This is a special doorway. A lazy-Susan, really. Put your money down with your sweets order, spin it around, and the cloistered nuns turn it back to you with your pastries. No face to face contact, but they speak to you through their ancient recipes. In Palermo, visit the Cloister of Santa Caterina of Alessandria…
Tag: nuns
Ancient Sicilian Secret
The cloistered Cistercian nuns of Agrigento’s Monastero di Santo Spirito, like many of their cloistered counterparts around Sicily, over the centuries have raised funds by selling baked goods. Pictured here is one of those goods–sweet couscous–for which the recipe is a secret. After eating it during our Experience Sicily tour in September, I can tell…
Up the Steps from Via Atenea
If you’re in Agrigento, follow the set of steps off of Via Atenea. Once you get to the top (There are many, many steps!), you’ll find the Monastero di Santo Spirito, pictured here, where, since 1290 Cistercian nuns have served the Church. Traditionally, the nuns were cloistered (meaning, they secluded themselves from the world). Today…