Monday, September 11, 2023; Palermo
Modern miracle: we arrived in Zurich in plenty of time to make our connecting flight to Palermo!
As we landed, we had our first glimpse of the mountainous landscape northwest of Palermo: rocky peaks devoid of vegetation rise steeply from the coast. As you approach the city, the landscape is dominated by row after row of more or less ramshackle apartment blocks, most of them presumably built by the Mafia. Our cabby had us in town in about 30 minutes, and we were soon meeting Patti and David in one of the courtyards of the enormous complex called the Palazzo Ajutimacristo. Patti had found a serviced apartment here, and it is spectacular!
The palace sits on Via Garibaldi, what turns out to be a typical street in this part of Palermo: somewhat dilapidated, but enlivened by handsome palazzi, riotously ornamental balconies, and many bars and restaurants. The Palazzo itself was built by Matteo Carnelivari in 1490, with Catalan Gothic elements. Still in the hands of the original family, the palace houses a number of private apartments. Ours has a handsome entry and living room and three spacious bedrooms. It was good to see our old friends, and we caught up a bit in the apartment before venturing out.
A number of people have told me that they didn’t like Palermo, but our first afternoon produced the opposite effect: we all love it here. Yes, the city is raffish and somewhat rundown, but the alteration of the stunningly beautiful and the stunningly crumbling gives it a feeling of a real place. Our neighborhood, at the edge of the district called the Kalsa (a bastardization of its original arabic name), is a network of narrow, winding streets with enormous character. Typical Palermo palazzi have multiple large courtyards around which are grouped homes, offices, and cottage industries.
An astonishing number of buildings have never been restored after the heavy bombing that the areas around the harbor suffered in WW II.
David wanted to start our tour at the Oratorio del Rosario di Santa Cita, reconstructed in the early 17th century. There are a number of oratories in Palermo, places of prayer and worship financed by rich and powerful lay confraternities.
This oratory is approached through a little garden and loggia with, of all things, a Boojum Tree!
The interior of the little church is startling: three of the walls are covered by a riotous collection of sculpture in stucco.
This is Giacomo Serpotta’s masterpiece, created between 1685 and 1717. On the entrance wall is an elaborate representation of the Battle of Lepanto, which commemorates the victory over the Turks in which the Christian fleet was protected by the Madonna of the Rosary. On the two side walls are New Testament scenes in high relief representing the 15 Mysteries of the Rosary between numerous seated allegorical statues. The decorative frames and stucco drapes are supported by hundreds of mischievous cherubs, for which Serpotta used the street urchins of Palermo as models.
We took our time strolling through the twisting streets of the quarter.
We passed the churches of San Francesco and San Domenico before succumbing to temptation and having a spritz (Campari for three of us, Aperol for Sue) on the Piazza San Domenico.
Dinner that night was at a well-known osteria, Ballaro.
The food was good, if not spectacular: a selection of seafood appetizers, gnocchi stuffed with burrata, and various pastas. We splurged on wine, for our first night: a 2018 Contrada Guardiola from the great producer Passopisciaro; splendid!