Licata is a small southern Sicilian rural town almost entirely unknown to people outside of Sicily and located at the mouth of the Salso River. Licata is a seaport town developed at the turn of the twentieth century. It takes few hours of driving from any of Sicily’s main airports to get there while you will enjoy the beautiful landscapes of Sicily. A combination with a visit to the Agrigento Temple Valley is recommended. When you finally get to Licata you will probably not find restaurant La Madia very easily. The restaurant is tucked away on a busy street with no clear signs revealing it. After asking the locals about where it is you will end up at a locked door and the restaurant definitely looks closed. You ring a doorbell and Chef Patron Pino Cuttaia and his team open the door and welcome you for a Sicilian fine dining experience.

Chef Patron Pino Cuttaia brings the dishes of the incredible Sicilian gastronomic heritage back to life, enriched by modern techniques. Simplicity, intensity and creativity grant new elegance to traditional recipes, allowing flavours of an interesting country, sometimes lost in time, to return to mind again. Amazing taste explosions that will open you up again and envelop you with the lightness of a sea breeze. Choose one of his tasting menus; Classico or Creativo and you are in for a meal of your life.

Pino owns and runs his restaurant together with his wife Loredana and all you eat is locally produced including the vegetables and herbs which come from Loredana’s father’s garden. La Madia was founded in 2000 and the interior has recently been totally renovated. It is obvious that Pino and Loredana have chosen to have their restaurant in Licata since it is the hometown of the chef, but thanks to that all food lovers will be given a unique diversity of ingredients which all are absolutely fresh. Each of the dishes has a pinch of memory. Each dish, with simplicity tries to tell a story. You might have had the big octopus, the beef and the mozzarella numerous times before, but never like you will have it at La Madia.

Thanks to the warm, humorous and loving way Pino Cuttaia uses his three elements; product, colour, and texture and with an emphasis on telling childhood stories he ends up with being one of the best Italian restaurants on the planet.

Written by Andy & Frank