Brought to Sicily by the Arabs, the wondrous sesame seed is still cultivated by hand today, and with great effort, in Ispica, a town close to the southernmost part of the island. The guardians of its future are two brothers who are undeniably fond of those sunburnt fields. 

Arranging a time to chat with the Gambuzza family is almost impossible: they're always at work. Ispica sesame seeds became a Slow Food Presidium in 2016, awarding grandfather Salvatore and uncle Domenico as the only remaining producers. Why? “It's due to both foreign competition and the type of cultivation, it's a very delicate job that requires a lot of manual work,” the brothers say.