Sicily's Red Prawns Restaurant(s)

Coastal restaurants all over the island will have them depending on daily catch. They come from the waters off Mazara del Vallo; a good restaurant where I have had them is DA VITTORIO facing the beach in PortoPalo di Menfi. I have no idea where the tour will take you, however.. They are not difficult to find.

Giangilberto from Milan here — Marvin, you've asked about one of my personal weaknesses, so forgive the enthusiasm. What you've heard about is the gambero rosso di Mazara — the scarlet red prawn, Italy's most precious crustacean, eaten raw (crudo) with nothing but a drop of olive oil. Two insider truths: it's fished across the southern Mediterranean, but what separates the sublime from the ordinary is how it's handled on board — flash-frozen within minutes of the net coming up; that's what you're paying for. And paying you will be: current prices run around €115 per kilo, so on a menu expect a small crudo portion at a proud price. My honest advice: order it once, properly, make the sign of the cross over the bill, and consider it a pilgrimage.

How to find it on a December tour: the magic words are "crudo di mare" — look for restaurants advertising raw seafood, which in Italy signals ambition and (crucially) a proper blast-chiller. In Rome, the quality fish restaurants around the center all play this game — ask specifically for "gambero rosso crudo" and whether it's di Mazara. In Florence it exists but you're inland — I'd spend the splurge elsewhere. In Venice, raw seafood is tradition itself: the better osterie do scampi and red prawn crudo beautifully.

And one more card, close to my heart: if your tour touches Liguria or the northwest, ask for gamberi viola di Santa Margherita — the violet prawns from my family's stretch of coast (we have a house in Rapallo, I've eaten these since childhood). Slightly sweeter than the Mazara reds, caught in deep water right off Portofino, and in Santa Margherita's restaurants they come hours from the boat. Between the two, honestly? On their home ground, the viola break my heart a little more.

December note: raw seafood is a year-round luxury in Italy, and winter is actually a fine season for it — fewer tourists, kitchens with time to care.

Which Rick Steves itinerary are you on? Tell me the stops and I'll point you to the right neighborhoods for the sign-of-the-cross dinner.

Sicily tour from 12/8 to 12/19. We will fly into Palermo.
I have searched for restaurants serving red prawns, but menu does not have listing red prawns. So have whatapp both restaurants.

Marvin Nakashima

@Giangilberto - Appreciate you taking the time to provide this useful information, written with such painterly flair! Am bookmarking for a future trip. Grazie mille!

Palermo — then you're going to the source itself, Marvin: Mazara is Sicily. Let me ask a couple of Sicilian friends where they'd eat gambero rosso crudo around Sicily, and I'll report back here in a couple of days.