Sicilia

The island of Sicily, the largest in the Mediterranean, is Italy's fourth largest producing wine region. There have been considerable improvements in the region's wines over the past 20 years. Much of the wine that used to go to beefing up anemic northern reds is now being bottled and proudly sold as Sicilian. However, the multitude of appellations (22 small DOCs and 1 DOCG) were terribly confusing and anyway produced only 5% of the island's wine. In 2012 a new regional DOC (DOP Sicilia) was developed to simplify the system and take in the vast quantity of wine previously produced as IGP. Food (as everything else) in Sicily shows the influence that different conquering armies have had on the island over the past 3000 years, with Greek, Spanish, French and Arab influences. Much of the island's cuisine takes advantage of fresh vegetables such as eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes, and fish, such as tuna, sea bream, sea bass, cuttlefish, and swordfish. In Trapani in the western section of the island, North African influences are clear in the use of couscous.