4 Best Restaurants in Central Sicily and the Mediterranean Coast, Sicily

This wholesaler specializes in oysters, mollusks, and crustaceans, and offers a tasting room that has become an obligatory stop for seafood aficionados in town. This may look like nothing but a fish market, but diners are dazzled by the quality of the seafood. There are 24 kinds of oysters, all manner of clams (including Galician percebes), local red prawns in several sizes, and a tank of lobsters and crabs as well as fresh seasonal tuna. Choose between having your fish raw, steamed, grilled, or a la gratin, and dine in the simple blue and white conservatory while enjoying a glass or two of local white wine. You can also get a fine fish couscous (one portion is ample for two people). 

Located right on the beach at Porto Palo, Da Vittorio is something of a local legend, highly regarded and much loved by everyone from wine and olive oil makers to celebrating families. The focus is on fresh fish and seafood, with pasta for the first course, and grilled fish for a second, all enhanced with traditional Sicilian flavors such as capers, almonds, and wild fennel. The spot dates back to the 1960s when Vittorio, a young cook from Bergamo, fell in love with a Sicilian girl and opened a small restaurant in a beach shack. These days, there’s a smart glass conservatory and cream damask table linens, along with a terrace for alfresco dining, and—a real mark of Vittorio’s success—a local following strong enough to keep the restaurant open all year, a real rarity in these parts.

One of Agrigento’s most popular restaurants, Osteria Ex Panificio is housed in a former bakery on the main street of the old town. Typical Sicilian fish and seafood dishes dominate, and there is a terrace for outside dining in summer, and a cozy interior decorated with bakery equipment and hand-written bread recipes.

Locals flock to this elegant, modern restaurant down by the port, whose white walls are embellished with the colorful ceramics for which Sciacca is renowned. Seafood is the top choice (you'll see what's available as you enter), served in basically every form, from zuppa di cozze (mussel soup) to squid ink pasta, grilled calamari, and red prawns from Mazara served on the skewer. There are fixed-price menus and a long list of reasonably priced wines.