Nivarata - origin of the name
Adriao - CC3.0
In Acireale, the granita festival takes place every year, better known as "Nivarata", a term that echoes the origins of the Sicilian granita.
The term Nivarata in fact derives from an ancient Sicilian trade, that of the nivaroli, men who during the winter were responsible for collecting snow on Etna and on the Peloritani, Iblei and Nebrodi, and to preserve it in the neviere, natural ravines or holes finished with bricks or stone located in particularly cool places in the mountains.
In this way the snow was also preserved in the summer months, and was then grated and used for the preparation of sorbets and ice creams.
Only during the 16th century was snow no longer used as an ingredient but as a refrigerant: water, sugar and fruit were poured into a wooden well, surrounded by a mixture of salt and snow, which in contact with the mixture froze, giving life to a creamy mixture typical of the Sicilian Granita, celebrated today in Acireale on the occasion of the Nivarata di Acireale
