“Sticks and stones can break your bones, but cement pays homage to tradition.” Sophia Petrillo, The Golden Girls
I’m not going to lie. I have struggled to write this post.
My intention for this blog is to share stories of the people I meet and the experiences I have in a way that is uplifting, inspiring, and maybe even a little life changing by creating awareness. I don’t write Top 10 Lists of things to do wherever, yada, yada. You can Google that yourself. I don’t need or want to reinvent the wheel. I also try to avoid negativity as much as possible because again, you can find that all over the internet, TV, social media, radio, etc. I DO want to showcase humanity and the positive connections between us and just how wonderful this big old world is to discover.
With that said, Palermo challenged me to my core. As soon as I arrived, I was overwhelmed and not in a good way. I attribute a large portion of my dissatisfaction to the heat, but don’t worry…I found its charming & redeeming qualities…but I had to dig, and dig deep. So keep reading.
Usually, the first thing I do when I arrive in a new place is to schedule a morning walking tour. It helps me understand the history, culture, food, hidden gems, and lay of the land. Palermo was no exception.
I scheduled a three hour walking tour via Trip Advisor that would discuss local history, monuments, and taste test some street food.
The tour started and finished in front of Bisso Bistrot (formerly Liberia Dante) in Quattro Canti (Four Corners). The heart of the original city.
Gabriella, our guide, started off the tour by saying, “I’m so excited to show you my beautiful city!” And all I could think was, “This place is a dump. There is graffiti and garbage everywhere and it smells like hot trash and urine.” Needless to say, in the beginning I was not impressed.
Randomly during her intro speech, a parade of Jeeps and military soldiers dressed in American uniforms went rolling through the streets. American patriotic music was playing in the background. None of us understood the site we were seeing. Gabriella asked one of the soldiers what was happening. He said it was a celebration in honor of the Americans landing in Sicily on July 10, 1943 to help save them from the Axis Power (Fascist Italy & Nazi Germany). It happened to be July 15th (not the 10th) and the soldier said they “just couldn’t get their shit together in time.” Sicily. Go figure. Another strike against the place but they do get a couple of bonus points for having two women representing Rosie The Riveter.
Gabriella led us around the city showing us churches, fountains and historic buildings. I even noticed my gal Santa Lucia inside the Church of Saint Mary of the Admiral. Most of the time, we were still hearing patriotic music that you’d hear at a 4th of July fireworks show in the States. Bizarre.
Sadly, many of the buildings are in rough shape but she said the Mayor is working hard to clean up the place. He has worked with UNESCO to get nine places recognized on their list of world heritage sites. Unfortunately, the Mayor is receiving quite a bit of pushback from the old regime (Mafia). From what I understood this has been a difficult turf war.
Next we hit the markets to try some of the famous street food. Rice balls with meat and veggies, pressed and fried chickpeas with pistachio cheese, cannoli, and many other little finger foods. What I tried was delicious but honestly, it was so hot (over 100°), I barely ate anything during the entire three days I was in Palermo.
While we ate Gabriella answered questions. Several people wanted to know about the Mafia…which is still quite active. She shared some personal stories about growing up in a nearby town. When her family would come into the city, there were sections that were just too dangerous, especially with children. The Mafia was pretty strong back then and would literally kill people in the streets and cafes while drinking their morning espresso.
She told about two judges who are forever local heroes. Before their death due to bombings, by who else but the Mafia, together they put over 200 members of the Mafia in jail. There is a giant mural of them in the city – Murale Falcone e Borsellino. Sadly, we didn’t see it on the tour and due to the heat wave, I decided not to walk to that area of town. But here is a photo I snagged from the internet.
There is even an “Anti-Mafia Tour” that explains the points of resistance around the city. It’s no joke. The Mafia is alive and well. I’ll tell you more about a Mafia incident that happened while I was in Catania in my next blog post.
It also happened to be the festival of Santa Rosalia (Rose & Lily). She is the Patron Saint of Palermo. The town was decorated with murals from local artists and we saw the procession. More on that later.
After the tour, Gabriella hung around to answer any questions that we might have. I actually had a question about the piece of art from Erice that I mentioned in the previous post. Gabriella was the one who told me the name of the painting was Madonna di Custonaci.
We talked for quite a long while and she told me some stories about her life and Sicily. She is well educated about all things Sicily & Palermo. She is a wife and mother of two kids. She spoke of the difficulties of raising children in today’s world and how she is trying to set a good example. She loves her city of Palermo but she too is disappointed with the grunge and lack of care. She said, “my husband is always telling me, you’re going to get us killed.” Because, whenever she sees someone throw trash on the ground, she walks over to them, and says, “Pardon me, it looks like you’ve dropped something.” She said the older generations tell her to buzz off and stay in her own lane, but the younger generations will apologize, pick it up, and put it in the garbage bin.
I told Gabriella one of the first things I saw when I arrived in Palermo was a woman who walked out of a pharmacy, opened the packaging on her medication, and threw the packaging on the ground. I was stunned. Especially since there was a trashcan about 50 feet in front of us. I thought, “if you don’t respect your surroundings, how could you ever respect yourself?”
After the tour and talk with Gabriella, I walked around the city for just a bit before going to relax in my air conditioned Airbnb apartment. I couldn’t take the constant stream of sweat rolling down my face and back. Eww.
While I was strolling, I could not believe the incredible amount of graffiti on such beautiful historic buildings. I remember looking at one wall and thinking about the movie Sister Act. Whoopi Goldberg plays a performer at a nightclub, and the Mafia is out to get her. So the police put her in a witness protection program in a convent. While all the nuns are inside praying to God to help clean up the neighborhood, Whoopi’s character, Dolores, goes and gets a scrub brush and a bucket, and starts cleaning. The rest of the kids in the neighborhood notice, and before the movies ends the entire area has been cleaned and is functioning like a healthy society. It made me want to go get a scrub brush and a bucket.
While I was on the walking tour, I met the most fabulous woman, Cara from South Africa. We both lived in NYC during the same timeframe and she also is a full time traveler but she works remotely for a nonprofit out of New York. We hit it off instantly. She is intelligent, beautiful, interesting, and full of worldly stories. We enjoyed our conversation during the tour so much that we decided to meet for drinks and dinner and then lunch the next day and a tour of the Teatro Massimo, a beautiful opera house. Somehow just before dinner and after drinks we ended up smack dab in the middle of the Rosalia festival. Complete with singing Friars and a confetti cannon!
Today happens to be Cara’s birthday. So let’s all wish her well on her special day. 🥳
All in all, Palermo turned out to be okay once I could see past the initial dirt, grime, and crime. It was so blazing hot though and I honestly think that attributed to my funky attitude problem and not liking the place at first. I’d love to go back in the spring or fall when the weather is cooler. I think Sophia would want me to.
Kari made another fun video from my footage. You can watch it, here!
Goodnight and much love & gratitude from Italy! 🇮🇹
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This is Roger…a son of some King (I’m not good with details). He is the only person to have a mural made of himself receiving a Crown from Jesus himself, instead of a Pope.
