After nomad-ing around Italy for three consecutive years – starting in Lucca (Tuscany), then Sardinia, and now Sicily –
A Foodie’s Guide to Ortigia Island, Sicily
We stayed in the Jewish Quarter (Giudecca), a slightly quieter pocket of the island that I quickly warmed to. It’s less frenetic than the restaurant gauntlet of Via Cavour, but still full of foodie finds – we rarely walked more than a few paces without stumbling across a wine bar or trattoria.
What to eat in Ortigia, Sicily
Being an island, it’s no surprise that Ortigia’s cuisine leans heavily on fish and seafood – with the fresh swordfish and tuna being my particular favourites. In Siracusa specifically, you’ll often see spaghetti alla Siracusana on the menu: a punchy pasta dish with tomato, anchovy, capers and olives. There’s also penne alla Norma – a Sicilian classic of aubergine, tomato, basil and ricotta salata – as well as pasta with pistachio pesto and prawns (pistachios are cultivated on the island and you see them on absolutely everything!).
For ingredients, you can’t beat Ortigia Market – made up of a dozen or so colourful stalls and lots of people yelling in Italian (with a Sicilian accent, I presume). I picked up fresh fish and seasonal vegetables like cime di rapa (related to broccoli) and tenerumi (the leaves and vines of a type of courgette) to cook at our apartment.
In terms of street food, arancini (deep-fried rice balls stuffed with ragù, mozzarella, etc.) are everywhere, as are scacciate (Sicilian stuffed flatbreads) and vota vota (somewhat similar but long and rectangular). As you can imagine, my lunches were frequently quick and carb-fuelled. But when you’re feeling in need of some veggies, caponata – a sweet-and-savoury aubergine-based stew – is a deliciously tangy side dish sold everywhere.
For those with a sweet tooth, cannoli are ubiquitous, as is granita: a sort of flavoured slushie. I started to do a little research on these, but couldn’t take the sugar crashes that followed. Too sweet for me, but there are plenty of other websites out there extolling the best cannoli and granita in Ortigia!
Transport to, from and around Ortigia Island and Siracusa
Before you can start eating, you’re going to need to get to southeast Sicily. The closest airport to Siracusa is Catania, served by several international airlines including ITA Airways, KLM, Delta, Lufthansa and British Airways, as well as low-cost carriers like Ryanair and easyJet. You can compare times and prices among all airlines on sites like Skyscanner, Expedia and Omio.
From Catania, you can either catch a direct bus to Siracusa with Interbus; hop on a regional train with Trenitalia; or rent a car if you plan to explore beyond the city. From Siracusa bus or train station, you can walk to Ortigia or take a taxi. Once on the island, you won’t need a car – the whole island is walkable, and in fact, much of it is restricted to pedestrians anyway.
My favourite Ortigia restaurants
I expected a few tourist traps, but it’s relatively hard to get a bad meal in Ortigia. I could include 80% of the places I ate in this guide, so instead I just decided to focus down on a couple of my top recommendations for each category: pasta, seafood, street food, pizza, wine bars and aperitivo spots.
Perfect pasta in Ortigia
Jobi
We landed at Ristorante Jobi for our first dinner on the island, mostly because it was late and this happened to be close to our apartment. But Jobi deserves a spot on this list for its penne alla Norma, which was everything I wanted from the dish: silky, yielding aubergine; sweet-tart tomato sauce; and that toothsome, salty tang from the ricotta salata. Service was warm and welcoming – we got a wave every time we passed by afterwards.
ColaPasta
A pick-your-pasta, pick-your-sauce spot that’s more casual than your average Sicilian trattoria: the placemats and plates may be paper, but the pasta is perfect. I loved ColaPasta’s casarecce with fennel and anchovy pesto, especially paired with a crisp glass of organic Grillo. Bonus points for friendly service and a shady terrace where we managed to bag an extra table despite a full house.
Fish and seafood restaurants on Ortigia Island
Ristorante La Medusa
If it’s good enough for Whoopi Goldberg, it’s good enough for me! Apparently Ms Goldberg (who has a house on the island) is a regular at La Medusa, and since we spotted her out for a wander one day we thought we’d follow in her footsteps to her local fish restaurant. We started with some excellent octopus salad and smoked fish three ways (salmon, swordfish and tuna), followed by grilled swordfish and various pasta dishes. My favourite went off menu: we saw a white haired gentleman eating a plate of linguine with clams, shrimp, mussels and razor clams with a brothy, parsley-laden sauce. My husband said: “I’ll have what he’s having” and we declared it to be the best dish of the night.
Spizzuliamu
Buried in the maze of ultra-touristy streets, I didn’t have hugely high hopes for Spizzuliamu. But needless to say, it surprised me. The menu features more fish and seafood than anything else (although a few other dishes are available) and we ordered the mussels plus a couple of primi. I was a particular fan of their trofie (a type of pasta) with swordfish, aubergine and mint. The fish was fantastic, the sauce silky, and the mint lifted the dish with a freshness to cut through the oily base. Delicious with a glass of Grillo.
