Palermo has a rough, un-selfconscious and engaging charm, particularly at night, when the streets come to life with promenading citizens, crammed sidewalks, musicians and yelling waiters. I am astonished to read just now that it has been named the worst city to live in in Europe. Perhaps that is what its residents think -- and its true that it is dirty, and the extended suburbs, from my brief view of them, looked unappealing. But that doesn't make it the worst city for tourists. I would go back in a heartbeat.
Every first visit to a holiday destination is an experiment and we leave having cracked the puzzles if how to get around, what is worth seeing, and having had myriad surprises, some more or less delightful, that never made it into the guidebook. Of course, you will read everywhere the “Top Ten Things to do in Palermo”, so no need to repeat them here. I have come up with my own favourite things in Palermo. But the list is trumped by the overall fascination of Sicily: its layers of history, whose traces are present and intermingled everywhere. Due to its strategic position in the Mediterranean, it has been occupied by multiple cultures: Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Norman, Spanish, Italian.
More through luck than good judgment, we ended up in Casa Linda, a great apartment in a near perfect location, in Vucciria, in the “centro storico” between the port and Via Roma. Like many back streets in Palermo, via Cassari was quiet and unassuming during the day, but a raucous melee at night. It reminded me of our years in 70s Manhattan’s far West Village, close to the river, in an area of cobbled streets, gentrifying warehouses, and off-piste bars and restaurants.
Our Palermo renovated first floor apartment had an elevator, a beautiful parquet floor, high wood-beamed ceilings, and slightly off-kilter walls so that the parquet began in straight lines at the door but was diagonal by the time you reached the bedroom. Both it and the living room had double double-glazed doors and shutters onto a balcony, to protect somewhat from the frantic weekend night-time night-long weekend activity below. It was spacious, cool and dark, with carefully chosen interesting modern furniture. In the morning we are woken by sounds of bottle bins being emptied and broken glass being swept up, and women calling to each other as they clear the streets of cigarette butts. And yes, Italians do break spontaneously into song!
One night a young woman sets up a karaoke machine in a restaurant opposite our apartment and performs Amy Winehouse songs and mournful Italian ballads all evening. We sat at a table on our balcony, drank a bottle of inzolia and ate paper thin slices of veal escalope al Limone, enjoying the performance. Watching the garrulous street life below, it was entirely possible to believe that these families went back generations.
The guidebook explained that the old city was originally divided into four independent districts, meeting at Quattro Canti at its central intersection of Corso Vittorio Emanuele and Via Maqueda. Each of these was apparently a self-contained community and even intermarriage was frowned upon. At the end of our street was a small piazza, presumably the central hub of the district in days gone by, with a neglected 16th century fountain dedicated to King Philip II of Spain. Behind hoardings an old palazzo may or may not be occupied and may or may not be being renovated. One large building on the piazza is being noisily rebuilt, and on another corner there is a WWII bomb site with graffiti marking the former presence of a church. A little street bar serves just cocktails and is ironically named “Il Paradiso”. Many of the three and four storey buildings in the neighbourhood are abandoned or decayed, others have been turned into apartments. Everything is covered in graffiti. Local residents hang their washing from balconies. Despite signs of neglect and poverty, Palermo feels completely safe. I would love to come back in a couple of years’ time and see what has changed.
Most everything we wanted to see was within easy walking distance, using google maps to take rat runs through the dimpled flagstone back streets, dodging the scooters and fiats that whizzed past, avoiding the crowded cross streets of Vittorio Emmanuele and Via Roma.
Taxis were expensive and unpredictable -- though we learned that “Uber black” with its fixed preset fare was a better option than regular taxis, which seemed to turn on their meters when booked rather than when they actually picked you up.
Buses were cheap, crowded and also unpredictable – you can buy a ticket for €1.40 from any tabacchi, which lasts only 90 minutes and must be validated by machine on the bus. But the 101/102 on the Via Roma to and from the Stazione Centrale was useful.
