When Giuseppina and Sergio let us into their family's house in Linguaglossa, my wife and I could scarcely believe our eyes. A nineteenth-century house built for a successful wine-grower, its interior, from its elegantly tiled floors to exquisitely painted ceilings, is a testament to Linguaglossa's role in Etna's rich and fascinating enological history. Sparely yet comfortably furnished with carefully curated pieces, the house felt like a portal to another time.
The house has no less than three different patios, each of which provides a slightly different vantage of Linguaglossa, its streets and rooftops, and in the not-too-far distance, Etna, smoking, steaming, and booming away.
Sergio is a geologist by training, and a vulcanologist by specialty, and on our visit took us on a wonderfully illuminating walking tour of the volcano. Giuseppina, also a scholar, likewise, regaled us with all sorts of fascinating stories about Sicilian culture, from the songs of the fruit vendors to the symbols embedded in the pastries that she and her husband brought us one day from the best bakery in Catania.
The house's kitchen was small but well-equipped and perfectly capable of turning out everything you need for a dinner party, the fixings for which can easily be rounded up just a few steps from the front door. Linguaglossa has more excellent produce stores, bakeries, alimentari and butcher shops than you can shake a stick at, and to a one, their owners were, to a one, extraordinarily kind to an American shopper who didn't always know the ropes.
Linguaglossa makes a most excellent base for exploring Etna's wine-growing region and the national park, and Giuseppina and Sergio's house is the perfect place to come home to. We dream of it just as we dream of our next trip to Etna.