Two weeks in Palermo

Finding my Way Around and first Impressions

I arrived in Palermo mid afternoon on Friday, March 29^th after a nearly 3 hour bus trip where I was forced to listen to a man behind me talking on his phone the entire time.  I was ready to put a bullet in my brain.  I had no idea where I was relative to my B&B or apartment when I got off the bus so took a taxi which charged me 15 euros for a 5 minute drive, dropping me off at a pedestrian area and telling me to go right when I needed to go left.  But unlike Catania I found locals who were willing to give me directions to Suite Quaroni (see Where not to stay Italy post).

Once I checked in and got oriented, I realized the B&B and my apartment were both right off of via Maqueda the pedestrian street that parallels via Roma and intersects Corso Vittorio Emmanuele and has dozens of shops, bars and restaurants.  Once you become familiar with those streets, it’s quite easy to get to all the main sites in Palermo.

I immediately loved the energy of Palermo with people already starting their weekend, strolling up and down via Maqueda or having drinks at one of the many bars.

I rented a VRBO apartment, in a little vicolo, just off via Maqueda, for two weeks.  (And you can read about my apartment and my first night’s stay at Suite Quaroni in my Where to stay and Where not to Stay posts.)  The two week stay was driven by my hope to spend the two weeks at language school.  It turned out to be a dud of a school, see the section on Culturforum below.  And if I had to do it over again, I wouldn’t stay more than a week, probably less.  That said I enjoyed Palermo as much as I did not enjoy Catania.́

Things to do and Places to Go

Mercato Balleró

The locals pooh pooh the mercato as ‘touristic’ but I thought it was very cool and fun.  I went three times, one of those by accident, and definitely enjoyed the vibe.  It’s a narrow street that starts near via Bosco and goes for at least ¾ of a mile past via Formaggio.  There are areas that are strictly fruit and vegetables, other areas that are mostly seafood and meats, mixed in with vendors of everything from cell phone cases to socks and underwear.  (And those types of vendors are scattered throughout the centro, especially along via Maqueda, which I found rather strange.)

There are also tiny trattorie with small outside areas where you can sit and eat the street food, listening to vendors yelling, loud dance music…  I loved it.

The first time I visited,  I just strolled through the mercato, taking pictures and videos.

The second time was basically an accident when I got off course returning from the train station.  That time I was a little stressed about finding my way out and back to Corso Emmanuele so didn’t linger.  As an aside, the streets in that area wind one way and the other, changing names and frequently leading to a dead end.  I eventually found my way to Piazza Bologni; see Piazzas and Spritzes below.

I went back to the mercato a final time, my last Friday in Palermo.  I was on a bit of a mission but still took time to wander and listen to the music and the vendors.  My mission was to buy some of the lush looking strawberries.  Some of the vendors sell them in a glass with powdered sugar on them for 2 or 3 euros.  I bought some ‘fragolini’ which are tiny new strawberries.  Yum.

Piazza della Vittoria

After my first visit to Balleró, I more or less found my way accidentally to Piazza della Vittoria which sits in front of Palazzo Normanni, at the west end of Corso Vittorio Emanuele.  Unlike most piazzas, it is more like a garden with paths cris-crossing the grounds full of flowers, shrubs and palm trees plus fountains and statues. It was a beautiful day and I wandered up and down the paths, taking lots of photos.

I did more wandering through the piazza the Sunday I went to Palazzo dei Normanni and then my last day in Palermo I walked from the Piazza to the harbor, each time taking more photos.

The Palermo Cathedral (Cattedrale)

That same morning after walking through the Piazza I started down Corso Vittorio Emanuele and almost immediately found myself in front of the Cathedral.  It was absolutely stunning against the bright blue sky.  I was curious about the huge cart and statue in the narrow street on the west side of the Cathedral, learning later that the statue represents the Patron Saint of Palermo, Saint Rosalia and that the cart and statue are carried through the streets on her feast day.

As is evident from the photos above, it would be difficult to describe the architectural style.  That’s because as stated in https://www.wondersofsicily.com/palermo-cathedral.htm: The Cahedral has ‘a long history of additions, alterations and restorations.’  And between its original erection in 1185 on the site of a former mosque it ‘has undergone numerous transformations over time. Up to the 17th century, various elements were added to the medieval structure, both to complete unfinished sections and to align the church with evolving aesthetic preferences.’

