The main Sicilian cities seem ill with a chronic syndrome of superiority compared to the others. Each decant has its oldest and most resounding origins, a greater historical importance and a more authentic Sicilianity. This rivalry translates in most of the cases into a funny folklore.
Browsing the web I came across a series of articles about the diatribe about the genre of the Arancino : it seems that, at least on the net , both a matter of much debate. At the same time I found myself on the screen the photo of the fashion blogger Chiara Ferragni in order to taste a arancino in Taormina together with her boyfriend, the famous rapper Fedez. This is an instagram post in which he defines the arancini one of his favorite dishes. Below this picture, a string of insults by supporters of the feminine declination of the Sicilian dish and theoretical of the correct way to eat it (from the base and not from the tip). Dear Sicilians, to be honest to me is only to thank the Ferragni, because ultimately indirectly only made free advertising to our island . But you know, behind the keyboard we are all the executioners who do not forgive one. But what should be forgiven Ferragni? In Taormina, as in Catania or Messina and, in general, throughout the eastern part of the island, the arancino is male.


In reality, establishing the genre means attributing authorship , ie exhibiting a new trophy in the broader context of increasing the importance of one's own city and, above all, diminishing the importance of rivals, as if it were the victory of a football derby . Even the Accademia della Crusca has been called upon to resolve this parochial diatribe. But it's not just a question of gender, it's also a question of form . In fact, in Palermo the arancina is spherical like the oranges from which the name could derive. And the Arab influence could be the keystone. Between the ninth and eleventh centuries, Palermo was the capital of Arabian Sicily . The Arabs imported the use of saffron to flavor and color the rice that was eaten by squeezing it with the seasoning of sheep meat. Rice, meat (although not ovine) and saffron are ingredients of the current arancini. The Arabs used to call all the preparations to meatball with names of fruits that reminded them of the shape . However, from the analysis of other sources conducted in this article from Iannizzotto, arancino might have been so called not so much for the shape, but for the coloration that it assumes with frying, which remember that of the orange . The frying could however be more easily introduced with the breading , as a solution of the court of Palermo Federico II for the need to make rice a takeaway food to eat during trips, hunting trips or work in the countryside. In any case it is only hypotheses and not historical certainties.


In Palermo, tradition has it that the arancine are prepared for the feast of Saint Lucia. But in Palermo, as well as in Syracuse and in other Sicilian cities, for Santa Lucia we also prepare la cuccìa , a sweet based on wheat . Palermo and Syracuse share the same legend, namely that the Saint, in Palermo in 1646, in Syracuse in 1763, saved cities from famine by landing a ship laden with wheat in their respective ports. So this wheat cake was prepared in honor of the Saint. A Sicilian-Italian Dictionary of 1857 defines arancinu , in the masculine, the "sweet rice food with the shape of the melarancia", then a cake more similar to a Messinese rice sfince than to the salty arancino we know. And if the arancino had origins, how much more probable, more recent and was a variant with rice of the cuccìa? Historically, the transformation of sweet and savory dishes is not uncommon. .


If for Palermo the arancini are spherical because of the shape of oranges, for the Catanese the arancini are conical as a tribute to Etna . Even the Messinese and Syracusan ones are conical, but they would never make the catanese motivation their own ... To have alternative forms are the non-traditional arancini. Those traditional in Palermo are meat, in Catania with meat sauce and in Messina with sauce : in fact, very similar recipes with little variations.
But what is the best version? In every Sicilian city there are rotisseries that offer excellent versions of the traditional oranges. To establish in which city the best arancini are made is only a strong forced question of the camp, as well as to cling to fleeting historical clues to attribute the paternity decreeing once and for all whether it is male or female ...