Gluten-Free Syracuse: arancine, pastry and pizza for coeliacs

Seven of the eight places on this page are in Ortigia, the old-town island of about 1 km², joined to the mainland by three bridges. Three of them share Via Trento, in the northern part of the island, a few minutes on foot from the Temple of Apollo by our estimate: ArancinaGlutenFree, an entirely gluten-free street-food shop; Levante Gelato Artigianale, a gelateria with a gluten-free cone; and Kantunera Ristorante Ortigia, a restaurant whose own site says the whole menu is gluten-free. Pasticceria Artale and Trattoria Kalliope are by the Duomo, with Da Carmelo and MOON a few streets further on: all four are within about 5 minutes on foot of the Duomo, by our estimate. Ortigia is closed to cars (a limited-traffic zone) and easy on foot: from the Temple of Apollo it is about 10 minutes to the Duomo, and from the Duomo about 5 to Fonte Aretusa and Palazzo Bellomo and about 10 to Castello Maniace at the tip, all on foot and by our estimate. The big ancient sites are on the mainland, about half an hour on foot from Ortigia or a ride on city bus 105: the Neapolis park with the Greek theatre, the Paolo Orsi museum, the Catacombs of San Giovanni and the Madonna delle Lacrime. Bar Milano, the one place on this page outside Ortigia, is on Via Giuseppe di Natale, close to them: about 10 minutes on foot from the museum and the catacombs and about 15 from the Neapolis park, by our estimate. Arriving by train won’t work this season: no trains run between Catania and Syracuse from 1 October 2026 to 31 January 2027 (see Getting around).

A day that works (not a Sunday, when Bar Milano and the Duomo’s ticket office are closed): start on the mainland with breakfast at Bar Milano, a bar with gluten-free food in its name, open from 07:00; ask at the counter what is gluten-free that day, as its card says. The Paolo Orsi museum is about 10 minutes away on foot, by our estimate, with the Catacombs of San Giovanni (a guided visit, booked ahead) and the Madonna delle Lacrime a few minutes from it; the Neapolis park, with the Greek theatre and the Ear of Dionysius, is about 15 minutes on foot from the museum. City bus 105 links Via Paolo Orsi and Corso Gelone with Ortigia; on foot it is about 35 minutes from the Greek theatre to the Temple of Apollo, by our estimate. Lunch is arancine at ArancinaGlutenFree on Via Trento, a few minutes from the temple: everything they make is gluten-free, in their own words (check it is open before you make the trip). Walk down through the island to the Duomo, about 10 minutes, then to Palazzo Bellomo and Fonte Aretusa, about 5 minutes each from the Duomo, and on to Castello Maniace at the tip. For something sweet, a gluten-free cannolo at Pasticceria Artale by the Duomo (closed on Thursdays; a mixed family workshop, so ask how the gluten-free items are kept apart) or gelato in Levante’s gluten-free cone. Dinner is in Ortigia: Kantunera on Via Trento, whose own site says the whole menu is gluten-free (the site gives no opening days or hours, so check first), or a pizza on the gluten-free dough at Da Carmelo, open every day, a wheat pizzeria where you ask about the work surface and the oven before you order. Trattoria Kalliope and MOON are closed on Tuesdays. If you would rather see the Ortigia market, which runs in the morning, swap the halves: Ortigia first, the mainland after lunch.

Across Italy, many places belong to the Italian coeliac association’s eating-out programme, Alimentazione Fuori Casa (AFC). AIC calls them «informati», informed: staff trained on coeliac disease, AIC’s rules for preparing gluten-free food, a signed agreement, and an in-depth visit from AIC at least once a year. It is not a certificate, and joining is voluntary: plenty of kitchens serve gluten-free food outside it. AIC Sicilia, the association’s Sicilian branch, says it works for 15,000 diagnosed coeliacs on the island and reports 214 member places across Sicily, from B&Bs, bars and gelaterie to restaurants and hotels; its regional office is in Villafranca Tirrena, not in Syracuse. On this page, Bar Milano states an AIC link in its own words; its site doesn’t say that everything it sells is gluten-free, and an AIC link is a strong signal, not a guarantee. AIC advises booking ahead so the kitchen can get ready. When you book, say you have coeliac disease.

Sicilian street food leans on wheat. Arancine are rolled in breadcrumbs before they are fried: the rice inside is not the problem, the breadcrumb coating and the shared fryer are, so outside a gluten-free kitchen ask how they are coated and fried before you order one. Cannoli shells are a wheat pastry, so have cannoli only where a gluten-free version is on the menu. To eat arancine gluten-free, go to ArancinaGlutenFree, the entirely gluten-free street-food shop on Via Trento. Pasticceria Artale also makes gluten-free arancini, cannoli and brioche, in the same family workshop as its wheat pastry, so ask there how they are made and kept apart; Levante has a gluten-free ricotta cannolo, with wheat cones sold at the same counter, so ask about the flavours and for a clean scoop. Say the sentence before ordering, every time, dedicated kitchen or not: «Sono celiaco/a», I have coeliac disease. At a pizzeria, ask «Come preparate la pizza senza glutine? Impasto, banco e forno sono separati?» (how do you make the gluten-free pizza? Are the dough, the work surface and the oven kept separate?), and for anything fried, «C’è una friggitrice dedicata al senza glutine?» (is there a fryer just for gluten-free?).