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| We wake up to an unpleasant development--overcast skies. It has rained overnight and the sky is threatening. We have gotten used to sunny days. After breakfast, we take our umbrellas and jackets to ward off the rain. A taxi takes us to the La Kalsa quarter of Palermo....the center of the medieval quarter, very close to the water. We are dropped off at Giardini Garibaldi, a pretty park with gigantic banyan trees, palms and dozens of other varieties of trees....the park is surrounded with grand palazzi. We walk into one..the Palazzo Chiaramonte..which is now part of the court system....and wander through its great courtyard.
We are heading for the Parco Lettarario di Giuseppe Tommasi di Lampedusa, the author of "The Leopard", who used to live in this area. Before we get there, we stroll through the old streets of the quarter and duck into the palazzo that now houses the Region of Sicily's art museum - it provides shelter when it starts raining. The rain doesn't last too long and we find the bar which is the headquarters for the Palermo branch of the Parco. The bar is covered with Lampedusiana and there is even a room with a library for doing research. The staff is not too forthcoming about possible activities, but we stay for a while looking at pictures and leafing through some books. We buy some postcards and the book "Il Gattopardo in Sicilia" and head off. The quarter still has sections that were bombed during World War II but there are signs of redevelopment in the area. We stop at a jazz school which is housed in an old church--Santa Maria dello Spasimo. The classrooms bear the names of all the old jazz greats--Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, etc. The performance hall is in the old church building--the walls are still standing but there is no roof. In the hall, groups of young Italians are rehearsing and getting ready for a performance. It is quite an imposing space...it would have been nice to be able to attend a concert there. On our way out, we peek into a room and we find a wedding in progress. We stay and watch until the end of the long speech by the government official who is running the wedding, and watch the bride and groom sign the registry to the applause of the attendees. A solo violinist plays at critical moments. This is the first non-church wedding we've come upon. We continue on our way to our lunch destination--the Antica Focacceria San Francesco, a famous Palermo institution that makes Sicilian street food--fritto misto, arancini (fried rice balls), spleen sandwiches, as well many varieties of focaccia. The streets of this area, as well as the rest of Palermo, is festooned with pink pennants and banners. Statues are adorned with soccer shirts and pink and black scarves...the whole city is crazy for the Palermo soccer team. This year they are at the top of Serie B (the second division of Italian soccer) and next season--for the first time in many years--they will move into the first division (Serie A) and play with the big boys--Juventus, AC Milan, Roma, etc. We have a delicious lunch.....spleen sandwich with cheese for me and a fritto misto of vegetables for Diana.....very satisfying. After lunch, we take a stroll through one of the famous Palermo street markets, Vucciria'--but at this hour (about 1:30 pm) it is pretty quiet. Before grabbing a cab back to the hotel, we have a gelato and lemon granita break. After a short rest back at the hotel, we get back in the car and drive to the Royal Palace to see the mosaics in the Cappella Palatina. We find a parking space (on the wrong side of the palace it turns out) and have to walk all away around to get to the entrance. Diana remembers (but not soon enough) that the same thing happened when we visited nine years ago. The mosaics don't show to their best advantage in the subdued light of the chapel but they are quite spectacular.....the walls are completely covered with mosaics--bible stories, saints, Jesus; these mosaics were teaching tools. The wooden, carved ceiling is being restored. They were made in the 12th century when Roger II the Norman king, ruled over Sicily and he brought in the best craftsmen to create them. I am a little disappointed....there are again lots of groups in the small space and the light makes it hard to discern all the pictures, but it is an amazing accomplishment none the less. Our next destination is the top of Monte Pellegrino, the mountain that overlooks Palermo. It is a very windy, steep ascent to the top--about 2,000 feet high--and there are terrific views over the water and the city. We decide to skip a visit to the shrine to Santa Rosalia--the patron saint of Palermo, but do enjoy the vistas from the parking lot at the top. Dinner tonight is at the restaurant of the brother of the owner of the laundromat. We had made a trip to find the restaurant on the way back from Monte Pellegrino and have no problem finding it--in a residential area about 15 minutes from our hotel. We find a parking space on the street and walk into the restaurant. It is located in a residence hotel...the Torreata; it an attractive modern room and only three tables are occupied--a group of three men and two singles. When we ask for Signore Lacognina the man says--in English--"you met my sister". He seats us and proposes to choose our menu himself. He is very gracious and takes excellent care of us. We start with an assortment of smoked fish--salmon and tuna, as well as a few shrimp....all are wonderful. The pasta course is spaghetti with mussels and clams......I get the bonus of eating most of Diana's shellfish, but she enjoys the pasta and the sauce. For the fish course, we get grilled salmon and swordfish.....it is the best swordfish I have ever eaten and Diana loves the salmon. There are a few shrimp which are superflous. For dessert, he treats us to a strawberry semi-freddo. We really enjoy the dinner and are glad that we had taken Rosalia up on her recommendation. It is an easy drive back to hotel..... Tomorrow we leave for Agrigento.....lunch with Sylvia and Giuseppe who run the Mandranova estate--producing olive oil and developing a hotel and rental housing on the property. Jonathan had met them on his trip to Sicily in January. And Diana will be unhappy to leave Palermo....she has had a good time and really enjoyed the city this time. PS from Diana: I've just finished two books about Sicily. The first, The Stone Boudoir by Theresa Maggio, is a book about the Sicilan travels of an Italian American connecting with her roots. It's a romantic, somewhat sentimental journey. There are some interesting portraits and vignettes but for me this is not a satisfying book. Her grandparents are from Santa Margherita Belice. She claims to have trouble finding it. This seems silly - not only is it on all maps, but it's a famous town where di Lampedusa was born. His family's palace was destroyed in the 1968 earthquake but has since been rebuilt and is a tourist destination. But OK - it wasn't on her maps. She did get there and to many other Sicilian villages and towns. The other, Midnight in Sicily, by an Australian writer Peter Robb, is a serious and excellent book. I felt good about it before I'd read the first page, because first one comes upon the following poem by Eugenio Montale. Satura. History isn't the devastating bulldozer they say it is. It leaves underpasses crypts, holes and hiding places. There are survivors. History's also benevolent: destroys as much as it can: overdoing it, sure would be better, but history's short of news, doesn't carry out all its vendettas History scrapes the bottom like a drag net with a few rips and more than one fish escapes Sometimes you meet the ectoplasm of an escapee and he doesn't seem particularly happy. He doesn't know he's outside - nobody told him. The others in the bag think they're freer than him. This is a book about the Mafia and the collusion of the local Christian Democrats and Andreotti in their devastation of Sicily. But it includes a lot about history, literature (especially Lampedusa, Pasolini and Sciascia), art (especially Guttuso) and food. Apart from the annoying business of putting in italics what might be in quotes - but no need for footnotes or an index - it's a rich, fascinating book. |
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