Seven days in Palermo

I have noticed that people in Naples talk of Palermo in a way that others might speak of a much loved sister.  I knew nothing of Palermo, other than its close connections with the Mafia families and the images I have gleaned from a recent dramatization of on Netflix; Il Gattopardo (written 1930 - 60), which translates as The Leopard.  The serialisation of the book is most beautifully done, and it introduces us to aristocratic life as it was in Palermo in the 1860s - 1910.

The narrative of The Leopard has been likened to James Joyces Ulysses, is a gentle capture of a Prince of Salina's navigation of his family estates during turbulent times.  At the beginning of the book Giuseppe Garibaldi has landed with his 1000 proletarian army of "red shirts" on Sicilian shores and arrived in Palermo.  The Leopard's princedom is being transitioned from being under the hegemony of the Bourbon kings in Rome to a new status as a noble family estate without political status in a unified Italy.  The Prince, who is a proud Sicilian with strong Catholic heritage to uphold and some human flaws for prostitutes, is humiliated into attending Garibaldi's parties in exchange for a travel pass to move his family away from the summer heat of Palermo to his palatial retreat in the mountains.  

In a lament the prince explains to his family, who are urging him to pick sides, how Sicilians have always survived by remining resolute, upright and true to themselves whilst bending to new ever changing conquerors that have swept across Sicily.  Sicily is a strategic central Mediterranean island that has been ruled by the Hellenistic Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Normans, Moors and Spanish and Italian Kings, today it is the first port of call for migrants from Africa.  Later my Sicilian friend Margherita gave a very similar opinion of how she thinks of her own Sicilian personality, and after I mentioned the Leopard's lament she replied, "yes that is exactly right".

On my first day I was expecting Palermo (pop 1 million) to be a smaller Naples (pop 6 million).  I found the architecture to be similarly grand, and the narrow alleyways are a similarly cool refuge from the summer heat, however the people are quite different.  The City feels as big, spacious and large as Naples itself.  But unlike Naples the streets are clean, there is no graffiti painted over all the walls and monuments, there are no drunks, urine and broken glass in the streets. 

On my first day I walked for miles, trying to find a perspective of how I might fit into the landscape.  I was surprised that when I crossed the street I was the only one crossing, because the Sicilians were still huddled on the pavements like a bunch of Japanese tourists waiting for a little green man to start walking.  In Naples they simply do not have traffic lights, let alone pedestrian controls.  In Naples all the cars are scratched and dented, motorbikes are strapped together with cello tape and the roads are a free-for-all chaos that eschewes any need traffic or pedestrian lights. In contrast the Palermians are courteous drivers who stop whenever they see someone might want to step in front of them.

Naples is said to be the only city in Europe where poverty stretches into the centre, and many refugees and a lot of suffering.   There is poverty in Palermo, as I will explain later, but the poverty less and it is gentler (if poverty can ever be called gentle).  

This is the first drawing trip since covid scourged us six years ago.  I knew my first drawings would be tight and tentative, so I chose to draw something safe like a lion in front of Massimo Theatre

Massimo is the largest Opera House in Italy, larger than La Scala, and every bit as ornate.  It is a jewel where the Leopard would have felt at home.  

The lions look our onto a large square with palm trees and where tourists congregate.

A square like this is too large for me to feel settled, and I moved on to the Cathedral which is about half a mile down a boulevard.  The Cathedral is even bigger, so large that it makes people visiting it look like ants.  It is a rambling Norman Church said to have been designed by an English Architect, which maybe is why it is so aesthetically unsatisfactory.  It has had bits added by later Muslim and Christian owners.   

For seven Euros visitors can walk on the roof, and from here we have a panoramic view of Palermo which sits in a plain crushed by jagged mountains on three sides and the sea on the fourth.  It is breath-takingly beautiful (see top image).  It was here by the cathedral that I met a family from Naples with two delightful daughters, and a gypsy begging whilst suckling a very young baby.  Again this area was too grand for my needs. and so I plodded the city looking for my place in it.

It really took a long time for me to find my place.  This started whilst I was sitting at a café, and at the entrance to a church were some very burley men with big black beards with lots of white flowers.  For six hours they were preparing the church for a wedding, which we onlookers joked it must be a Mafia wedding.