Sicily is radiating a new confidence. Perhaps more importantly for the visitor, it has spawned a new generation of chefs, hoteliers, gallery owners and travel entrepreneurs who are helping it shake off its former bemused or indifferent attitudes to foreign tourists and foreign ways. 

Forget the clich?s " Italy's largest island has been reborn and now offers visitors beautiful sights, places to stay " and exquisite cuisine.

Something has been happening in Sicily ? something that has nothing to do with all those local clich?s, from the killer in the double-breasted suit to the decadent, impoverished aristocrat in his crumbling palazzo. The island is radiating a new confidence. Perhaps more importantly for the visitor, it has spawned a new generation of chefs, hoteliers, gallery owners and travel entrepreneurs who are helping it shake off its former bemused or predatory attitudes to foreign tourists and foreign ways. 

I first visited Sicily in the mid-Eighties. My wife and I fell in love with the place " not least because in March it felt like June " but the hotels we could afford on our post-student budget were (with one exception) barely habitable, and apart from one memorable country meal on the road to Trapani, the food was frustratingly bad. We knew about the great traditions of Sicilian cuisine, the pasta con le sarde (with sardines and wild fennel), their ways with tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and citrus fruits, the ricotta-filled cannoli desserts. But, perhaps because we were inglesi, they kept trying to give us spaghetti alla  bolognese. Which isn't even a proper Italian dish, let alone a Sicilian one. 

At the same time the shimmering mosaics of Monreale and Cefal?, the virtually intact Greek temple of Segesta, and Palermo's spectacular palaces and churches blew us away. Sicily's historic monuments are still here, thank goodness, some of them looking even better than before: the Roman mosaics of Piazza Armerina, for example " famous for their depiction of bikini-clad female gymnasts " should again be visible in all their glory this spring, after a stop-go restoration effort that has dragged on for years. 

And those nostalgic for the old Sicily will be pleased to know that not everything has changed. One rainy day last year I decided I would look into Ragusa's Archaeological Museum. Inside, six people " presumably all related " manned the ticket desk. One reluctantly broke off her conversation to sell me a ticket at a price that had clearly been converted from the lira years (it ended in a bizarre fraction of a euro). The potentially interesting collection, which included some rather lovely black-figure Attic vases, was let down by poor lighting and perfunctory Italian-only labels. And when I went to sign the visitor's book just as they were impatiently closing up around me, I saw that the page was blank. I was the day's first and last customer. 

On the same trip, though, I had what still stands as the best restaurant meal I have ever eaten in Italy (and I have lived in the country for 26 years). It was in La Madia (0039 0922 771 443; www.ristorantelamadia.it) in Licata = a southern Sicilian town almost entirely unknown to tourists, for the very good reason that there's nothing to see except jerry-built apartment blocks and huddles of men with hard faces who stare at you as you're trying to park. 

Behind a nondescript door in this unlikely town, a chef called Pino Cuttaia works wonders with fresh Sicilian ingredients. Pine-nut-smoked fish (inspired, it seems, by the chef's childhood memories of roasting pine cones over an open fire), or an "aubergine Parmigiana" served in a cocktail glass with the ingredients in deconstructed layers, topped with Parmesan foam, may sound like the ultimate in culinary pretension. But they taste divine; and considering what you might pay in London for a meal of this quality, the bill of ?70 (?60) with wine felt like a bargain. 

Of course, there's more to a hospitality revolution than one fancy restaurant. What impresses me about the Sicily I've seen on three recent visits to different parts of the island is the way that it seems to be getting its act together on all fronts. Sicilian wines are better then ever: dynamic young producers like Planeta or Gulfi have taken over from the dyed-in-the-wool traditionalists or quantity-over-quality co-operatives that used to run the show, and are turning Sicily into a bit of an Italian Napa Valley. 

And you don't have to spend a fortune to appreciate the island's new foodie vocation. Up in the Madonie mountains " a wild part of Sicily known for its manna ash trees, which are still tapped to produce the sweet resin that famously rained from heaven in the Bible " I ate in a rustic trattoria called Nangalarruni (0921 671 428; www.hostarianangalarruni.it). All wooden chairs and low brick vaults, it could not have been more different from bright, minimalist La Madia. But there, too, the idea (unthinkable in Sicily even 10 years ago) that outsiders might actually be interested in eating local dishes made from strange local ingredients had taken firm root. 

They do amazing things with wild mushrooms such as the basilisco (pleurotus nebrodensis), which grows only on certain Madonie limestone hilltops. You can even sample manna - for example, in a Nebrodi black pig fillet glazed with manna, almonds and pistachios. 

Once Sicily had only three kinds of hotel: stuffy grand ones for the rich, dull three-stars for commercial travellers and spartan guesthouses for the rest of us. Now it also has some hotels you might actually want to stay in, from Rocco Forte's luxurious La Verdura resort (www.verduraresort.com), near Sciacca on the south-west coast, to funky designer b & bs such as BB22 in Palermo or Casa Talia in Modica (for both, see relevant sections below). 

Even scenic Taormina, for too long the reign of the tired package hotel, has an impressive new boutique five-star, the Metropole (0942 625 417; www.metropoletaormina.com) ? while the town's best located luxury property, the Grand Hotel Timeo (0942 627 0200; www.grandhoteltimeo.net), is looking good after a top-to-toe makeover. 

Villa rentals, too " a risky, word-of-mouth business up to 15 years ago " are now widely available through reputable specialists such as Think Sicily (www.thinksicily.com), and many of them are as good as anything in Tuscany, thanks to the growing brigade of design-conscious, pool-using Italians and foreigners who have bought properties on the island and are renting them out. 

Owners of second homes have begun to realise that, besides the area around Ragusa (see The Deep South), there's a lot more to the fertile skirts of Etna than overdone Taormina. Rural villages such as Santa Venera are full of character, the volcanic scenery is full of drama, there are good places to eat and snazzy new boutique hotels (such as Shalai in Linguaglossa: www.shalai.it), and the very trendy Etna Rosso wine zone has begun to attract some big-name producers from Tuscany and farther afield. 

Then there are the centri storici,  the historic centres of cities such as Palermo or Siracusa. Once plain dangerous ? not least because you were liable to be hit by a piece of falling masonry from a slowly disintegrating church or palazzo ? these are now being cleaned up in every sense. Wine bars, art galleries, restaurants, b & bs and craft shops are sprouting like porcini mushrooms. 

But don't worry if, like me, you actually liked the confusion and colour of Old Palermo: there's plenty of that left. This is Sicily, after all. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/
europe/italy/southernitalyandsicily/8244073/
Sicily-a-new-dawn.html
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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