Trains, on the other hand, were clean, cheap, generally on time and not crowded, careful to announce even a one-minute delay. They could be booked on the Trainline app. By booking several days ahead, we managed at little extra cost to get first class tickets to and from the seaside resort of Cefalù. Train tickets, like plane tickets, required check-in before boarding and I suspect could only be changed before that. I was annoyed that on our final day we were at Palermo station in time to take an earlier train to the airport but were not allowed to change our tickets – I suspect for this reason.
Food must be one of the main reasons to visit Italy in general and Palermo in particular. Indeed, it was Stanley Tucci’s Searching for Italy episode on Palermo which encouraged me to want to go there in the first place. I have long believed that it is impossible to get a bad meal and or a bad glass of wine in in Italy and my theory was once again proved true. In Palermo, the restaurants were cheap – we never spent more than €80-90 for a meal for two, and a glass of wine was €5 or €6.00. Of course we could have chosen fine dining options – but for what reason? Then there are the ubiquitous, delicious and cheap gelateria -- so, never a need to order dessert in a restaurant.
We were just round the corner from what was said to be the best coffee in Palermo – Bar del Corso, a stand-up counter behind an anonymous glass window, with a zen like barista in a perfectly creased white shirt serving only espresso and cappuccino and a few exquisite pastries. We ate almost always outdoors, and almost all our meals were memorable. There were those where we were the only tourists: Rosticcheria chicken and roast potatoes in overlooking the port at Cala Pollo on our first night, in a raucous, gingham checked marquee with paper plates and plastic cutlery, and on our last day at Trattoria Calessino in the back streets below Palermo train station, in an immigrant neighbourhood where taxis dropped off chattering families and the ‘menu’ offered just half a dozen classic spaghetti dishes.
Palermo is famous for its street food, most of it inedible to the English palate, but I decided we had better things to spend our money on than a street food tour, We did sit down to eat in Ballaró Medievale market, but that was the only place where it seemed only tourists were eating and the food was mediocre and relatively overpriced.
The wine was invariably delicious and we drank wine by the glass in order to be able to try different ones and those we can’t get at home easily in England : grillo, inzolia, zibibbo, cattarrato, all dry and with Sicily’s characteristic gritty flavour.
There was the mozzarella restaurant, Obica Palermo, on the rooftop of a new department store on the corner of Via Roma and Piazza San Domenico. It overlooks the city and its surrounding hills, was delightful at sunset and was adjacent to the turrets of San Domenico church, where we attended Mass both weekends we were in Palermo.
There were the linen-clothed tables of Pititto restaurant in Agrigento, which I had found in searches, and which turned out to be right by the bus stop when we returned hot and exhausted from the temples. There was the tiny Osteria Pipers, a bit off the beaten track in Monreale, the only restaurant we went to that had no outdoor space. If we hadn’t decided to eat early that day, we would never have gotten a table.
There was the pavement restaurant Cagliostro on Corso Vittorio Emmanuel, where the waiters were unusually offhand and the menus came in in incomprehensible English (we asked for Italian menus and used phones to do our own translating), but dinner offered the most unusual starter I have ever had in an Italian restaurant and the best pizza I have ever eaten anywhere. The first course was served on a fat round dimpled donut of shiny white china, and on it a fat fried donut of pizza dough, with “zucchini cream” and tiny, fragile discs of fried courgette, followed by a perfect, billowing sourdough pizza with a ball of mozzarella, shaved cooked ham, stracciatella cheese and baby plum tomatoes.
And there was the delightful, again slightly off track restaurant in Cefalù, Triscele, where the waiter told us proudly that he was due to be married the following month in the cathedral we had just visited.
