Accursio

Accursio Ristorante is the eponymous Michelin-starred dining room of chef Accursio Craparo — one of Sicily's most decorated chefs of his generation, who took the Modica Bassa palazzo on Via Grimaldi in 2014 and won the Michelin star within twenty-four months. The restaurant occupies a converted 18th-century palazzo on the western edge of the lower town, with stone-vaulted ceilings, exposed limestone walls, and thirty covers across two intimate rooms.

Craparo's cooking is contemporary Sicilian — leaning on the regional Iblei larder of Modica chocolate, Bronte pistachios, Avola almonds, Pachino tomatoes, Iblei sheep's-cheese, and the Marina di Pozzallo fishing fleet. The eight-course dinner tasting (€130) and the five-course lunch tasting (€60) both rotate seasonally; signatures include a hand-rolled tagliolino with Mazzara red prawn and Cetara colatura; a slow-cooked Iblei lamb shoulder with thyme and rosemary; a Pachino-tomato risotto with Avola almonds; the famous 'crispella alla Craparo' — a Modica-chocolate-and-Iblei-ricotta dessert that Craparo refined for over a decade.

The wine list runs to 600 references with deep Sicilian smallholder coverage — Etna DOC, Cerasuolo di Vittoria, Frappato, Nero d'Avola — and a respectable Italian-national section. Sommelier Salvatore Asaro runs the floor and the pairing flight at €75 is heavily Sicilian-led.

The dining room is the most intimate of the Modica Michelin-starred kitchens — thirty covers, the original 18th-century palazzo limestone-walled rooms — and the kitchen pacing is leisurely. Craparo himself walks the room before the cheese course; the captains rotate from a year-round seasonal pool. The €60 lunch tasting menu is the single most reasonable Michelin-starred lunch in southeastern Sicily and the way most first-time visitors should encounter the kitchen.

Accursio is the proposal-grade table in southeastern Sicily — the thirty-cover palazzo room means total privacy, the Michelin-starred cooking is the conversation, and the eight-course pacing accommodates a slow-moving evening. The €60 lunch option also makes it accessible for a less weighted occasion. Brief Salvatore three days ahead and ask for the corner two-top in the smaller dining room.