Twenty-five years ago, when Andrea Alì opened his restaurant in Palazzolo Acreide, one of the most beautiful towns of the Sicilian hinterland, the local gastronomic offerings were restricted almost exclusively, to fish-based cuisine. Andrea’s passion is the countryside, though, and he still suffers on those days he can’t visit it, so, thinking of wild vegetables, mushrooms, and wild fennel, so he decided to focus on local food, and chose the name Andrea sapori montani, Andrea’s mountain flavours. Despite the rocky start, the idea was the right one, and the success he obtained allowed him to change the name simply to Andrea, as he is now recognised as a true, very active, ambassador of taste, not only in his area, but also all over Sicily “because - he says - behind the blue of the sea there is green, the green of the Sicilian hinterland, and I try to bring to the table everything the countryside offers me”. In his five hectares of land he produces fruit, olives, and herbs he uses to cook, and whatever he doesn’t produce himself is supplied by “searchers” who go to the country in his stead, or he buys from local producers for whom he was a “business incubator” by urging them, for example, to breed the Nebrodi pig locally or to prepare ricotta with the old techniques. Likewise, the bread and pasta served by Andrea are home-made, using Sicilian flours.