Pantelleria - Island of Passito

Volcanic island closer to Africa than Sicily. The dammuso houses and UNESCO vineyard landscape are unique. Passito di Pantelleria is made from sun-dried Zibibbo grapes.

What to do there

5 things to do

1. 1 Taste the Wine That Made Giorgio Armani Never Leave Wine · Price: high

   Donnafugata's Ben Ryé is the benchmark Passito di Pantelleria — and the winery that produces it sits in the middle of the island's oldest UNESCO-listed vineyards.

   Where: Donnafugata Khamma winery, Contrada Khamma Fuori, Via Ranchi n.36 — GPS 36.7401°N, 12.0208°E. Book in advance: +39 0923 915 649 or visitare.pantelleria@donnafugata.it. Tour slots at 11:10, 17:00, 18:30, 21:00 (April–October). Tours run 100 minutes.

   What: Ben Ryé means 'Son of the Wind' in Arabic — named for the Scirocco and Maestrale winds that constantly sweep these hills. Donnafugata has 68 hectares in 16 districts on this island. The wine is built from two harvests: the first in mid-August, when grapes are hand-selected and laid on drying racks (stenditoi) in the August sun; they lose 75% of their weight over 15–30 days. By early September, the shrivelled raisins — pure concentrated apricot-honey — are blended with the freshly picked second harvest and fermented together. The 2022 vintage finished at 200 grams per liter of residual sugar. Giorgio Armani lived 10 minutes away every August from 1981 onward, and the Muscat note in Acqua di Giò — the world's best-selling men's cologne — came directly from smelling these vines.

   How: Book the guided cellar + vineyard tour at €70/person — it ends with a glass of Ben Ryé poured right between the vines. Ask to see the Giardino Pantesco that Donnafugata restored and donated to FAI in 2008. When the wine is poured, notice: apricot, candied orange peel, dates, a trace of almonds at the finish. This wine can age 20+ years; the 2022 scored 97–99 points.

   Backup: If tours are fully booked, email at least 48 hours ahead. Alternatively, buy Ben Ryé 375ml at any island shop (~€40) and drink it watching the sun hit the dammusi from any hilltop — the label artwork was painted by Stefano Vitale as a tribute to Giacomo Rallo, the visionary who built this estate.

   Log Memory
2. 2 Kneel Down to the Oldest Living UNESCO Vine Training on Earth History · Free

   The alberello pantesco — low bush vines hiding in volcanic hollows — was the FIRST agricultural practice ever recognized by UNESCO. The Phoenicians designed this 3,000 years ago. Nothing has changed.

   Where: The Strada della Vite ad Alberello is a 37km marked circuit around the island, established by the municipality in 2016. Any stretch of road between Pantelleria Town and Khamma will take you past alberello vines. The best stretch for photography and scale: the Valle di Monastero vineyards, ~4km east of town (GPS approx 36.8100°N, 12.0200°E). Donnafugata's vineyard walk at Khamma (free if you arrive early before a booked tour) gives the most context.

   What: On November 26, 2014, the United Nations officially recognized the alberello pantesco as the first agricultural practice in history to receive UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage status. What did they recognize? A vine that hides from the wind. Each plant is pruned to six branches in a radial pattern, then trained INTO a hollow dug 23–58cm into the volcanic rock. The Phoenicians invented this because the Scirocco blows 40+ km/h from Africa for weeks at a time — without the hollow, the vine desiccates and dies. The same technique, the same grape, the same hollow-in-volcanic-rock, unchanged for 3,000 years. Farmers still crouch down to tend each vine individually — no machine can reach into the hollows.

   How: Find a row of alberello vines and crouch down beside one. The plant comes up to your knee, maybe your hip. Run a finger along the twisted old wood. The farmers who tended this specific vine last summer were doing exactly what the Phoenicians did in 700 BC. Stand up and look across the hillside — every little bush is a person's lifetime of crouching work. This view is why no tractor has ever touched this island's vineyards.

   Backup: If you miss the Valle di Monastero, any alberello vine along the road near Khamma or Scauri serves the same purpose. They're everywhere once you look for them.

   Log Memory
3. 3 Decode a 4,000-Year-Old Stone City Before Breakfast History · Free

   The Mursia Bronze Age village and its Sesi stone tumuli sit on the northwest cliff — intact, free, and almost no one visits. The people who built this were obsidian traders who had never heard of Rome.

   Where: Contrada Mursia, northwest coast of Pantelleria — GPS 36.8135°N, 11.9298°E. Follow the coast road northwest from town about 8km. The site is within Pantelleria National Park — no entrance fee, no formal visitor hours. Early morning or evening light makes the volcanic stone glow.

