Frutta martorana are traditional marzipan sweets shaped to resemble fruits or vegetables. These treats can be found throughout Palermo and Messina in Sicily. It is said that frutta martorana originated in Palermo, in the Martorana monastery, where the nuns made them with a combination of almonds and sugar, shaped them like fruits, and decorated the empty, barren trees in their courtyard in order to impress a visiting archbishop.