Antica Bottega Siciliana, Sicily's pantry from Trapani
Antica Bottega Siciliana is a young brand from Trapani under which Salvatore Novara brings together typical Sicilian specialties – honey, pesto, jam, pistachio cream, and dried tomatoes from small producers on the island. What unites them is their origin: everything is from Sicily, made according to old rural recipes rather than in a factory.
Antica Bottega Siciliana is the pantry of Sicily under one name. Salvatore Novara, a young man from Trapani, collects the products of small producers from his homeland and brings them to Germany via nurgutes.de. What unites the brand is its origin: everything comes from the island, made with local ingredients and traditional recipes, far from industrial shortcuts. The name translates to "old Sicilian workshop" – and that is exactly how it sees itself.
Salvatore Novara returns home to Trapani
Behind Antica Bottega Siciliana is Salvatore Novara, a young entrepreneur from Trapani who returned to his homeland after years abroad.
Novara lived for a while in northern France and Rome before he was drawn back to Sicily. Instead of starting over somewhere else, he built on the family business and turned it into an idea: to bundle the island's typical products under one name and carry them beyond the borders of Sicily. This return became Antica Bottega Siciliana.
Trapani, in the far west of the island between salt pans and the sea, is a good starting point for this. Around the city are small beekeepers, farmers, and manufacturers who spin honey, dry tomatoes, grind pistachios, and make jam – each for themselves, using what the region provides. Novara brings them under one roof without taking away their personal touch. He is a collector and intermediary, not a manufacturer.
The sweet and the savory side of Sicily in a jar
The range extends from sweet to savory, from breakfast honey to pesto for pasta – nine specialties, each a piece of Sicily.
It starts sweet with the honey: the light, mild Sulla honey and the aromatic wildflower honey, both from the hills around Trapani. In addition, there is jam made from Sicilian citrus fruits – the fruity orange marmalade with 80 percent fruit and the tart and fresh lemon marmalade, with a balanced sweet-and-sour profile.
It gets savory with the pesto: the red Pesto alla Trapanese made from tomatoes, almonds, and Nubian garlic, and the green pistachio pesto with 70 percent pistachio. In addition, there is the sun-dried tomato spread with olives and capers, whole dried tomatoes in a ceramic bowl, and in between, the sweet pistachio cream with 35 percent pistachio, creamy like nougat.
Beyond our selection, the brand's range extends further into Sicilian cuisine: to hand-twisted Busiata pasta from Trapani, capers in brine, caponata, and olive oil from the island. What we stock is the sweet and savory core of it all – the honeys, jams, pestos, and spreads that turn a breakfast or a plate of pasta into a little excursion to Sicily.
Old recipes instead of industrial shortcuts
The common thread of the brand is its origin: local raw materials, small producers, and recipes from Sicily's rural cuisine.
Antica Bottega Siciliana sees itself as a collector and storyteller: preserving the island's typical products, carrying on their history, and making them available without industrializing them. The producers behind them work in small quantities, using what the season and the region provide – honey from the spring blossom, tomatoes from the summer sun, pistachios from Bronte on Mount Etna.
The brand also pays attention to careful handling in everything it does, from production to distribution to packaging. Not a big promise, but a simple stance that good ingredients and time count for more than speed and quantity. You can taste it: a honey that smells like a meadow, a pesto that tastes like a garden, a jam with recognizable pieces of fruit.
Trapani, where salt, sea, and sun come together
The brand's home shapes its taste: Trapani and western Sicily have always been a land of salt pans, citrus gardens, and pistachio groves.
Everything that ends up in the jars grows between the salt pans of Trapani and Paceco, the island's lemon groves, and the lava slopes of Mount Etna. The red garlic of Nubia, a Slow Food Presidium from the area around Paceco, flavors the Pesto alla Trapanese; the pistachios from Bronte give the cream and pesto their deep green color; the island's citrus fruits give their marmalade. Sicily is not a backdrop here, but the ingredient list.
Trapani itself still lives from the sea and salt – the salt pans on the coast, where seawater evaporates in the sun, are among the oldest in Europe. Added to this is the craftsmanship: tomatoes that are dried in the sun instead of in an oven, honey that is spun and not heated, and hand-painted ceramic bowls of a style the island has known for centuries. This way, you can taste and see a piece of Sicily in every jar.
How to bring Sicily to your table
Those who want to get to know the brand will find something for every course – for breakfast, for pasta, and for dessert.
For breakfast, the honeys and jams go on bread; the mild Sulla honey also goes well with cheese, and the orange marmalade in a croissant. At lunchtime, the Pesto alla Trapanese dresses the pasta, classically with Busiate, and the savory pistachio pesto becomes a creamy green sauce with a little ricotta. In the evening, the sweet pistachio cream becomes a dessert spooned over ice cream.
Those looking for a gift should choose the ceramic bowl with dried tomatoes, which remains even after the last piece is gone. And for those who feel like more of the south afterwards, you will find other companions for the table in our pesto varieties and honey. This is how Sicily comes to your table, one jar at a time.
