Recycling the South
One Man's Annual Crusade to Reimagine the South of Italy's, From Seasonal Beach Towns, to the Purveyor of the World's Greatest Food, Wine and Extra-Virgin Oil.
Palermo: Il Vero Cannolo

I had never thought of a cannolo ('cannolo' is one, 'cannoli' any number higher than that) as an artisanal product before, not remotely. To be honest, I never much think of cannoli at all, their flavour has always been too sweet and rich for me. (I've always appreciated Hemingway's saying, that dessert is for people that don't drink enough).

And aside from impromptu birthday parties, I tend to treat pastry shops the way I do tattoo parlors and off-track betting places. I just ignore them, assuming that someone must be frequenting them. My vices have always lay elsewhere.

All of that changed today though, when I stumbled into Fratelli Rosciglione's Dessert Laboratory, where cannoli are still made exactly like they have been since long before Italy was ever even Italy.

Domenico Rosciglione couldn't be nicer, nor more eager to walk us through the process. 'We've been at this for a hundred and seventy years', he says when I ask, his hands going about their business disconnected from the rest of him.

'I've got 11 siblings and all of them do something or other for the business', he said. He's a gentle soul, shy in that way that many artisans are, when you spend a lot of time locked away from others perfecting the craft.

The actual process is easy and the tools couldn't be more pragmatic, such as these wooden dowels that have been used and reused longer than anyone can remember.

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