A Putia

A Putia delle Cose Buone — literally 'the shop of good things' in Sicilian dialect — is the Bonaiuto-family-run wine-and-tapas institution on Via Roma in the heart of Ortigia. The space is a converted 19th-century apothecary with original wooden cabinetry, a long marble counter at the front of the room, and sixty covers across an indoor dining room and an outdoor courtyard.

The menu is built around Sicilian shared-plate tapas. The signatures are the regional cured-meat-and-cheese boards: Trapani-cured tuna mosciame with Pachino tomato; Bronte-pistachio mortadella from the Sortino butcher; Ragusano DOP cheese with citrus marmalade; the famous 'caponata della putia' — a Sicilian sweet-and-sour aubergine relish that the kitchen has run since opening; sea-urchin tartare with extra-virgin olive oil; arancini in three varieties (ragu, butter, pistachio).

The wine list is one of the most interesting in Ortigia — 250 references with deep Sicilian smallholder coverage, including a serious Etna DOC vertical (Frank Cornelissen, Calabretta, Tenuta delle Terre Nere) and a tightly chosen national-Italian section. Glass pours start at €4 and the by-the-glass programme runs a generous twelve-glass Sicilian flight.

The room runs at moderate-to-high volume on a Saturday night; the kitchen is open until 23:30 most evenings and the wine bar runs until 01:00 in summer. Service is family-run and Sicilian-warm — the captains have worked the room for years.

A Putia delle Cose Buone is the easy-first-date room in Siracusa when the brief is contemporary rather than traditional. The wine-bar opening makes an easy pre-dinner drinks experience; the shared-tapas format reduces date-night formality; the late-evening hours give a date format flexibility. Book the corner two-top closest to the marble counter.