In my opinion the multiple additions and styles add to the beauty of the Cathedral.

I visited the Cathedral a second time as part of a walking tour organized by Culturforum. Our guide, one of the school staff members, took us through the interior and  said, or so I thought, that the windows facing the piazza in front of the cathedral allowed light to shine directly on a path of inlaid stones. After a lot of research I found this information at https://www.visitsicily.info/en/the-sundials-of-sicily:

On the floor inside the Cathedral of Palermo is a magnificent example of a horizontal sundial. This sundial type, has a line drawn on the floor indicating the North-South direction and a hole allowing a sunbeam to pass through. The light strikes the floor marking the noontime of the place.

Our guide also pointed out a chapel dedicated to a priest who tried to help children stay out of the Mafia.  He was ultimately murdered by the Mafia and beatified by the church.  

I went back to the Cathedral one afternoon to get better pictures of the interior but most of the Cathedral was blocked off for what appeared to be a large school group. I returned on my last day walkabout and was finally able to walk through the interior again and take a closer look at the Sundial and inlaid floors.  

Other Churches in Palermo

San Giuseppe dei Teatini

This church is located next to the building on the southwest  corner of I Quattro Canti.  While wandering around one afternoon, I decided to go inside.  I lit a candle for my family, then walked up and down the aisles taking photos.  I was fascinated by the Baroque architecture, the frescoes and mosaics; one of the most ornately decorated churches I’ve ever been in.

San Cataldo and Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio (La Martorana)

While these two churches are almost nothing alike architecturally, I’m writing about them in the same section because they form the south side of Piazza Bellini (see below).

It was pouring the first day I went to Piazza Bellini so I went back several days later to take photos.  There is a steep stairway that leads to both churches; San Cataldo on the right and La Martorana on the left.  Leaving aside the domes, both churches have fairly plain facades that look like they’re made from sandstone.  I did not go inside San Cataldo but stepped inside La Martorana just as mass was ending.  I liked the soaring arches and frescoes.

I had read about San Cataldo in my Eyewitness book on Sicily and was immediately taken by its red domes. According to that travel book, the church originated as a chapel in a palazzo which begs the question of why it has Arab style domes and quotations from the Koran.  (San Giovanni degli Eremiti, near Palazzo dei Normanni also has red domes but  I somehow missed it.)

Palazzo dei Normanni/ Cappella Palatina

Link

Located at the far west end of Corso Vittorio Emanuele behind Piazza della Vittoria.

I visited Palazzo dei Normanni my second Sunday in Palermo.  It was the first Sunday of April which is normally a free day for museums and related sites throughout Italy and my instructor at Culturforum said the Palazzo should be free.  So I went fairly early expecting large crowds.  There were definitely crowds but it was not free; 19 euros, probably the most I’ve paid for a museum or historical site in Italy.  But it was well worth it.

The palace itself is built around an inner courtyard  and I went first to the Palatine Chapel on the second floor.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and pictures don’t do it justice (at least not mine.)  The shimmering gold, beautiful rich colors and incredible detail are difficult to capture in a photo.  It is almost impossible to imagine artisans of the 12^th century creating such a masterpiece.

The other major area for visitors is that of the living area for the royal family.  In some respects it reminded me of Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.  It mainly underscored the lavish lifestyle of the rulers which normally doesn’t appeal to me.  But I did find the Chinese room interesting.  There were beautiful murals on the walls plus gorgeous Chinese vases and décor.  I was also intrigued by a room with an intricately carved wooden ceiling and more mosaics.

The ticket included a Picasso exhibit and having visited several Picasso museums in Spain and France, I was interested in seeing some new works.  Oddly the exhibit was in the lowest level of the Palace and there were wooden walkways over ongoing excavations.  The exhibit was mainly pen and ink drawings but also a collection of Picasso’s ceramics which I love.  It took me back to my first trip to Europe, a bike trip in Provence where we visited a Picasso ceramic museum.

My final stop was the gardens just to the north of the Palace which were part of the entry ticket.  Not surprisingly they were, in my opinion, like a small replica of the Palermo Botanical Gardens; the same huge twisted ficus trees interspersed with palms trees, flowers and some lovely Sicilian pottery.  (And how I wish I’d come home with some of it.)

