Sicilian Grape Harvest & Family Lunch Under the Vines

“You do not visit a Sicilian family. You get adopted for the day.”

Pick Malvasia grapes with a fifth-generation family on Salina at sunrise, then eat a five-hour lunch under the pergola with the wine they made last year.

On our little island in the Aeolian Sea, September is la vendemmia. For one week we harvest by hand — no machines fit these terraces — and everyone we love shows up. 06:30 — Coffee and warm cornetti at the farmhouse. 07:00 — Into the vineyard. Nonno teaches you which bunches to cut. Slow work, lots of laughing. 11:00 — Break with granita di limone under the fig tree. 13:00 — Lunch. Caponata, pasta alla Norma, grilled tuna, our Malvasia dessert wine. This lunch does not end at 14:00. It ends when it ends. 4 traveler seats among 14 family. Bring closed shoes and something warm for the boat back to Lipari.