This refined product, a symbol among the sweet specialties from Sicily, has its name and origin derived from the same Convent in Palermo.The Church of Martorana, also known as St.Mary of the Admiral because built under the rule of George of Antiochia, Roger II's admiral, is a building dating back to the Norman period (approx. 1143).The Norman conquest of Palermo was carried out in year 1072 by Roger I from Altavilla.During the Norman rule, says the tradition that the nuns of the Convent by the same Church had prepared, for the first time ever, some fruit, it seems some citrus, then hung up on the trees in place of those already picked up, so to enrich the appearance of the Convent garden during the visit of a very important personality: a high prelate or even a king.Hence the name of the paste employed, Pasta Reale - translated as Royal Paste, made of sugar or honey, ground almonds and egg white, through the years become what we know as today marzipan.




The marzipan fruit we produce, then Frutta Martorana, is entirely made by hand following ancient methods; just a few fruits are shaped in a mould: most of them are shaped by hand and all are refined employing the ability of craftsmen able to make each piece a unique one. Coloring the fruits, again a process made by hand, means following some steps that make the fruits themselves "become ripe" in the hands of our craftsmen, looking like real ones.