We obeyed the unwritten rules of food ordering in Italy – never a cappuccino after noon, never requested salt or pepper or even parmesan with our food – if the waiter thinks you need it, they will bring it…. But it is acceptable to request olive oil if it is not already on the table. And it is acceptable, even de rigueur, unless they are also tourists, to greet and chat, for a moment or longer, with your fellow guests, and necessary to acknowledge them politely as you leave. It seems that Italians are rarely obese or even overweight and I can see why: they do not eat breakfast, and then two proper meals a day -- which might include pasta or pizza -- but there are few signs of snacking or fast food. There was a McDonald's hidden away in the train station, and supermarkets are not selling junk food -- it was hard to find a chocolate bar. In one restaurant, I watched an elegant woman at the next table relish in sharing a vast pan of mussels with her dinner partner, and then just an exquisite dessert.
Of the top tourist attractions I would say the Palatine Chapel in the Norman Palace is the most spectacular, and yes, the temples in Agrigento, the Cathedral in Monreale and the bustle and beaches of Cefalù are all amazing and worth a visit. But in hindsight I wished I had been able to see them either early in the morning or out of season. The endless queues -- up staircases at the Norman Palace! -- and the babbling and almost incomprehensible Italian-English of the guide in Agrigento – well, he was clearly enjoying himself – the scaffolding at the Cathedral in Monreale, and the sheer numbers of gawking tourists at all three, all this was challenging. The Museum of Modern art was also a disappointment, given that it has very little modern art in it – and nothing contemporary – it seemed to stop pre-WWII. It had some nice landscapes and portraits, and scenes of Sicilian life, but the highly recommended courtyard café had been closed since Covid.
So these are my 8-10 favourite moments from our time in Palermo -- in no particular order:
The Post Office
What an adventure our decision to send a few postcards from Palermo to the UK turned out to be! We accepted the guidebook’s advice NOT to buy stamps from a tourist shop or tabacchi and headed to the nearest official Post Office. It turned out to be the no lesser named “Palazzo delle Poste” – more palace than post office – on the Via Roma, not far from our apartment. It was so grand and apparently unapproachable that we originally looked for a side entrance, and nearly gave up, when I saw some lights between the columns of this extraordinary neo-classical temple to the humble stamp. It was designed by Mussolini’s government architect Angiolo Massone in the early 1920s. Completed in 1934 and built from reinforced concrete clad in marble from Mount Biliemi, each of its 10 columns is 30 meters high.
At the top of the steps, we found the doors open and were stunned by the vaulted cathedral of neo-fascist architecture with its indoor fountain – sadly not working. Only three of the two dozen or so kiosks were functioning; and the agent looked hobbit-like behind his glass panel. He was taken aback by the request for 5 postcard stamps to the UK, vanished for a while, returned, stared at his computer and finally went off to find some stamps – triumphantly, he put them straight onto our cards and took the cards from us. The visit to the Post Office was well worth it, but is only real fun if you actually buy some stamps -- although two weeks later, no-one had yet received one of our cards but in spe vivimus. (They finally arrive, three weeks after posting.)
Back down the Via Roma, we found an old-fashioned café, where we sat on the sidewalk and I chose a panini with carpaccio, ripe tomato and mozzarella, followed by pistachio and coffee ice cream and an irresistible, tiny, wild strawberry tart. Bliss.
The Dominican Convent
The Piazza Bellini features in the lists of top attractions in Palermo – La Martorana was closed for a wedding when we went, on our first day in Palermo, a Saturday, but we very much enjoyed our first taste of Arab-Norman architecture in the Chiesa di San Caterina – and even more so our visit to the Dominican Convent next door. Built as a hospice in the early 14th century and transformed into a convent the following century, it was occupied by sisters from 1311 to as recently as 2014. Santa Caterina was a rich and powerful monastery that at the height of its prosperity counted 400 sisters, most coming from the most noble families -- and presumably bringing their dowries. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, “some girls were forced by their families to take the veil, other girls chose the monastic life freely for various reasons, some by vocation, others to avoid an unwelcome marriage”.
It has been open to the public since 2017 – but its décor, fittings, many rooms and corridors, the grilles through which they observed
the Mass in the church below, even the old organ, and the external cloister have been barely touched and give a real feel of the life lived by these women. It is famous for its still operative bakery, though the queue was too long for us, and an extraordinary collection of wax figures and tableaux, many of which feature the Baby Jesus. There are a lot of baby Jesuses in the convent.
