Pasta alla Norma

La provenienza

Where this recipe comes from

The best-known story is that the Catanese writer Nino Martoglio, tasting this pasta at lunch, exclaimed that it was ‘a Norma’ — a masterpiece, like Bellini's opera. The dish belongs to Catania, where aubergines grow in the volcanic soil of Etna, though Messina also claims it.

There is no official recipe; Sicilian sources agree on the essentials — tomato, fried aubergine, fresh basil and ricotta salata, a sheep's milk ricotta salted and aged from one week to a month. In Catania the aubergines are the Violetta and the tomatoes the ribbed Costoluto.

Provenance

Documented traditionA regional tradition documented in cookbooks and local practice, with no single official text.

Defined by

Catanese tradition

Reference

Named after Bellini's opera ‘Norma’

Sources

• Dissapore — pasta alla Norma, the original Catanese recipe with Violetta aubergines and Costoluto tomatoes (Italian)
• Scatti di Gusto — pasta alla Norma (Italian)