"To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is not to have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything." Goethe in 1787

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We were met at the train station by our host Luigi's son, and greeted at the apartment by Luigi himself. Luigi is of Spanish/Jewish/German/Italian descent and the same age as Bill. He experienced the bombing of Palermo as a young child, had many stories of his parents' and grandparents' struggles to survive. He was an aeronautics professor, and speaks several languages, including French and English.

The apartment is wonderful: in the heart of the Capo district, a very poor, old neighborhood that is being renovated. You can walk past doorways and look inside, seeing things that appear not to have changed since the Middle Ages, right next to a renovated apartment building. On the next block, we can see buildings being torn down, by hand, from our window. While we are of course stared at, we feel safe on these tiny dark streets.

We spent the first day here recovering from our lack of sleep in Messina. The apartment, while in a very congested area, is totally quiet at night! The first few days were stormy, but we were to get out and see many of the tourist sights and to get know our neighborhood too.

Palermo background: "The city was founded in 734 BC by the Phoenicians as Ziz ('flower'). Palermo then became a possession of Carthage, before becoming part of the Roman Republic, the Roman Empire and eventually part of the Byzantine Empire, for over a thousand years. The Greeks named the city Panormus meaning 'complete port'. From 831 to 1072 the city was under Arab rule during the Emirate of Sicily when the city first became a capital. The Arabs shifted the Greek name into Balarm, the root for Palermo's present-day name. Following the Norman reconquest, Palermo became the capital of a new kingdom (from 1130 to 1816), the Kingdom of Sicily and the capital of the Holy Roman Empire under Frederick II Holy Roman Emperor andConrad IV of Germany, King of the Romans. Eventually Sicily would be united with the Kingdom of Naples to form the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies until the Italian unification of 1860" Wikipedia.

Palermo is now one of the major tourist destinations in Europe.

We visited the Cathedral: "If there were ever a building that could lay claim to being the world's most architecturally diverse, "multicultural" place of worship, it would be this one. Built during the twelfth century on the site of a Roman temple, and a Byzantine basilica converted into a mosque, the cathedral is a masterpiece of Norman-Arab architecture embracing several additional styles throughout the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance and Baroque periods, yet transcending any single movement."

Next we walked down the main pedestrian street, the Corso Vittorio Emanuele (or Cassaro), visiting many historic sites along the way. The road follows the path of the one created by the Phoenicians, and "cut into two parts the agglomeration by connecting the port to the original necropolis located immediately behind the city. The name comes from the Arabic name of Cassaro at Qasr (fortified)."

And then:

1. Chiesa Cattolica Parrocchiale Ss Salvatore The building of Chiesa Cattolica Parrocchiale Ss Salvatore‎ was designed in an oval form and today stands on the very location where the Norman church once stood.

2. Alliatas Palazzo di Villafranca The origins of the building are sixteenth century, and was the home of the powerful family Beccadelli of Bologna. In the first half of the seventeenth century it was acquired by Alliatas of Villafranca and for four centuries was the main residence of the family Alliatas in Palermo. During the next century the building was remodeled, taking on its current appearance, the late-eighteenth century. In 1984 the Princess Rosalia Correale Santacroce, which owns the building, destined it to the Archdiocesan Seminary of Palermo.The building was opened to the public from time to time since 2006, for short periods, during restoration of the Green Room and the Coat of Arms Hall (2006), In 2013 the building was reopened with the help of a group of young volunteers.

3. Quattro Canti

The "Quattro Canti" (Four Corners) is the traditional center of Palermo, the crossroad marking the heart of Palermo's old historic district. Many of Palermo's monuments, artistic churches and other sights of historical and visitor interest are located within walking distance of the Quattro Canti.

4. Piazza Pretoria and its splendid fountain. Its sixteen statues are divided among the four sets of stairs leading to the largest fountain in the center; these statues are nudes of nymphs, humans, mermaids and satyrs. It is surprising that this fountain was permitted to be erected in Palermo during the heyday of the Spanish Inquisition. The fountain was originally commissioned for the Tuscan Villa of the Viceroy Don Pedro de Toledo, and created by the Florentine sculptor Francesco Camiliani in 1555. In 1574, the Viceroy's son , whose own artistic tastes were a bit more conservative, sold the fountain to the City of Palermo.

5. The Church of San Cataldo (Chiesa di San Cataldo), an example of the wonderful Arabian-Norman architecture. San Cataldo is one of the sites in Palermo inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. San Cataldo was founded by William I's chancellor, Maio of Bari c. 1160. In that year, Maio was assassinated with the result that San Cataldo's interior never was decorated. After 1787 the church served as a post office, before it was restored in 1885. Now mass is held here only for the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher... (yes, they still exist!!!)

6. La Martorana: Just beside the San Cataldo, it's a total contrast to the austere interior of the former...

The graceful Norman bell tower is original from the 12th century. The facade, on the other hand, is a baroque renovation of the original Norman front. Entrance is through a beautiful portico with a trio of ancient columns and double arch openings. Glittering Norman-Byzantine mosaics from c.1150 cover the interior, including on and around the columns that hold up the principal cupola. The mosaics were overseen by George of Antioch himself, who was of Greek descent and loved the Byzantine mosaics of his homeland. Even after 850 years, the colors remain vibrant: the golden background is pierced with streaks of spring green, ivory, azure blue, and red. High along the western wall is some of the oldest and best-preserved mosaic artwork of the Norman period. Just inside the entrance is an interesting mosaic of King Roger II being crowned by Christ. Roger is dressed in a jeweled Byzantine stole, reflecting the Norman court's penchant for all things Byzantine. Archangels along the ceiling wear the same stole.




We walked to the waterfront, had lunch, and walked a lot more, through old, old streets, and past too many beautiful buildings to even remember!

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Photos

Old courtyeard
Taken through a keyhole of an empty building

Man selling lottery tickets from the street
People lower a bucket to purchase them....and other items from street vendors.

Giulio Regeni was an Italian Cambridge University graduate who was abducted and tortured to death in Egypt in February.
These signs hang on most universities in Italy...

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Palermo
Your apartment sounds great.