The Palermo Botanical Gardens

https://www.coopculture.it/it/prodotti/biglietto-orto-botanico-delluniversita-degli-studi-di-palermo

Tickets: 8 euros

Location: via Lincoln, east Palermo

I have a weak spot for botanical gardens and archaeological sites, so planned early on to visit Palermo’s gardens.  My second Saturday was the warmest since I’d been in Sicily so visiting the gardens seemed like a great idea.  And it was a beautiful day, perfect for going to the gardens but it turned out to be a much longer walk than I anticipated.  From my apartment on vicolo Marotta, I walked to i Quattro Canti (see below), then turned south on via Maqueda which is more or less a pedestrian street, although taxis are allowed to use it.  Via Maqueda dead ends at Corso Turkory near the train station.  I turned east at that point and followed the street which becomes via Lincoln to the gardens.

As noted above the ticket is 8 euros but a staff member talked me into buying a combination ticket saying I had 36 hours (I think) to return to see something else. The gardens are huge with paths wandering everywhere.  The huge ficus trees, including the largest in Europe, are amazing but I especially liked the bright red flowers interspersed among the trees and other flora along with lovely ponds and statuary.  There is a small café with a terrace and I so wish now I’d stopped for a spritz and a rest.  Maybe I wouldn’t have ended up wandering through Mercato Balleró by mistake later.

I also wish I’d read the article at this link–https://wearepalermo.com/news/botanical-gardens-villa-giulia/–and stopped at Villa Giulia.  I thought it was the ‘extra’  on my combination ticket and I could come back.  But it’s part of the basic ticket and I should have stopped the same day.

Piazza Bellini and I Segreti del Chiostra

Tuesday afternoon of my first week in Palermo, I decided to go to I Segreti del Chiostra, which many travel articles and videos say is the best place to buy a cannoli in Palermo.  It is located in Piazza Bellini and it took me several minutes to find it in the pouring rain.  The building is on the north side of the piazza and I Segreti is on the second floor which you can reach by an open metal stairway or what looked to be a rickety elevator.

Given the weather, I was stunned at the huge crowd of people.  The ‘service’ for the cannoli is basically an assembly line.  So I ordered one with pistachio cream and took it to go, although there were people lining the halls eating theirs.  You can buy cookies and other ‘dolci’ there as well as coffee.

I hurried home through the rain with my cannoli and ate it over 2 or 3 days because it was so huge and rich.  It was definitely good but I can’t say it was the best I’ve ever had.

As mentioned above I came back to Piazza Bellini and took photos of San Cataldo and Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio as well as the piazza itself.  Then I went back to I Segreti, not for the cannoli but because I had noticed a garden in the center of the building that I wanted to visit.  Although it’s fairly small and on a nice day lots of people sit on the walls eating their cannoli, it’s still a peaceful break from the hustle and bustle of Palermo.

I Quattro Canti

I Quattro Canti or Four Corners is just what its name implies.  It’s where via Maqueda meets Corso Vittorio Emanuele, forming a perfect square.  On each corner is a Baroque building with a concave side in which there is a statue of one of the patron saints of the seasons and the Spanish Kings.  There is also a fountain at the base of each building.

My Eyewitness Travel book on Sicily says the area in front of the buildings is rounded but whether  viewed as a square or round, to me it was the heart of Palermo where there was always a musician playing, usually people singing and dancing and frequently a horse drawn carriage with a hat bedecked horse.  The Friday before Easter week, purple flags were placed just below the saints and were also placed up and down the main streets.

I Quattro Canti were only 5 minutes from my apartment and I lost count of the times I walked through, usually stopping to take in the scene.

Food and Wine

SciuRum

SciuRum sits about a block off via Maqueda in a protected corner of a mini piazza.  My first night in Palermo I considered one of the bars or restaurants along via Maqueda but most of them did not have indoor seating or any protection from the wind which was frequently chilly.  SciuRum on the other hand, had both and that’s what drew me to it initially, along with the fact that it was just a few steps from the building where my first night’s B&B was located.

