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 the the Leopard on Netflix.  The serialisation of teh book is most beautifully, so if you tune in you will be introduced to Palermo as it was in the 1830s.

The narrative of The Leopard is a gentle capture of a Prince of S  navigating his family estates during turbulent times.  Garibaldi has landed with his red shirts at Palermo harbour and the Leopard's princedom is being transitioned from being under the hegemony of the King in Rome into the new status as a noble family estate without political status in a unified Italy.  The Prince, who is a proud Sicilian with some human flaws, 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 laments he explains to his family, who want to pick a side, 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 central Mediterranean island that has been ruled by the Hellenistic Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Normans, Moors and Spanish and Italian Kings.  Later a Sicilian gave a very similar opinion of how she thinks of her Sicilian character, and so when 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), and the architecture it is similarly grand, and the narrow alleyways are similarly cool refuge from the summer heat, however the people are quite different.  But teh City feels as big and spacious as Naples itself

I walked for miles, trying to find a perspective and 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 on the pavements like a bunch of Japanese tourists waiting for the little green man to start walking.  In Naples they simply do not have traffic lights, let alone