Story and Photos by Stephanie Levin.
Defined by restless splendor, a maze of street life and dynamic architecture, Palermo is a must for curious travelers. Dominating the northwestern region of Sicily, Palermo has survived and borrowed 2700 years of history and conquests to become Sicily’s cultural and economic capital.
The heart of the city, Quattro Canti, “Four Corners,” intersects two main streets-Via Maqueda and Corso Vittorio Emanuele, dividing the hub of the city into east Palermo and west Palermo. Each of the corners is represented by four massive statues symbolizing the four seasons.
As Palermo wasn’t on my original Sicilian itinerary, I asked the concierge at my hotel what I should absolutely see.
“Everything, of course, but don’t miss the opera house,” she responded. Thus, I scuttled down to Plaza Verdi, home to Teatro Massimo Opera House. The only way to gain entrance to the opera house, unless going to the opera, is with a walking tour.
Our tour commenced with insights into the architecture and history. Commissioned in 1864, Giovan Battista Filippo Basile designed and oversaw the project, which from its onset was beset by delays. Construction commenced nine years later in 1875, and it would be 22 more years before the first opera, Falstaff opened, noted our guide pointing out the wooden model of the opera house in the lobby. A century later, in 1974, Teatro Massimo closed for a brief remodel which lasted 23 years. During the refurbishing project, Francis Ford Coppola arrived in Palermo to film “Godfather III” and, with the interior closed for repair, Coppola chose to end Michael Corleone’s life on the massive steps outside of Teatro Massimo, the finality of The Godfather, and for film buffs, the first sight of the magnificent opera house.
Inspired by ancient and classical Sicilian architecture with neoclassical elements, Teatro Massimo is simply sumptuous. With a beautifully crafted vaulted dome ceiling, and a tiered horseshoe-shaped theater seating 1882 people, Teatro Massimo is the third largest opera house in Europe after Paris and Vienna. Chance accompanied our group on the May spring afternoon inside the opera house. Palermo’s opera company and orchestra were rehearsing for an upcoming performance as our group stood in apt silence, taking in this rare moment and imaging how the production would sound on opening night.
The confluence of cultures that historically conquered, built, and destroyed Sicily is the story of Palermo existence today from its robust street atmosphere, massive theaters, and stunning churches. There are 170 churches in Palermo; prior to the bombardment in World War II, Palermo boasted 300.
On a whim, I joined a French tour to fill in the ecclesiastical gaps of the few churches I had wandered into inspired by their interior beauty, but admittedly knew little about. The primary fact our guide imparted, gesturing toward a nondescript exterior, is that while some of the churches may not look like much from the outside, interiors are exquisitely intoxicating, and the silent guardians of Sicilian history.
We entered the Chiesa Inferiore della Cappella Palatina – the Palatine Chapel, built in the 12th Century, is one of several UNESCO World Heritage sites in Palermo. The chapel is a marriage of divergent cultural styles, a palate of artistic history claiming Baroque, Norman, Byzantine, and Arabic influences. Founded in 1132, the enormous Roman columns denote Latin influence while the geometric inlays on the fine marble floors and the beautiful ceiling reflect Arab sensibility. But it is the Christian influence expressed in splendid Greek mosaics on the walls, three apses and granite columns that astonish the senses. Our guide points above to a discrete row of unobtrusive shuttered tiny windows. Apparently, at one time, citizens of high societal status, not only had the best view, but desired to attend services discretely out of view of the public. The entire chapel is cast in a golden hue refracting off the walls and ceiling. To enter Chiesa Inferiore della Cappella Palatina is akin to walking through an ethereal crossroad of Palermo’s cultural and religious history.
As we wended our way down to the Cathedral of Palermo and stood in front of the intricate wedding cake facade merging the Norman and Arabic architecture from 1184, our guide noted that very little of the original structure remains due to frequent building and conquest changes. The Corinthian columns shouldering three arches announce the entrance to the walnut doors of the church while Arab influences reign on the outside facade, including an inscribed passage from the Koran on a column of the southern portico. But step across the Baroque threshold and we entered a cathedral filled with holy relics, precious Christian objects, and imperial tombs. All marble on the inside, the exterior of the cupolas was covered by Majolica tiles.
The cathedral also houses a solar observatory or meridian, built in 1801. A tiny hole in the dome projects the image of the sun on the floor where there is a bronze line running north/south and at a different time of the year the sunlight marks the positions of the summer and winter solstices.
Our group stood in the front gardens of the Cathedral debating our last church of the tour. Should it be chiesa Del Gusù (link below) considered one of the most beautiful churches in Palermo covered with marble carvings and hand-painted frescos or Chiesa di San Cataldo (link below), with its red-domes enticing from afar. This tiny typical Arab-Norman style church has withstood earthquakes, war, and invasion, but the inside is redolent of a monastery, sparse and quiet with nothing on the walls, a stark contrast after the grandeur of the previous churches.