Sicilian street food
Caseificio Borderi
Right by Ortigia Market, this legendary sandwich shop makes for great people-watching while you wait for a panino that’s so big you could easily split one between two. I went for Caseificio Borderi’s smoked prosciutto with mozzarella, olives and sun-dried tomatoes, which was so generously filled that I ended up sneaking slivers of prosciutto to my dog.
U’Sicilianu
I became a regular at U’Sicilianu in the Jewish Quarter by the end of my trip, practising my (very basic) Italian with the lovely lady who works there. She serves everything from street food snacks like arancini and scacciate to proper meals like lasagne and melanzane di Parmigiana with grilled vegetables on the side. Generous, tasty and affordable, U’Sicilianu became my favourite spot for a takeaway lunch or dinner.
Best pizza in Siracusa
Pizzeria Schiticchio
Schiticchio serves some of the best pizza I’ve eaten in a long time, despite being down a very touristy pedestrian street. They offer both traditional Neapolitan pizzas and “pizzas that represent the Sicilian territory” (according to the menu) so of course we went for the latter. A lot of them feature yellow datterino tomato sauce, which I can highly recommend: sweet and piquant. We ordered the Vulcanello, with spicy salami, stracciatella and a zingy chilli drizzle on top – the perfect heat level. And the Levanzo, topped with smoked mozzarella, Nebrodi black pork (essentially fancy smoked ham), ricotta, toasted almonds and smoked olive oil. Toppings were very generous, and the pizzas were absolutely banging – especially with a glass of Etna Rosso wine.
Piano B
Technically just over the bridge in mainland Siracusa, Piano B has won various accolades for its pizza and is also part of the Slow Food movement. I particularly liked the fact that all pizzas could be made either Neapolitan-style (with pillowy, puffed-up crusts) or Roman-style (with thin & crispy crusts). So of course we ordered both! The Roman-style Parmigiana came with silky fried aubergine, buffalo mozzarella, ham and eggs, while the Neapolitan-style Margherita was simple but expertly done. We also found the perfect “pizza wine”: a fruity-meets-rustic Frappato-Nero d’Avola blend by Cerasuolo di Vittoria.
Wine and taglieri in Ortigia
A note about enotecas: in Italy, a wine bar, a wine shop and a place where you can eat substantial snacks (i.e. dinner replacement!) are often one and the same thing – an enoteca. All of my picks below are these kind of multi-functional wine spaces, where you can pop in for a glass or take home a bottle.
Evoè Wine Bar
Next door to Jobi (see the pasta section above), Enoteca Evoè is everything you want from a wine bar. The owner explains the wines in a way that’s simple but not patronising, and there are dozens of open bottles to try – predominantly Sicilian but other regions are represented, too. And you should definitely taste some Etna wines while you’re in Sicily! If you’re hungry, Evoè offers fantastic taglieri platters stacked with Sicilian cheeses and cured meats: highlights included donkey mortadella (yep, that’s a thing), silky prosciutto, sweetly spiced porchetta and local sheep’s cheese.
Taverna Giudecca
Tiny and tucked away, Taverna Giudecca is a simple five-table enoteca in the Jewish Quarter. The antipasti for two could’ve easily fed four: think caponata, caprese, olives and roasted vegetables on the veggie front, plus various cheeses, salami and spicy mortadella for the meat eaters. We washed it down with two different versions of Nero d’Avola – one young and fruity, the other oakier and more structured – and still only paid around €25 per person.
Enoteca Solaria
With a terrace that’s perfect for people watching, Enoteca Solaria has a wide selection of (mostly natural) wines by the glass – from Sicily but also further afield. I tried an Etna Bianco that was Carricante-led and reminded me of cooking apples and salted caramel, followed by a rustic Etna Rosso made from Nerello Mascalese. Snacks are simple but well executed: think bruschetta with pistachio pesto and thinly sliced lardo. Solaria has far more wines available by the bottle, both to take home and to drink at the bar (for a €5 corkage fee).
Cocktail bars and aperitivo hour
Tinkitè
My go-to local bar during our stay, I went back so many times I was on first name terms with the staff. They mix fantastic cocktails, from punchy whisky sours to citrusy margaritas to pick-me-up espresso martinis. But Tinkitè is open pretty much all day: you can go in for a breakfast cappuccino or an afternoon snack as well. The terrace catches the afternoon sun, which was a bonus in April when temperatures weren’t that high.
Spritzzeria
Overlooking the Mediterranean to the west, Spritzzeria is the ideal spot for an evening aperitivo while watching the sunset (and the people go by). A regular Aperol Spritz is only €7 (April 2025), which was the best value we found on the island. Snacks are basic (crisps and nuts) but you can’t beat the view.