Dinner at Rimessa Dragotto: From the Olive Grove to Palermo
Dinner at Rimessa Dragotto in central Palermo, where the Dragotto family’s olive-growing story continues through their own extra-virgin olive oil, seafood and a cassata-inspired dessert.
Palermo, Sicily, Italy
During our stay in Palermo, we visited Rimessa Dragotto for dinner on Via Rosolino Pilo, between Teatro Politeama and Teatro Massimo.
The restaurant opened in 2023, but the story behind it began years earlier in the countryside of western Sicily.
Five Dragotto siblings bought their first plot of land in the Valle del Belice in 2014. Dragotto Farm was formally established in 2017, although the family traces its relationship with olive oil further back, through their great-grandfather Giuseppe and grandfather Vincenzo. The farm now occupies around ten hectares near Castelvetrano, an area closely associated with the Nocellara del Belice olive.
Rimessa brought that agricultural side of the family into Palermo. The restaurant describes itself as the city expression of Dragotto Farm, with its Viridior extra-virgin olive oil at the centre of the table.
We were introduced to that connection almost immediately, when their own olive oil arrived with the bread.
Rimessa Dragotto’s dining room, with green stone tables, olive-green chairs and photographs referencing the family’s agricultural roots.
The dining room
Rimessa Dragotto has a small dining room with green stone tables, green chairs and pale grey walls.
Photographs of olives and the Sicilian countryside hang above the tables, while wine bottles fill shelving along one side of the room. A strip of exposed stone runs along the bottom of the wall, lit with warm light.
The room was designed by architect Walter Angelico. When Rimessa opened, the colours and graphics were intended to recall the atmosphere of the olive groves.
That connection is easy to see without the room feeling themed. Green runs through the furniture, while the photographs bring the countryside into what is otherwise a modern city restaurant.
I liked the ambience from the start.
Dragotto olive oil and bread
The bread service became one of the clearest links between the restaurant and the farm.
A round loaf arrived with long grissini and small dishes of Dragotto’s own extra-virgin olive oil. Rimessa says its leavened products are made in-house using heritage Sicilian grains.
Our waiter explained that the oil came from their farm.
Dragotto specialises in Nocellara del Belice, and its Viridior PDO Valle del Belice is made entirely from that variety. The olives are grown around Castelvetrano, hand-picked and cold-extracted shortly after harvesting.
The oil and bread were excellent together.
We drank a bottle of Cusumano Lucido 2025 Terre Siciliane IGT, a Sicilian white made from Catarratto Bianco Extra-Lucido.
Seafood carbonara with spaghetti, prawns, scampi, mussels and bottarga.
Seafood carbonara
For pasta, we ordered the Seafood Carbonara.
The menu combines spaghetti with prawns, scampi, mussels and bottarga.
The seafood was worked through the pasta and sauce rather than arranged separately around it, keeping the plate quite simple.
It tasted excellent.
Catch of the day with tenerumi and toasted lemon.
Catch of the day
For my main course, I ordered the Catch of the Day.
The menu pairs the fish with tenerumi — the tender leaves and shoots of Sicilian courgette — and toasted lemon.
It arrived as grilled fish with greens and sauce on a large white plate.
The presentation was restrained and the fish tasted very good.
Come una cassata, made with ricotta semifreddo, crunchy marzipan and Modica chocolate.
Come una cassata
Dessert was the highlight of dinner.
We ordered Come una cassata, Rimessa Dragotto’s interpretation of the Sicilian classic. The menu describes it as ricotta semifreddo with crunchy marzipan and Modica chocolate.
It arrived in a large irregular ceramic bowl, with a small white dome, a bright yellow-orange finish and pieces of dark chocolate around it.
The cold, soft texture of the semifreddo was exactly the kind of dessert I kept enjoying during our time in Palermo. Several of the Sicilian sweets we ordered had this almost ice-cream-like quality, and this was one of the best examples.
Come una cassata was my favourite dish of the evening.
Final thoughts
Rimessa Dragotto’s link with the family farm is what distinguishes it.
The dining room references the olive groves, but the connection is clearest in Dragotto’s own olive oil at the table.
The seafood carbonara is the savoury dish I would order again, but Come una cassata was my favourite part of dinner.
That is the dessert I would return for.
Plan your visit
Rimessa Dragotto
Via Rosolino Pilo 65
90139 Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Phone
+39 351 935 0252
Website
rimessadragotto.it
Instagram
@rimessadragotto
Experience
Mediterranean and Sicilian cooking
Dragotto Farm extra-virgin olive oil
Wine-focused restaurant
Best for
Dinner in central Palermo
Seafood pasta
Sicilian olive oil
Come una cassata
