked this sculpture. Very unique.

Modica, like many Sicilian towns was built into the hillsides. The "streets" were a maze of allies and tunnels like this that led up the hill.

This old church was so beautiful, even though it was in a state of disrepair. There were beautiful spring flowers growing out of every crack and crevice.

The main chocolate pavilion.

After we wandered we decided we needed some lunch. "Real Food". Something not sweet. :) We found a charming little restaurant in a back alley simply called "Food and Wine". My kind of place. Their menu utilized local ingredients but was a bit more creative than the standard Sicilian fare found on most menus here. I had ravioli filled with ricotta in a light sauce of champignon mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and pine nuts. Les had gnocchetti (a gnocchi shaped pasta) with pesto and sausage. Both were absolutely delicious!

After lunch we were planning on heading back towards home. Good thing too. We stepped out of the restaurant into rain. So bizarre! If you notice in the pictures above (from before lunch) the sky was crystal clear! We quickly shoved my camera into the plastic bag that the chocolates we purchased were in and ran for the car...several blocks away.

It was so nice to get out and see someplace new. I didn't mind the chocolates either. ;)