18 THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT PALERMO

Palermo has been selected as Italian Capital of Culture 2018 so here, in no particular order, are 18 facts - some quirky, others not so - that you may not know about the city:

1.  Its Palazzo dei Normanni was, from 1130 , the seat of the Sicilian Parliament, one of the oldest in the world. (I've met a lot of Sicilians who claim that it is, in fact, the oldest.] It now houses the Sicilian Regional Assembly.

2.  In 2016 Palermo was declared the worst city in Italy for traffic congestion.

3.  Frutti di Martorana, the marzipan "fruits" you will see everywhere in Sicily in autumn, were, according to legend, first made in The Martorana Convent in Palermo.

4.  The city's most important Arab and Norman buildings, along with the Cathedrals of Cefalù and Monreale, were collectively named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015.

San Giovanni degli Eremiti, Palermo

5.  Palermo street food is legendary. Eat it first, then ask what's in it!

6.  The Palermo football team's badge has been ranked (by the British Daily Mail) as among the best in the world.

7.  The city has wide boulevards reminiscent of towns in France.

8.  The word for traditional Sicilian rice balls, arancini, is used in its feminine form, arancine there.

9.  The Catacombe dei Cappuccini (Capuchin Catacombs) are a very macabre, and often upsetting, sight but must be seen. I once decided to leave them till last on a school trip but my students, having been shown the Parliament, Cathedral and other beautiful buildings, were impatiently demanding, "Can we go and see the dead people now?" by mid-morning.

Me with students in Palermo, 1995

10. The city is second only to Naples for the number of coffee manufacturers that call it home (47 in 2011).

11. During the reign of Ruggero (Roger) II, Palermo was a city in which Muslims, Christians and Jews lived side by side in harmony. This was to come to an end, however, under Frederick II, who expelled the Muslims in 1224.

12.  In 1185 Roger's daughter and Frederick's mother Costanza d'Altavilla (Constance d'Hauteville) travelled to Germany to be married with the greatest dowry the world had ever seen. She gave birth to her son in the market square in Ancona on her way back to Sicily. You can read more about this extraordinary journey in a book I reviewed here. Costanza is buried in Palermo Cathedral.

13.  Palermo has a museum of traditional puppets  (opera dei pupi) where you can also see puppet shows at certain times of the year.  You can find out more about opera dei pupi in my post here.

Some of my own Sicilian puppets

14.  Traditional Sicilian carts vary, from province to province, in their design and size. Those from Palermo were squarer and wider than many of the others and were originally used for transporting grapes. This is a link to an article on Sicilian carts that I wrote for Italy Magazine in 2010.

15. Not strictly in the City of Palermo but in Palermo Province and a short bus ride away is Monreale, whose cathedral, begun in 1174, is one of the best preserved examples of Norman architecture anywhere. It contains Byzantine mosaics throughout. There are stunning views of Palermo from Monreale.

16. In 2014 the priests of Palermo Cathedral were much criticised for displaying a prominent WC sign in a side chapel there. I don't know about you, but when being a tourist I've often desperately needed the loo by the time I got to a city's cathedral!

17.  Palermo was named Panormus ("complete port" or possibly "well-protected bay") by the Greeks, This became Balarme under Arabic rule.

18.  To end on a sombre note, Palermo Airport, formerly known as Punta Raisi, was renamed in 1995 in honour of the anti-Mafia judges Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone who were both murdered in 1992, the latter along with his wife. The airport's full name is now L''aeroporto Internazionale Falcone e Borsellino di Palermo-Punta Raisi but it is usually referred to as aeroporto Falcone e Borsellino. Italy has been remembering the two judges in this, the 25th anniversary year of the stragi (massacres) of Capaci and via D'Amelio. We must not forget that all but one of their bodyguards died with them on those terrible days.

The candidates for Italian Capital of Culture 2020 are Agrigento, Catania, Messina, Noto, Ragusa and Siracusa. Guess which two I'll be rooting for!

