Eating Out In Marausa

Beach Bar & Restaurant (website)
Sits alongside and out into the sea and can be found at the end of the road the villas are on. We have been frequenting this bar since 1983, not long after it opened. The food from the new restaurant is both affordable and delicious - and their outdoor dining area alongside the beach is wonderful. Try your luck asking for a 'sconto' (that's a discount) because you are staying at the 'English villa'!

La Perla Restaurant (website)
Lies about 500m along the coast by the Torre di Mezzo lighthouse and offers a wide selection of authentic seafood, pizza, pasta and vegetable dishes. Best of all the delicious wood oven pizzas can be ordered for takeaway at fraction of the UK price. La Perla's sister eatery in Trapani served the same recipe to the late great Keith Floyd in his 1996 'Floyd on Italy' BBC TV series.

Pizza Chef Take-Away (no website)
A little bit further afield, on Marausa town's little high street, sits Pizza Chef. A smaller but incredibly fast, tasty and cheap pizza take-away. Expect to pay about €10 for a truly massive pizza made and flash cooked before your very eyes. Like Pizza Chef, all pizzas in Sicily are baked in wood-burning stone ovens for that unique flavour.

Local Deli Counters & Bars (no website)
The local grocery stores (mini-supermarkets) in Marausa will make you up a bread panino with ham/cheese etc from their deli counters. You'll also find mini pizzas and a variety of sweet breads and cakes to scoff in the bakers and confectioners. There are a few bars in Marausa town that offer snacks and nibbles to tide you over too. In the summer, a the 3 Torri lido-bar/discotheque sets up on the long beaches near the sand-dunes and sells snacks.

Trattoria Del Sale (website)
In Nubia (on the way to Trapani) approximately 3 miles from the villas, you will find a charming little restaurant that is part of the local Salt Museum. Ideal for lunch or dinner after a visit, and very reasonably priced.

Eating Out in Surrounding Towns

Trapani
In Trapani you will find a plethora of restaurants in the older pedestrianised portion of the city and near the port. There are too many to list here, but to get an idea of the range and menus, visit RistorantiTrapani and type in 'Trapani'.

Mount Erice
The choice of restaraunts 750m up on Erice may encourage you to stay up there for a romantic meal in one of the many restaurants such as Elimo, Ulisse, Monte S.Giuliano or La Pentolaccia and then walk the castle grounds overlooking the twinkling lights of western Sicily and the Egadi Islands.

Egadi Islands
Fresh fish dishes on the Egadi Islands are delicious and Jamie Oliver was a guest Chef at one restaurant on Marettimo in his 2007 'Jamie's Great Escape' Channel 4 TV series. Click here for a list of several eateries on Favignana.

Marsala
The road to Marsala has a few choice eateries including Villa Favorita, a large converted 19th century Villa and wine baglios.

Other Towns
Visit RistorantiTrapani and type in the town or village name to see a list of restaurants and menus.

Cooking & Eating in the Villas

If you have the energy to cook after all that sightseeing, swimming and sunbathing, then you could stock up on supplies at the local grocers, or venture further afield to the more traditional markets in Paceco and Trapani. These are proper Sicilian street markets where you get to try the cheese and olives before you buy, and haggle over the price of clothes! There is regionally famous fish market in the eastern side Trapani where the day's catch is sold. Most of the produce sold in the open markets is locally produced and tastes delicious. Bread can be bought daily from the bakers in Marausa or whilst out and about on your travels. If you'd prefer to stay put, we can normally arrange for the mobile butcher, fishmonger and grocers to call in at the villas on their rounds. There are of course large supermarkets in Trapani should you need them. For a small fee we can do your shopping for you (see our Optional_Extras). If you would like to learn how to cook like the locals, we can arrange Sicilian_cooking_courses with Scuola_Virgilio during your holiday.

For those of you who want to spend a bit more on more locally sourced products, visit some of the smaller shops on Via Fardella in Trapani, or head up Mount Erice. Sun-dried tomatoes, sea salt, tinned Tuna, grated Tuna eggs, herb seasoning, almond biscuits and wine are all locally produced products. If you are buying wine, you can buy local produce in most local supermarkets in either 75cl & 5L bottles, 5L boxes or 1L cartons. Alternatively, you can dive straight up to the Cantina’s on surrounding roads and fill up an empty bottle in exchange for some loose change.

Both villas have gas hobs/ovens, electric kettles, fridge freezers, cutlery, cooking pots, crockery and glasses. Villa Anna has a microwave oven/grill and a permanent garden barbecue. Villa May has an outdoor wood-burning Pizza oven.