A Week in Palermo (Oct 2007)

After spending three glorious days basking in the sun of the Amalfi Coast I took the overnight train from Salerno to Palermo, Sicily. I still remembering anxiously waking up in my sleeping cabin around 7:30 am and ripping open the window curtains to see this new and unknown place with my sleep-heavy eyes. Before leaving Rome my British friend Janie recounted her vacation to Sicily the previous summer. She said Sicily looked completely different from any other place she had visited in Italy or the rest of the world. She described the scenery as "wild," and since then I had been anticipating visiting this beauty for myself. The view from my cabin was indeed beautiful. We were still outside Palermo, approaching from the east, and I could see rough, rocky hills spreading out in all directions. It looked like a cross between a desert with shrubby/scruffy little plants and more lush flora like I had seen in the Amalfi Coast. Truly spectacular.

I spent the next week in Palermo staying at La Casa di Marzapane Bed and Breakfast, just steps away from one of Palermo's famous open-air fruit and vegetable markets, the Ballarò. Palermo is a fascinating city that encompasses a vast array of cultures from its numerous occupations including conquests by the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Byzantines, Normans, Spanish, and French, to name a few. The city, like many parts of Sicily, has had a strong north-African influence which is notable in Sicilian cuisine, architecture, folk music, and agricultural products.

Throughout this week I wandered through the city's three main markets, Vucciria, Ballarò, and Capo, looking at produce, eating eating eating, taking pictures, trying unsuccessfully to chat up some of the rough-looking farmers and fishmongers. I also visited some of the main "touristy" attractions of course, the cathedral, Teatro Massimo, Teatro Politeama, Quattro Canti, Piazza and Fontana Pretoria, and the Orto Botanico (the largest botanic gardens in Italy with 10 hectares!). I also took a little side trip to Mondello, a strikingly beautiful little beach town just outside Palermo, and snacked on roasted chestnuts while watching the sunset on the beach.

One of the most fascinating things I did while in Palermo was visit the Capuchin Catacombs, which houses an estimated 8,000 mummified corpses. Residents include previous Capuchin monks, friars, as well as the bodies of some local 16th century Palermitans who could afford to be preserved there. Before going I had heard stories that the catacombs housed a young girl's body that had been so well preserved that she appeared to be sleeping. It wasn't just a crazy story! The body of Rosalia Lombardo, who was 2 years old at the time of her death, is displayed in a small, glass-encased coffin in a chapel in the catacombs. Her cheeks are still round and plump, still after 88 years. It was quite a sight I must say.