Wine and Food of the Giro 2020 Stage 2: Alcamo to Agrigento

Where are we? Still in Sicily.  
Alcamo: From the Giro: It is assumed that the city of Alcamo was born from the settlement of Longarico at the hands of the Berbers, who found this settlement semi-deserted.The first document mentioning Alcamo is dating back to 1154, in a paper written by the Berber geographer Idrisi who was given this task by Roger II of Sicily, in order to get a collection of geographic maps.
There are discordances about the etymology of the toponym “Alcamo”: one of the hypothesis connects the present name to the Arab word al-qama, which would mean “muddy earth” or “rich soil”

Specialties: HANDMADE MACCHERONI, PASTA WITH “FINOCCHI AND SARDE” (WILD SMALL FENNELS AND SARDINES), SAUSAGES WITH “CAVULICEDDI” (A TYPICAL ALCAMO VEGETABLE), DRIED FILLED TOMATOES, CUDDUREDDI (CHRISTMAS HANDMADE FIG SWEETS), TETÙ (MIXED AND COLOURED BISCUITS), SCIÙ (CREAM SWEETS), MUFFULETTE (FRESH COOKED ROLL BREAD WITH RICOTTA OR OTHER FILLINGS

Agrigento:The ancient Greek city of Akragas, later called by the Latins Agrigentum, was founded around 580a.C by a colony of Geloi-Rodiensi, led by the ecists Aristoneo and Pistillo in the plain where today we find the remains of ancient temples and known worldwide as “The Valley of the Temples” (included by UNESCO in the list of World Heritage Sites). Akragas was limited to the west by the Hypsas river (Dragon) and to the south by the Akragas river (San Biagio). The acropolis was built in the place now occupied by modern Agrigento. From the beginning the city had its own emporium on the sea. Today, in the year 2020, celebrations are underway in Agrigento for the 2600 years of history since the foundation of the city.

Specialties: Our friends at the Giro have provided none, but Visit Sicily helpfully suggests: "the pecorino ice cream. Incredible, right? It’s a delicate ice cream made of sheep’s ricotta. A typical and unique taste, a real product of the little known Agrigentino." 

The stage: First, a confession. 

Liège-Bastogne-Liège was also going on this morning, so my attention was split.

Liege to the left of me, Giro to the right. Here I am, stuck in the middle confused. #Giro103 #LBL2020

— Sadhbh O'Shea (@SadhbhOS) October 4, 2020

 

But, really, this was expected to be a quiet stage except for the end, so I thought it would work.

On the road:

🚴‍♂️Alcamo > Agrigento | Stage 2
📌 GPM Santa Ninfa (km 37)
🚴‍♂️@DeGendtThomas 🇧🇪, @mattia_bais 🇮🇹, @etiennevanempel 🇳🇱, Gastauer 🇱🇺, @AleTonelli92 🇮🇹
⏱️ 4'32" > Peloton | Gruppo
🏁 111 km
✒️ Live: https://t.co/DnccY4nFLD
#⃣ #Giro pic.twitter.com/fLct0ACZbW

— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) October 4, 2020

An abandonment: Aleksandr Vlasov, apparently suffering from stomach issues. 

Under fifty kilometers and the gap was still over two minutes. Thirty seven to go and it was at 1:41. Thirty kilometers to go and the gap was just over one minute. The Giro has a nice picture for that update:

🚴‍♂️ Alcamo > Agrigento | Stage 2
📌 Km 119
🚴‍♂️@DeGendtThomas 🇧🇪, @mattia_bais 🇮🇹, @etiennevanempel 🇳🇱, Gastauer 🇱🇺, @AleTonelli92 🇮🇹
⏱ 1'00" > Peloton | Gruppo
🏁 30 km
🖋️ Live: https://t.co/DnccY4nFLD
#⃣ #Giro pic.twitter.com/FmbUkOzYle

— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) October 4, 2020

Just as I was admiring the coastal scenery, a small crash. Edet seemed to have the worst of it. Fifteen kilometers to go and the gap was around forty seconds. It looked like it was really a matter of when the peloton would decide to catch them. Nine kilometers to go and the catch was made.

In a finish that was not at all surprising but still fun to watch, Diego Ullisi with the win!

Top-10 on Stage 2 #Giro pic.twitter.com/9uAQWLG39I

— the Inner Ring (@inrng) October 4, 2020

The wine: Porta del Vento Voria Bianco Frizzante NV from Biondivino 

I've broken the same producer two days in a row before and I have no regrets about it is this time. Yesterday: fizzy pink. Today, their fizzy white, made from Cataratto. Jancis Robinson tells me that: Cataratto is Sicily's most important grape, and Italy's most widely planted after Sangiovese. It can be full and lemony but it can also end up as grape concentrate.

What a nice way to start the Giro. Learn more about the wine and producer here. 

The food: Sfinci di ricotta

 Because the Visit Sicily site made them sound good. 

The recipe of “Sfinci” is one of the oldest, typical Sicilian recipes.  Sicilian people, as all southerner people, go crazy for frying and during Carnival they prepare  thousands of yummy  recipes. These Sicilian  cookies are small pieces of fried dough enriched with nuggets of raisins or ricotta cheese and then fried in hot oil.There are several variants, some of these also add boiled potatoes in the dough. This is the most classic version with a simple mixture of water, sugar, flour and ricotta cheese. Try them, they are delicious, you will not stop eating!

Ingredienti:

• 500 g ricotta cheese
• 200/250 g flour
• 2 spoons of sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Instructions:

Place all ingredients together in a bowl and mix them with a mixer or by hand until you get a solid and firm consistency. Let stand for about 20 minutes. Then take the dough with the tip of a spoon and push it with your finger in a saucepan filled with boiling oil. Let them cook until they have a goldish aspect. Sprinkle them with sugar and serve.