The night I arrived in Palermo (Monday, April 21), the roommate of my friend Peter asked me, ''So, what do you want to see when you're in Palermo -- markets, theaters, the mafia?'' Not wanting to answer with an, ''I dunno, whatever Palermo has to offer,'' I decided to answer his question with a question. ''Ooh, do you know someone in the mafia?'' I asked. ''I mean, I don't know if I would want to see the mafia, but...'' He went on to tell me that there is a guy he sees from time to time, always dressed elegantly, walking around certain streets. He can't be sure if the guy is part of the mafia, but it was clear that he wanted to believe it. (Of course, this roommate is Swiss, so he's a foreigner just like I am.)
My living accommodations in Palermo were in an apartment much like the one featured in the movie ''L'Auberge espagnole'' -- that is, there was one roommate from Switzerland, three from German-speaking places, and one from England (that one is Peter, whom I met in Salvador). Then Switzerland's girlfriend is from Sicily, and she speaks rapid-fire Italian, so that was good practice when we all hung out in the kitchen that first night. When we were talking about the mafia, she explained to me the concept of pizzo. For example, you want to open up a business and you need to turn on the water. A guy from the mafia comes around and says you need to pay x-amount of money to the mafia every month in order to turn on the water (or do whatever you need to get done). This is not a request. If you don't do this, your business will likely get burned down, and that's just common knowledge. A guy opened up a business and maybe thought they were kidding or something, I don't know, so he didn't pay the pizzo. The mafia, as a warning, put asphalt on the doors so the shop had to stay closed all morning. You don't pay the pizzo guy (not to be confused with the pizza guy), you've got trouble on your hands.
Tuesday, Peter showed me around Palermo. First, we went by the Teatro Politeama, a theater finished in 1891. Then, we continued along our way to Teatro Massimo, the theater where the opera scene in ''The Godfather Part III'' was filmed. Next up on the invented tour of the day? Quattro Canti and La Fontana Pretoria (The Fountain of Shame) -- a piazza with sculptures and a fountain. According to legend (''legend'' being my guidebook), ''the statue-bedecked fountain was given its name by irate churchgoers who didn't like staring at mythological monsters and nude figures as they left Chiesa di San Giuseppe dei Teatini (1612) across the street. An even more shameful story explains its inappropriate size -- the Fountain of Shame was not intended for the small piazza. In the early 16th century, a rich Florentine commissioned the fountain for his villa, sending a son to the Carrara marble quarries to ensure its safe delivery. The son, in need of quick cash, sold the fountain to the Palermo senate and shipped it to Sicily.'' Afterwards, we headed toward the Ballarò Market, a historic market where the Saracens got their groceries in the 11th century and the Normans found their Price Club in the 12th century. And, since no tour can be complete without checking out the town's cathedral, we stopped by Palermo's Cathedral, which dates back to the 13th century, even though it has been renovated numerous times since then. After this whirlwind of walking around Palermo, we headed toward the beach. Palermo isn't known for its beaches (or if it is, it isn't known for the one we went to), but after all the time we spent walking the city, it was good to take a break and relax. At night, for dinner, we tried a Sicilian specialty: pasta con le sarde (pasta with sardines and fennel), and it was surprisingly tasty. It wasn't until the following morning, however, that I remembered my sardine friend from the Amazon that jumped into the motorboat next to me. Sorry, little guy. You were a fine feller.
Since I felt like I had seen Palermo on Tuesday, I decided that Wednesday would be a day-trip kind of day. I thus resolved to go to Agrigento, a town in the south of Sicily. Although there are a few items listed in the guidebook as places to see, it is clear that only one of those entries is the reason why anyone makes the trip to Agrigento, and that is to go to the Valle dei Templi or, Valley of the Temples. There are five temples that sit on a ridge (not a valley) that have withstood lots of precipitation, yadayadayada -- but obviously not entirely, or some of them wouldn't be in ruins. They are the: Tempio di Ercole (Hercules), Tempio della Concordia, Tempio di Giunone (Juno), Tempio di Giove Olimpico (Jupiter), and what's left of the Tempio di Catore e Polluce (Castor and Pollux). When I bought my student ticket to get into the grounds, the ticket girl, trying to be smart with me, looked at my student card and responded to me in English (I had been speaking with her in Italian), ''What do you study?'' I said, ''Italiano.'' She laughed, and then got serious, and said, ''Oh, well, the discount is only for people who study art history, architecture, archaeology, or things like that,'' followed by a little smirk. So, in clear ''two can play this game'' fashion, I responded (in Italian), ''Well, yeah. It's a combination program. In order to study art history, you have to study Italian. She said, okay, okay, and gave me the discount. (Now, for those of you who are thinking, shame on me, it wasn't a total lie. Since the captions of these temples are only written in Italian, and they are arty things, it turns out that I *did* have to study Italian in order to understand the captions.) And then after all of this nonsense, she said if I wanted a map of the grounds, I had to pay her 1€. It wasn't just a special price for me, though -- everyone had that price. I looked at the map, which was weak anyway (and had more colored pictures than actual ''map'' content) and left, map-less, though resourceful I was, it turned out I had my own map in my guidebook - hooray! The temples were neat -- a lot of walking around, and I knew I was in a historical place because there were lots of schoolkids on field trips in my presence. After I finished at the temples, I hopped the local bus back to town with the intention of checking out the other two items in my guidebook. Both churches. Both closed (because everything in the middle of the day is always closed). So, by the time I got back to the train station, I had a half hour to wait before my train back to Palermo. What are you going to do when you have time to kill? Eat a cannoli! Next time, I won't use that as my ''killing time'' activity -- rather, I'll make that its own activity! Mmmmm. I got back to Palermo late afternoon, and then at night, Peter and I had a pizza dinner, where we tried out a sfincione, Sicilian pizza. I think pizza in Italy is just generally good. You can't go wrong.
Like people in the Basque region in Spain will say they are from the Basque country and not from Spain, people from Sicily will say they are from Sicily before they will say they come from Italy (at least, when in Sicily). This probably has to do with the fact that Sicily is an autonomous region of Italy (compounded with pride, I'm sure). In fact, it used to be a country, but it is no longer. Personally, I didn't witness any direct animosity between Sicilians and Italians (I'm sure there are plenty of jokes, though). The only personal experience I encountered during my time in Palermo was when Switzerland's girlfriend said (in response to my question of where she comes from in Sicily), ''From a small town in the south of Italy. No! Sicily! Sicily!'' And I responded, ''Italy, really?'' And she said, ''No, no!'' In general, this girl is (self-proclaimed) very different from the typical Sicilian, but even in how she responded to a slip of the tongue, it was interesting to see the reaction.
Anyway, after a few days getting to know the sights, sounds, and foods of Palermo, I decided it was time to head east and see what else awaits in Sicily. Next stop? Siracusa.
missy
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com
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