I wrote in my journal that the staff seemed befuddled by my request to sit inside and for a printed menu, especially since I was unfashionably early.  But they seated me in the charmingly decorated interior and served me promptly.  I ordered a ‘vegetarian’ salad and a panino.  The salad was amazing:  greens, tomatoes, walnuts, grilled zucchini and a large portion of bufala mozarella.  But it was so huge, I canceled my panino order.  

I returned the following Friday and ordered both the panino and salad, this time taking 1/2 of each home with me.  My last evening in Palermo I had my favorite panino and a glass or two of wine, a fitting end to my stay.

I stopped several times late afternoon for a vino or beer, twice sitting in a sunny spot across from the restaurant.   I also had my first (and last) arancina there.  It was delicious. 

Pasticceria Donna Franca

I had a cappuccino and brioche here my first morning in Palermo and while I was mad at myself for being pressured into sitting at a table, which costs more than standing at the bar, it was the best cappuccino I’d had since arriving in Sicily.

After ditching language school, I came here nearly every morning, sometimes having a cappuccino at the bar, then one to take.  Their ‘dolci’ are fabulous.

My last morning in Palermo I told the manager (I think) that they had the best cappuccino in Palermo and he seemed very pleased.

Spritzes and Piazzas

I wasn’t expecting Palermo to be what seemed like the capital of spritzes.  But not only are there dozens of bars advertising them but also dozens of street vendors that set up early in the morning to sell every variety of spritz.  I enjoy spritzes but at 7 to 9 euros in Palermo, I pretty much stayed with a glass of wine.  As an aside, both wine and coffees were more expensive throughout Sicily than any other place I’ve visited in Italy.

The one time I stopped in one of the piazzas and had a spritz, it was mainly by chance.  The day I accidentally ended up in Mercato Ballero′ while walking back from the train station, I thought I was never going to find my way out of the winding streets between the mercato and Corso Vittorio Emanuele but I finally realized I was on the street that leads into Piazza Bologni.  There are 2 or 3 cafes there and I was trying to scope out their menus, when I got herded into what looked to be the less popular one.  I ordered a spritz and while it was the standard 7 euros, unlike most bars and restaurants, I didn’t get my bowl of chips or nuts.  Still you can’t be sad or annoyed sitting in a piazza in Italy with a spritz.

Walkabouts

As I mentioned in my introduction, I found Palermo a very walkable city; not only easy to navigate but with lots of interesting sights.

I walked up and down via Maqueda multiple times; on several occasions walking to Teatro Massimo and then along via Cavour to via Roma and back down through the little ‘alleyways’ that connect it with via Maqueda.

The day I walked to the Botanical Gardens, I continued down to the ‘lungomare,’ an area near the harbor with a park and green space where families were relaxing and playing games. 

I think my favorite street, though, was Corso Vittorio Emanuele which runs all the way from Porta Nuova through I Quattro Canti to the harbor.  It was always packed with tourists and there are dozens of bars and some very nice shops, in between what appeared to be cheap merchandise from China. 

And on my last day I walked the full length of it then returned through the side streets to via Roma, ultimately continuing to via Maqueda and back to my apartment.

Below is a gallery of  scenes from both main streets and side streets of Palermo.

Culturforum

https://www.culturforum.it/?srsltid=AfmBOoofN87eOuPa79yRocR_d40pMyTj82zcdLVAd2O25Rr9MoI5CWYK

When I first  became interested in visiting Sicily, I started looking into language schools and found Culturforum.  The website gives the strong impression that it is a good sized school with lots of interesting activities.  Not so.

It is very small; 4-5 classrooms on the second floor of a building on via Cavour not far from via Roma.  Their activities that week included: a guided tour of the city which I joined, a class in Italian gestures (for a fee), a cooking class (for a fee) and a trip to Monreale.  I’m sure there was a fee for that but I probably would have gone but for the unpleasant students.

There were at most 30 students, probably less and almost all of them were Austrian and German.  Not one of them would speak to me much less invite me to join them for pausa or for a spritz after school.  I had paid for one week with the possibility of adding a second week.  But I was so miserable I quit after 4 days.  Friday afternoon I received an email from the secretary asking if I were OK.  I didn’t respond and no one followed up.  As far as they knew or cared, I could have been dead or in the hospital.

My best decision of the trip was paying only for one week and even that was a complete waste.