Our Lady of Jerusalem
Next to La Martonara is the smaller church of San Cataldo. Built in 1160, its three red domes are of Arabic inspiration. It is a church of The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, also called Order or Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, a Catholic order of knighthood under the protection of the Holy See. The Pope is the sovereign of the order with the primary mission to “support the Christian presence in the Holy Land.” In 1994, Saint Pope John Paul II declared the Virgin Mary as the order's patron saint under the title "Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Palestine", and the modern icon of Our Lady of Jerusalem, showing Mary carrying the city of Jerusalem in her arms is one of its interesting features -- and of obvious contemporary relevance.
The archaeological museum
In the same vicinity as the Post Office and Piazza San Domenico, you will find the Museo
Archeologico Regionale, named for the archaeologist Antonio Salinas, whose collection it contains. It is housed in the stunningly renovated 17th Century Oratory of St Philip Neri. Closed for the most recent renovation 2011-2015, only the ground floor is now open to the public but its reconstructions of of the archaeological site of Selinunte are highly informative, displaying the Gorgon of Temple C, several metopes with mythological reliefs (Temples C and E) and sculptures of the archaic and classical period. It also has terrific collections of
Greek and Roman artefacts. In 1823, two British architects, Samuel Angell and William Harris, excavated at Selinunte in the course of their tour of Sicily, and although local officials tried to stop them, they continued their work, and attempted to export their finds to England, destined for the British Museum. Angell and Harris's shipments were diverted to the Archaeological Museum.
The Cloisters of Monreale and Cefalu
Monreale was difficult to get to – there is a bus but apparently it gets very crowded so in the end we took taxis in both directions – a helf-hour drive memorable for the crawl through Palermo suburbs but also the stunning views of the city and its surrounding mountains from the road up to Monreale, which sits on a hill. The main mosaics of its cathedral were obscured by scaffolding, and of course there were too many people around – but the more peaceful 12th Century Benedictine cloister, with its carved pillars in the Arab-normal style, is a marvel. The cloister garden is divided into four and each quarter features one of the four plants that appear in both the Koran and
the Bible – the fig, pomegranate, date and palm. A similar cloister exists at the Cathedral in Cefalu; indeed, it predates the Monreale cloister and is thought to have influenced it. Damaged in WWII, it was restored in the early years of the 21st Century. Arabs ruled n Sicily from 878 AD to 1061, when the Normans conquered Messina. A Muslim population remained until the middle of the 13th century, when Muslims were deported or exiled by Frederick II. The many signs of Arab influence on Norman architecture is one of the great and unique joys of discovering Western Sicily.
San Gerlando and Santa Maria dei Greci in Agrigento
We took the easy, scenic and meditative route to Agrigento by train, past neat farmhouses, and groves of olives, pistachios, cactus, almonds. Yes, we saw the Valley of the Temples, although getting to them was not as simple as it appeared. The busses were very infrequent and while it appeared from websites that we could go to the temple of Juno via the archaeological museum, the staff at the museum insisted that there is not and we had to call a taxi! The museum is vast – there are only so many Greek and Roman pots one needs in one’s life. And the two-hour guided tour was exhausting – listening to a guide who spoke rapid-fire English as if it were Italian. If I were to go again, I think I would still take the train but I would make sure to visit the temples early in the morning by oneself, and perhaps take the guided tour afterwards.
However, Agrigento offered other treats, including the meal at Pettito. We stayed overnight at an acceptable B&B, close to the train station, and in the morning walked all the way, following google maps up flight after flight of stone steps, to reach the Cathedral at the top of the town – an experience and achievement in itself.
At the top right hand side of the nave you will find the extraordinary silver urn containing the relics of San Gerlando. It seems he was a priest from Besancon, who travelled on pilgrimage to Rome and then, with the Norman invasion, to Sicily. His main achievement seems to have been evangelisation of the Christians, Jews and Muslims of Agrigento and the organisation or establishment of the diocese there. So he was the first bishop following the Norman conquest of Sicily in 1086.