   What: This is Pantelleria's first layer. From 1900 to 1450 BC — before the Phoenicians, before the Romans, before wine existed on this island — a Bronze Age civilization built a walled settlement on this cliff. They came for obsidian: the volcanic glass that makes sharper blades than flint, traded across the entire Mediterranean to southern France, Tunisia, and mainland Italy. The necropolis just beyond the walls contains 50+ 'Sesi' — stone dome-tumuli built from volcanic slabs, some still perfectly intact and accessible from inside. The Romans didn't invent exile here. The Bronze Age did banishment more literally: you sailed to get the obsidian and never quite made it back. The site covers about 1 hectare, enclosed by a monumental dry-stone wall.

   How: Walk the perimeter wall first to understand the scale, then cross into the necropolis. Some Sesi have low entrances you can crouch into — inside, the air is cool and smells of old volcanic stone. This is 3,800 years old and you can touch it with your hands. Look north from the headland: that smudge on the horizon is Tunisia, 70km away. That's where their trading ships came from.

   Backup: If the access road is unclear, ask at any accommodation for 'Sito Archeologico di Mursia' — every islander knows it. No guides are required and the site is always open.

   Log Memory
4. 4 Swim in a Volcanic Crater at 45 Degrees — Then Smear Yourself in Thermal Mud Adventure · Free

   Specchio di Venere — Mirror of Venus — is a crater lake fed by three thermal springs at 35–58°C. In summer, the mud exposed on the shore has been used for skin treatments since antiquity. This is not a spa. This is geology.

   Where: Northern part of Pantelleria island, ~5km from the main town inside Pantelleria National Park — GPS 36.8158°N, 11.9862°E. The lake is visible from the road. A short footpath leads to the shore.

   What: Three distinct thermal springs pour into this elliptical crater lake (450 × 350 metres, 12 metres deep) at temperatures between 35°C and 58°C — the swimming water hovers around 40–50°C. In the summer heat, the lowering water level exposes a band of grey-white thermal mud around the shore. The mud is rich in silica, sodium carbonate, and sulphur. Islanders have been applying it for skin treatment since the Romans — it dries pale and tight on your skin, then you wade back into the warm water to rinse. The lake is named for Venus because the ancient world associated thermal waters with beauty. Come at 07:00 before tour groups arrive.

   How: Wear old swimwear the mud stains. Wade into the shallows and scoop the grey lake-bottom mud onto your arms, shoulders, face — anywhere. Wait 15 minutes until it dries white. Then float in the warm water while it dissolves. The water temperature after a night of cooling sits around 38°C in the morning — warmer than a bath. The view from the water: volcanic hillside on three sides, sky on the fourth. This is what 'free' looks like on Pantelleria.

   Backup: The lake is open access — no fees, no hours. If the water is too hot in summer (it varies), sit at the shore level and let the warm spring water run over your feet. Even the ground here is thermally warm.

   Log Memory
5. 5 Order the Pesto That Has No Cheese and No Pine Nuts — Then Ask Why Wine · Price: low

   Pesto Pantesco is what happens when an island sits closer to Tunisia than to Italy and nobody told the cook to add Parmesan. Raw tomatoes, volcanic-soil capers, almonds, garlic. The story is in every ingredient.

   Where: La Nicchia, Contrada Scauri Basso, Salita San Gaetano 11, Scauri — GPS approx 36.7417°N, 11.8658°E. Phone: +39 0923 916342. Owned by one of the island's largest caper farmers — the capers in your dish were likely grown 200 metres from where you're sitting.

   What: Pesto Pantesco = raw tomatoes + Pantelleria PGI capers + almonds + garlic + basil + oregano + olive oil. No cheese. No pine nuts. The Pantelleria caper earned Protected Geographical Indication status in 1996 — grown in volcanic lava soil with concentrations of glucocapparin protein that give them an intensity no mainland caper can match. The island has almost no agricultural water (no rivers, no springs), so every caper plant is drought-adapted and the concentration of flavour is extraordinary. Order the pesto with spaghetti or spread on crusty bread. Then order a glass of dry Zibibbo ('Lighea' by Tasca d'Almerita, or anything labeled 'Pantelleria Bianco DOC') — the aromatic grape and the briny caper are 3,000 years of Phoenician agriculture agreeing with each other.

   How: Ask the server what season the capers were picked — on Pantelleria you can get this answer. The capers are salt-cured (not in brine), so rinse before eating if you want less salt intensity. Finish with baci panteschi (fried pastry rosettes filled with ricotta and citrus zest) with a 50ml pour of Ben Ryé. The classic pairing. This is the 11pm dessert that every summer resident here eats barefoot on their dammuso terrace.

   Backup: If La Nicchia is full, any trattoria in Scauri will have pesto pantesco — it's the island's everyday pasta. La Nicchia also operates a tapas bar in Pantelleria Town if you want a shorter, simpler version of the same flavours.

   Log Memory

Insider tips

• Donnafugata's Ben Ryé is the benchmark Passito

• Dammuso houses are traditional and bookable

• The Specchio di Venere lake is magical

• Ferry from Trapani or fly from Palermo