This weekend, San Cono in Catania province, which is considered the capital of the prickly pear, will celebrate the bounty of the season at the 34th Annual Sagra del Fico d’India. Cooking demonstrations, workshops about how to cut and eat the tuna (the proper name of the fruit), tastings, and live music are the focus of the weekend. Fichi d’India (or ficudinnia in Sicilian) arrived in Sicily when the Spanish brought the plant from Mexico (back then called, India by the Spanish explorers) in the 16th century. The dry, arid climate of Sicily is ideal for cultivating the cactus, which today is found all over Sicily.
