Sicilia in Tavola

Sicilia in Tavola is the Cassia-family-run hand-rolled-pasta institution on Via Cavour — three streets from the Apollo temple — and is Ortigia's most authentic Sicilian-pasta family trattoria. The Cassia family have run the kitchen since 2008 and the menu has not changed materially in fifteen years. The space is a converted 18th-century palazzo with stone-vaulted ceilings, hand-carved larch beams, an open pasta-rolling counter visible from every seat, and twenty-eight covers across two rooms.

The menu is the canonical Siracusan-Sicilian pasta list. Hand-rolled busiate alla trapanese with Mazzara red prawn; ravioli of Pachino tomato and ricotta salata; tagliolini ai ricci di mare (sea-urchin); cavatelli con bottarga and lemon zest; pasta alla Norma (the canonical Sicilian aubergine-and-tomato sauce); the famous 'cassata siciliana' that the Cassia matriarch makes daily.

The wine list is short and entirely Sicilian — Etna DOC, Marsala, Pantelleria Passito, Cerasuolo di Vittoria — at the most reasonable Ortigia prices. Glass pours start at €4. The cellar holds about 100 references.

Service is family-run — the Cassia siblings rotate the floor, the captains have worked the property for years, and the kitchen pacing accommodates the Sicilian dinner format. Sicilia in Tavola is the dining room that local Ortigia families, Sicilian university students, and serious-budget travellers all use as a default lunch and dinner address.

Sicilia in Tavola is the team-dinner room in Siracusa — the hand-rolled-pasta menu is shared-format, the wine list is forgiving on a multi-bottle dinner for eight, and the courtyard summer terrace is the canonical Ortigia mid-tier setting. It is also the easy first-date answer when both diners want Ortigia atmosphere without precious tasting-menu format. Book the corner four-top by the open pasta-rolling counter.