Antica Dimora Marinelli Cav Restaurant

Our favorite restaurant in Ficarra. The fish starters and main courses are remarkably good, and the value for money is well above average for the Messina area. We recommend it for both the delicious food and professional service.

The zuppa del marinaio, conchiglie with clams and chopped hazelnuts, and gelato with croccante were all worth the trip. We loved the other dishes too, and our friend with celiac disease was well looked after and had some excellent options she could eat. The town has plenty of hidden gems and little-known monuments, and the women who cook and run the restaurant welcomed us like family, with real kindness and care. We highly recommend it.

Fresh fish every time, excellent ingredients and dishes prepared with great care. The staff are friendly and know their stuff. We make this a regular stop on our local vacations.

We first came to this restaurant while looking for somewhere to stay for a night as we explored Ficarra and Sinagra. It’s right below the B&B, and we were glad to discover that the same owner and her daughter run both. There’s seating indoors and outside, and the service was excellent. The waiters were attentive and friendly, and happy to explain the dishes and help us choose. There’s a lot to like on the menu, from meat, fish, pasta and cheeses to a children's menu. It covers plenty of needs, with traditional Sicilian cooking alongside some experimentation and new ideas. The special "navigata" is a sampler of 10 seafood courses, a way to try everything on the seafood menu and take a little culinary journey through Sicily. The food was excellent, and you can feel the love and passion behind it. Ficarra itself is a charming village in the Nebrodi Mountains, with museums and things for visitors to do. It’s also one of the few Sicilian towns where the administration still seems to care about its residents. My only small suggestion would be to refresh the decor, though the food and service mattered more to us. We’ll be back to try the rest of the menu. Thank you.