Caper Museum in Pantelleria

Pantelleria it is one of the most beautiful islands of Italy and rises in the Strait of Sicily, returning to the province of Trapani, despite being closer to the African coast of Tunisia, only 35 nautical miles away. It has volcanic origins and is therefore nicknamed "Black pearl of the Mediterranean ": precisely the presence of the volcanic soil and the particularly hot and dry climate allowed the cultivation of the caper plant to be facilitated on the island. The caper of Pantelleria is PGI and the Nocellara variety is grown on the island, where the fruit it is uniform, compact and very fragrant.It is no coincidence that the Caper Museum, an original and unique space in the world.

Caper Museum in Pantelleria: historical notes

The idea of ​​creating a museum dedicated to the caper came from the company "Bonomo & Giglio", with the patronage of the institution of Pantelleria Island National Park, of the Sicily Region, of the CCIAA of the city of Trapani and of the municipality of the city of Pantelleria. It is an absolutely original museum but also very small, so much so that it is part of that national circuit that brings together all those small museum spaces.
Il Caper Museum of Pantelleria is housed in a dammuso from the 900s: it is a typical building of the island, a memory of the Arab domination in Sicily and created to contain the particularly windy, hot and dry climate of the island. There are many dammusi on Pantelleria and they are usually flanked by a jardin, a sort of small garden where you can grow fruit trees while protecting them from the elements.
Even the dammuso that houses the Caper Museum is flanked by an oregano grove, an olive grove and above all a caper grove. Inside there is an audiovisual room, an experiential room, an exhibition room and finally the area dedicated to the photographic exhibition, all focused not only on the cultivation of capers but also on the peasant life of Pantelleria.

The Caper Museum in Pantelleria and its treasures

within the Caper Museum of Pantelleria a series of tools donated by the local farmers themselves are kept, used until a few decades ago to work the land and cultivate the caper plants. In the audiovisual room, visitors will be able to watch a documentary showing the entire caper processing cycle, from pruning in the cold months to packaging the finished product. The experiential room gives everyone the opportunity to touch the rocks that form the volcanic soils (which are fundamental for giving the fruit that unmistakable flavor that differentiates it from the others).
Outside, the dammuso still shows the ancient signs of the peasant tradition of Pantelleria: in fact, you can see a cistern for rainwater, a millstone for grain, but above all a furniddu and a stinniture, i.e. tools used in the past to dry the grape.

What to see around the Caper Museum in Pantelleria

Not far from Caper Museum, there are some of the most beautiful places on the whole island, starting from Mirror Lake of Venus, famous for the thermal mud on the seabed and for the legend where it is said that Venus bathed before meeting her beloved Bacchus. Equally beautiful is the Ondine lake, separated from the sea only by the rocks which form a sort of natural swimming pool, where the sea water filters, splendid and crystalline.
Then there is theArch of the Elephant, the scenic coastal rock that literally plunges into the sea as if it were the proboscis of a pachyderm.
Do not miss Benikula Cave, inside which steam comes out of almost 40 degrees e Cala Tramontana, in whose waters around 3000 coins of Punic era, probably lost by a Carthaginian vessel and presumably intended to finance the battle against the bitter enemy Rome.

How to get to Pantelleria

Pantelleria it can be reached from Trapani by ferry o by hydrofoil, which arrive right in Pantelleria city: from the small port, take the Provincial Road until you follow the signs for Via Stufe di Kazem where the Caper Museum stands.

© Image by rosario cappadona, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons