The Black Pearl of the Mediterranean

From my travel diary series- If you ( hopefully) follow me on instagram, you would have seen some of my stories from a holiday to Pantelleria, last year for my friends 40th birthday. We followed @wildkitchens on his wild culinary adventures around the island choosing the right fish, locating the tastiest capers and cherry tomatoes, hunting for the best natural ingredients as well as tasting the well known Passito de Pantelleria. I can’t tell you how much I love this island, the mehari adventures, the delicious caponata + cous cous, the North African winds, fuschia colored sunsets ,starry starry nights and deep blue sea.

This volcanic island is located 62 miles southwest of Sicily and approximately 40 miles from Tunisia and the name derived from “Bent El-Rhia,” in Arabic means “Daughter of the Wind.”

Once home to the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Romans, the island became an agricultural stronghold more than 1,000 years ago with the arrival of the Arabs, who cultivated cotton, figs, and olives and designed the dammusi with gently domed roofs to collect rainwater. Pantelleria’s nutrient-rich volcanic soil has helped the flora adapt to the sparse rainfall; evidence of its fiery origins, which date back some 250,000 years, lingers in the hot springs studding the seabed just off the coast. - Sikelia Conde Nast Traveler