City of Palermo
Coat of Arms

PALERMO IN A JAM

Now it's official: every palermitano who drives - and that's most adults - spent 147 hours stuck in traffic during 2015. Thus the city earns the dubious honour of being the worst in Italy for traffic congestion, according to the TomTom Traffic Index. Rome comes second, Messina third, Naples fourth, Milan fifth and Catania sixth.

In the table for Europe, Palermo is fourth, after Łódź, Moscow and Bucharest and Rome is in ninth position.  

Mexico City "wins" first place for congestion in the world table and is followed by Bangkok, Łódź, Istanbul and Rio de Janeiro.  Rome is 15th, London 16th, Manchester 25th and Athens 29th.  

Dear old Cardiff, for those of you who are interested, has no world ranking - presumably because of its size - but was 121st in the "all cities" congestion index.

I'm sure you're wondering, as I am, what the palermitani do with all this time that they spend in traffic jams: Do they read their smartphones or newspapers?  Do they occasionally dart out of their stationary vehicles to consume a quick espresso? I rather think they watch each other and the world around them and indulge in the occasional good-natured shouting match. 

SICILY, USA?

So anxious are certain Italian politicians to rid themselves of what they regard as the "burden" of the South that one of their number, Mario Borghezio of the Lega Nord,  has suggested that Sicily and Campania be sold to the USA.  The idea that Sicily might become a US state dates back at least to the end of World War 11 and the era of Salvatore Giuliano so its resurgence in another unsettled period is hardly a surprise.  But let's take a light-hearted look at what the idea could mean in practice:

As far as I know, no one, this time round, has asked the Americans if they want to buy but their arrival might speed up transactions at the post office.  On second thoughts, the narrow street that is home to the Modica Sorda post office is far too narrow for all the indigenous cars whose drivers insist on entering it so I can't quite see Cadillacs managing the parking. Most of Modica's streets would have to be widened, in fact, and I think the Modicani would be accommodating about this, understanding as they do the necessity of driving wherever they want to go.

The only time when it is permitted not to drive is during the passeggiata, which takes place after work but before dinner on weekdays and any time after siesta until dinner time on Sundays.  This is when men and women parade in their finery along a set route and when you reach the end of the street or promenade you turn around and walk its whole length again.  It is also where boy meets girl, man courts woman, local gossip is exchanged and fashion trends are set.  It is essential, ladies, to throw on as much bling as possible and the men will blend in once they get used to wearing trainers with suits.  [The trainers, by the way, must be by Gucci.]

But we are jumping ahead, for our happy band of American administrators will need to take a siesta after all that driving and competing for parking spaces, followed by lunch. When they wake up, it will not be time for dinner, as at home, but to head back to the office for a few hours.  Then, having fulfilled their passeggiata duties and survived until the earliest possible hour at which a Sicilian might consider dining - at around 8.30 pm - they may be relieved to know that Sicily does have its own fast food in the form of focacce and arancini.  [Modica even saw off a McDonald's a few years ago so it is better not to mention Big Macs here.]

Pizza, though, is definitely not fast food and should you decide to go out for one you will have to show pazienza while it is cooked in a traditional, stone oven.  It will occur to no one to offer you an aperitvo during this considerable wait so you will have to do what the locals do and order a plate of chips to fill both the time and your stomach.  You are expected to consume one whole pizza each, not between you but don't worry because when it comes it will be so delicious that you will have no difficulty.

Afterwards you will take another passeggiata as you move on to a bar known for its pastries and you might even get to bed at around 1 am or later on Saturdays.  Oh yes, the pace of life might be slower but believe me, you will need all your energy!

Talking of the pace of life, the pace of Italian bureaucracy, as everybody knows, is even slower. No sale has been agreed and I think that, in Sicily, we 'll be happily staying exactly as we are.

TAKE THESE CHAINS

A few hours ago, ANAS S.p.A. [the organisation which manages Italy's roads] and the Province of Ragusa made motorists in the area very happy by announcing that the requirement for them to have snow tyres or to carry snow chains in their vehicles when travelling between the cities of Modica and Ragusa from 15th December - 15th March has been dropped.

