Places To Stay In Sicily: Azienda Agricola Mandranova, Palma di Montechiaro

Sometimes hotels are just so magical the moment you leave you’re planning on when you’re going to return. Manoir de Malagorse in Cuzance is one of those, and another for me is now Azienda Agricola Mandranova, a series of guest rooms and a cookery school in the middle of an olive oil estate near the town of Agrigento on the southern coast of Sicily, the usual stopping off point for tourists looking to visit the Valley of the Temples.

Whatever your plans elsewhere, plan to spend a lot of time at Mandranova otherwise you’ll regret it. Outside, there is plenty of seating in the courtyard (where they also serve dinner on warm nights, we were just there during an unusual cooler period so ate in the dining room), in hidden areas under the trees (seriously, you can always have privacy if you want it for your group as there is way more seating than capacity for guests), and in the two comfortable lounges in the house. Once you’ve grabbed the menu QR code you can get bottles of wine or snacks to enjoy at any time, just go and ask at the kitchen door!

The rooms are arranged in a few buildings around the main courtyard. We had superior rooms (I could not get an exact price online but the classic rooms without living room areas, which you really don’t need start at around £125 a night – other options include a single suite with a roof terrace, and a villa about 300 metres from the farmhouse with it’s own pool my friend Hannah has stayed in and adored), which are doubles with en-suite bathrooms and living rooms. One was very spacious and modern across the courtyard with views out into the olive grove, and the other, pictured below, was more rustic in the farmhouse, overlooking the courtyard. All three of us agreed compared to everywhere else we stayed in Sicily, it was at Mandranova we had the perfect nights sleep.

I was very glad I’d planned after our hot, dusty visit to the Valley of the Temples (more on that when I post my Sicilian road trip itinerary, but yes, it is worth a visit!) to spend the afternoon by their lovely pool in amongst the olives and the cactus plants. More than the pool at our last hotel, Baglio Sorìa, it was perfect for just lounging around with a book and bottle of wine (this one was a lovely white from the hills of Mount Etna) to share, dipping in and out the water as things got a little warm.

Dinner is optional at Mandranova (the menu is posted in the dining room every morning after the chef comes back from the market / to see what the gardeners have for him on the estate so you can book – and lunch is also available as a buffet if you’re not going out that day) but to be quite frank you’re an idiot if you don’t eat there. It’s only available to guests and you eat what is being prepared that day, but if you give them a heads up about an allergy or a dislike (they made my father and I lovely, delicate almond puddings on our first night as we don’t like coffee, therefore tiramisu) they’re flexible. And they make some of the best food I’ve ever had, and at reasonable portions sizes (with leftovers of the pasta course brought around the dining room) so you can actually manage the full Italian four.

On the first night, we started with a beautiful whipped ricotta topped with confit tomatoes and lemon, served with very thin toasted pieces of their own excellent homemade bread, made fresh in the kitchen every morning. Simply beautiful, but the real star was their cauliflower and saffron pasta. It doesn’t look like much, but it automatically became one of the best things I’d ever eaten: rich, creamy, yet still light and with an interplay of textures, I could be found in the kitchen the next afternoon interrogating the cook responsible for it as to how to make it. I’ll let you know if I nail it at home!

The mains and desserts were great, but the other thing we ate at Mandranova I just have to tell you about was this simple, unassuming soup which might well be the best thing I’ve ever eaten. The good ingredients, the simplicity, everything just worked. Potato, tomato, courgette and fregola, the key was the tenerumi – the tender offshoot leaves of the cucuzza – a long, mellow zucchini squash unique to Sicily we saw at the market in Palermo, chopped and added as a green for a unique, verdant taste. When I was in the kitchen enquiring after the cauliflower pasta it was being prepared, and it did not look or smell like something we’d usually eat. But it was the final, magical touch to the soup – along with Mandranova’s excellent olive oil by the way, which you can buy in small cans in their shop (for prices so reasonable compared to buying good olive oil here you’ll be shocked) to fly home with.

Mandranova also provided the best breakfast spread we’d had full of fresh fruit, yogurt, homemade preserves, sweets, tarts and cakes (both fresh and leftover from dinner the night before), incredible biscuits, and some of the most pillowy, still-warm brioche I’ve ever tasted. The ricotta we get here is terrible; in Sicily it’s light, creamy and almost etherial: best eaten in the mornings spread over their excellent homemade loaf, drizzled generously with their wonderful olive oil.

Sicily bewitched me somewhat (I have to go back) and Mandranova is where I’ll be staying for at least some of that next trip, it is such a special place full of lovely staff, and delicious food in a tranquil, beautiful setting. I want to book cooking classes, olive oil tastings, and just relax by that pool again eating dinner every night, hopefully next time under the stars.

You can book your stay, as well as cooking classes and olive oil tastings here.

• Pin
• Tweet
• Share