He died in 1100 and in 1264 his remains were placed in a painted wooden ark (where they were in the interim is not clear). In 1376 the relics were placed in a silver case, in 1598 that urn was renewed or replaced, and on 7 May 1639 the present silver urn was dedicated and placed in a marble chapel, closed by a door with three keys. And there you have it.
We walked down to the delightful church of Santa Maria dei Greci. As its name suggests, it was built within the ruins of an ancient 5th Century BC Greek temple to Athena. It has the remains of some Byzantine frescoes, the original Norman ceiling and parts of the original Greek columns. It is now a simple, peaceful space, a relief after all the mosaics and marbles of the Sicilian cathedrals, with a modern glass floor exposing the Greek foundations below.
The Chapel of San Francisco & San Lorenzo in Palermo
Just three minutes from our apartment, I find the Oratory of San Lorenzo, the home of “Ripley’s Caravaggio”. On Netflix’s “Ripley” the eponymous villain, strangely obsessed with the painter, makes a pilgrimage to this chapel to see the 1609 painting of The Nativity with Saint Francis and Saint Lawrence – the “Palermo Nativity”. Of course it is the original before which the fictional character would have meditated. It was stolen by the Mafia in 1969 and we are presented here, now, with the 2015 digital photographic reproduction that hangs in its place. In fact, the painting is dark, obscure and high up – but the surrounding small chapel, built in 1569, is a marvel. It has a frieze of stucco tableaux illustrating the life of St Francis on one side and St Lawrence on the other. Each little scene is accompanied
by putti, who, as the guidebook points out, are either playing with one another or engaging with the drama. The chapel is encircled with a bench of extraordinarily fine marquetry, and completed with a grand marble altar and geometric marble floor. Gold plated balconies over the altar are embellished with bizarre female figures with pronounced protruding breasts and stomachs – a serious distraction, one imagines, to the presiding celibate clergy.
Then, next door, in what was presumably the original sacristy, on one wall hangs the empty frame of the original Caravaggio, with a poignant “do not touch sign” next to it, and a modern black and white painting, a gesture to Covid, entitled “Nativita cancellata” painted in black and white in 2021 by Emilio Isgro -- a Sicilian conceptual artist, whose work features cancellatura – a representation of the Caravaggio in black and white but with masked figures and a baby Jesus reduced to a faint outline.
The shrines to Giovanni Falcone & Giuseppi Puglisi
We attended Mass at San Domenico both the Sundays we were in Palermo – but, sitting at the front on the right hand side I was distracted by the constant stream of visitors to one of the side chapels nearby. When I went to investigate after Mass, I saw it was the shrine of Giovanni Falcone, an Italian judge and prosecuting magistrate who was assassinated by the Mafia by a car bomb on the 23 May 1992. The simple tombstone is piled high with handwritten notes and prayers – I said a prayer myself for an unresolved personal issue, and I must admit, it has been granted. Following the death of Falcone – and his wife and police officers – there was a major crackdown on the Mafia in Sicily and his assassin and many other Mafiosi were caught and sentenced to life imprisonment. Another surprising find is a shrine, in the Oratory of St Philip Neri, next to the Archaeological Museum and behind the Post office, to Blessed Giuseppe Puglisi, a priest who was assassinated, shot by a single bullet, by the Mafia on his 56th birthday, 15 September 1993. He was declared a martyr by Pope Benedict and beatified on 25 May 2013. Again, his assassins were caught and sentenced to life imprisonment.
I am sorry we didn't find time for a tour on the history and influence of the Mafia in Sicily, because one sees signs of it everywhere, even if its influence is said to have abated in recent times. Addiopizzo is the recommended company for this. And there are plenty of other things in and out of the city we might have seen, and could see when we return, because Palermo is definitely worth a second visit.
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