In an area where winters are generally mild and snow is a rarity, the ruling has been regarded as absurd and anyway, soon after it came into force there were no snow chains to be had anywhere in Ragusa Province!

From now on motorists will only be required to travel with chains when the meteorological conditions necessitate it - that is, in....er.... snow.

You do not need to understand Italian to appreciate this satirical video about the situation.  Needless to say, the footage in the first part was not shot in Ragusa!  I also thought you might like to see some of the local scenery.

Il Clandestino,  Modica - Bufera di neve sulla Modica - Ragusa

ON THE DODGEMS

That's what it's like sometimes in my street.  Everyone agrees that a narrow side street is a stupid place to put a post office, especially as there are no parking spaces and Italians drive everywhere.  Nevertheless, people continue to park, do u-turns and generally abuse the little street and this is what happened to the barrier post in our courtyard on Monday.   The other side's just as bad.  A bit of a mess, don't you think?

ISPETTORE SIMI

State pensions are paid out in Italy, by alphabetical order of surname, during the first few days of each month. So that dreaded building, the Post Office, is even more crowded and chaotic than usual during this period. Thus it was that, returning from our walk yesterday morning, Simi and I encountered a fine Italian commotion in our narrow “post office” street: The traffic jam had been caused by an elderly gentleman who, having dispatched his wife into the post office to do the waiting, saw no reason whatsoever why he should not park across the entrance to the little street. No vehicle could exit or enter the street meanwhile, and the water lorry, trying to turn into it, had blocked the traffic on the main road, so much beeping, gesticulating and shouting was going on. Add to this the usual group of interested bystanders and you probably get the picture, reader. There being no pavement at the entrance to the street, Simi and I could only “stand and stare” but then she decided to take the matter into her own paws and began barking loudly in accompaniment to the “music” of the car horns. Throughout all this activity, our elderly signore sat dreaming in his car, totally oblivious to the madness around him. At last, the lady in the fourth car in the queue waiting to get out onto the main road left her vehicle, tapped on our pensioner’s car window and patiently suggested to him that he should park in a space that had become vacant behind him. Simi was really enjoying herself by then and the [rather impatient, for a Sicilian] young man in the first car actually stopped “mamma-mia-ing” for a moment to laugh with her and ask, “Che c’è?” [= “What’s up?"] “I rather think she’s taking your side”, I replied.

Within another minute all was unblocked, the traffic was moving again and we continued on our way, Simi walking proudly with her head held high, as she was convinced that it was she who had sorted out the Sicilian drivers [and of course she had!]

I noticed yesterday lunchtime that there is a petition going the rounds lamenting the fact that there are so few parking spaces near this particular post office. I have not signed as I just cannot get over the fact that people expect to drive to a central post office in the first place!

Further note on the Post Office: A private student whom I have just taught told me that yesterday she received, by post, her authorisation for the shifts she worked as a pharmacist in the second half of last year. The letter was posted from a town only 10 km away in July. Yet this morning I received 2 letters from the USA which were only posted on Thursday! Snails and swallows….

PAZIENZA OR COMMON SENSE?

I have just seen an extraordinary thing: a policeman was standing at the roadside, waving the red "lollipop stick" at motorcycle riders without crash helmets. All of a sudden a young, helmetless lad on a motorbike travelling at speed saw the policeman from about 100 yards away, reared up on the bike, did a u-turn in the middle of the main road at the busiest time of the evening and hurtled off in the opposite direction. The policeman half-heartedly stepped into the road and waved the lollipop in a perfunctory manner, then shrugged his shoulders, lifted his hands in the pazienza gesture and resumed his conversation with a friend. He made no attempt to give chase [although he had his police car at the ready] radio someone else to do so or to take the number of the motorbike. Perhaps he knew the boy and will catch him next time; perhaps he just couldn't be bothered; or perhaps he felt there were more important fish to fry. I don't drive but I am pretty sure the young man would have been pursued in Britain.