Terminating our tour in Piazza Pretoria in the heart of historic Palermo, we stood in front of an enormous fountain filled with an abundance of giant-size statues, The Fountain of Shame. We huddled closer to hear the history of this popular fountain originally created for the garden of a Tuscan Villa in the 16th century, only to be scorned by the villa’s owner. When it was purchased by Palermo and arrived from Florence, it was placed in front of the town hall and two nearby churches. The naked statues caused quite a kerfuffle, offending many of the pious sensibilities of the clergy. Today, Fontana Pretoria –The Fountain of Shame – is aglow at night, and is a popular tourist site for photos as well as an accepted pride for the citizens of Palermo.
Four to five days in Palermo is perfect, and it was time to leave the architecture and religion and focus on Palermo’s pulse, her people, cuisine, music and the unexpected. While everyone is busy with destination weddings in America, Palermo simplifies the wedding ceremony for all to enjoy. Holding court in the center of Quattro Canti, a bride and groom, flanked on one side by the father of the bride in shorts and a smile; on the other side beamed the mother of the bride, sporting a fuchsia top, white shorts, and sunglasses; a delighted foursome for all to enjoy. Simultaneously, musicians busked on the opposite corner singing in a dialect completely foreign to me.
I decided to wander afield from the maze of activity and was drawn to the sweet sound of a harpist playing in a quiet piazza, a contrast to the music and crowds in Quattro Canti. Meandering on, I passed the anti-mafia museum, little shops selling beautifully wrapped Sicilian soap, one of many olive oil shops, and a window display announcing “I love Sicily” on a flowered VW bug. So many, diverse street pleasures to choose from.
La passeggiata, or the traditional Italian evening stroll convenes around 5:00pm, filling outdoor restaurants and bars gathering for an Aperol Spritz and an array of appetizers from arancici, a rice ball stuffed with savory ingredients to swordfish Carpaccio, Sicilian eggplant rolls and olives. La passeggiata is my favorite time of day in Palermo for the simple reason I travel alone, and one of the merits of dining solo is idle time to people watch while I nibble and sip.
Mid way through my spritz, I couldn’t take my eye of a slim fellow, erect as a lamppost, dressed to the nines in orchid trousers, orchid shirt, matching argyle socks, a black cap, jacket and sneakers. Rather a bold fashion statement for an elderly gentleman, I thought to myself.
But, of course, the woman I saw earlier draped in an American flag pushing a baby carriage, was equally intriguing. And this is what I came to adore about Palermo, the Palermitani’s panache–the tour guide from Teatro Massimo, refined and subtly fashionable, the church tour guide’s spontaneity, dressed in black pants and hot-pink sweater, street weddings in casual wear and the juxtaposition between the woman in the Arab quarter wearing a hajib and the American flag to the purple-clad septarian. I felt rather drably dressed in my sandals and sundress.
Sicilians love to eat as much as they love life. Breakfast is a freshly squeezed orange juice, coffee, a sugary pastry, and a chat. Lunch is not a sandwich or a salad, but a meal, delicious and necessary, but dinner is the alfresco affair of fresh seafood to an ample board of cured meats and cheeses, and an array of pasta dishes, all enticing the culinary chops. Choices galore, so many restaurants, never a dull moment or a bad meal. The atmosphere borders on noisy, joyful, friendly. You might sit down alone, but you will finish with a conversation and new acquaintances. For the gourmand, there are street food tours and two outdoor markets Vucciria and Ballarò, but I simply sniffed out menus and restaurants and then sat down where I could find a seat or a menu I couldn’t pass up. Food is not expensive in Palermo. Though, a word of advice from the gelato maven–forgo dessert and enjoy a gelato from the gelato shops dotting the streets and, serving up copious, flavors from fresh pistachio to frutti di bosco (berries in season) pineapple to peach and 20 other flavors to make your choice either a conundrum, or a necessity to return to savor different flavors.
In the end, great food, culture and history define a city, but it’s always the unexpected not found in guide books that endures a traveler to a particular place. In Palermo, it is the ease of her people, the kindness and desire to please, impeccably clean bathrooms in any public place, respect for seniors, and of course, the unanticipated pop-up conversations. As I waited to board the bus to return to Catania, a short elderly man in line struck up a conversation and asked where I was from. I responded San Francisco. He beamed and told me his son spent time there and had raved about it. At that very instant, a young eavesdropper in line piped up with “Oh, I don’t like San Francisco, too many homeless. New York is better.”
“Oh, are you from New York?” I queried.
“No, Russia, but I live in New York,” he noted with genuine pride. On cue, the elder man’s son chimed in and stated in eloquent English, “I love San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge.” Well, I had to get my two cents in, so I said, I adore Palermo, and with that we boarded the bus.
IF YOU GO: The following links might be helpful to set the scene: Palermo, Quattro Canti, San Giuseppe dei Padre Teatini, Chiesa di San Cataldo, Teatro Massimo, Chiesa Inferiore della Cappella Palatina, Cathedral of Palermo, Piazza Pretoria, chiesa Del Gusù, Chiesa di San Cataldo, La passeggiata (The walk, originating from a 1950s comedy film), and arancici (snack food).
What gorgeous pictures and what a fabulous story. What a wonderful destination.