Our Palazzo in Palermo - Palermo, Italy
Palermo, Italy
"Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try to understand each other, we may even become friends." Maya Angelou
The Trip Across from Modica
We got away from Modica at about 9 am. The weather had cleared so a good day for the drive across and up to the diagonally opposite corner of Sicily. Some things surprised us on this run.
Oil wells along the south coast near Gela. Neither of us had realised that they had oil on the island. We later learned that there are also large gas deposits offshore between Malta and Sicily which are being tapped by both countries
Also we came across many more viaducts. Just outside Modica, we again drove over the big one we had mentioned in an earlier report. However, we ran across some equally spectacular structures once we got up to the centre of the island where we joined the A19, Palermo – Catania autostrada. This time the viaducts weren't high, but were very long. One of them was almost 8 kms long as it followed the general line of the valley as it descended from the mid-island heights. Actually, this stretch of road has three viaducts which are in Italy's top 10 lengthwise. You seem to be on a viaduct for about 40 kms because the touch downs are very brief before you roll on to the next.
Highways
The freeway network in Sicily links all of the major cities, except Ragusa and Agrigento. It is jointly managed by CAS [Consorzio Autostrade Siciliane] and ANAS [the national manager of the whole Italian road and highway network nationwide]. ANAS is a limited liability company whose sole shareholder is the Ministry of Economy and is subject to the control and technical and operational supervision of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. CAS, on the other hand is a consortium of three separate Sicilian organisations which handle the actual construction of the highways. Sounds a little like jobs for the boys but we are not game to suggest that to anyone here.
The "A" roads have two lanes in each direction and in most cases, an emergency lane; the bulk of Sicilian "A" roads are toll free. While the normal speed limit is 130 kmh, it can vary depending on road conditions. Where lower speeds are posted because of maintenance or at major route junctions, those lower speeds tend to be ignored by most so it is easy to spot the tourist – they are the one likely to be running more closely to the posted speed limit. Fortunately, on highways [and some of the principal roads], "Carla" indicates what she thinks the speed limit is so that gives us a check. Mind you, she is only as accurate as the last time her database was updated so it remains a little bit of a lottery. Hopefully, we will not find our letterbox stuffed full of speeding fines when we get home.
The “A” roads make for very smooth driving and are generally in good condition - provided you remain on them. Drop off them onto a provincial road and things can change very quickly. An example, here were the roads around Corleone [more on this town later]. Provincial roads appear to be way down the food chain for funding, with the inherent deferred maintenance implications. The problems appear to be mainly subsidence issues, which are bad enough when the subsidence is in the middle of the road but it becomes a little more of an anxiety raiser when it is on the outside part of the road because some of the drop offs from there are quite significant. We passed a number of sections on the Corleone road where the outer side of the road had slumped so badly that the traffic [us included] were driving around the "dip" on the wrong side of the road. I suspect we would have bottomed out if we had driven over the worst slumped section.
Lay of the Land
Sicily's landscape is striking. The southern half is almost as if it was unfolded from mold of the north. Whereas the south is generally characterised by plateaus and deep ravines, the north is more steep mountains. Some of the cliff faces are extremely tall and the amazing thing [to us] is that in such an earthquake prone part of the world, there are houses directly below them. There are enough huge house size boulders on the slopes to give people the clue but no one seems to ask the question - “I wonder where that large rock came from?” The northern coastline is somewhat similar to the South Island's West Coast in that there is a narrow strip of flat[ish] land before it starts reaching for the skies.
Traffic Shock
The smooth ride up from Gela on the A19 did not prepare us for the absolute chaos of arriving in Palermo. Mind you, we picked the busiest time of the day to arrive [about 1.30 pm] as everyone else was heading home for lunch. We had had orderly traffic, all heading in the same direction, while we were on the A19. Once we left the “A” road, it became every man, woman [and probably a few in the child bracket] for themselves. Having driven in that chaos now for a week, however, it is not as bad as it first seems. Generally, provided people can see what you are trying to do, they let you do it. The key on entering a queue or crossing lanes etc is to indicate your intentions, establish eye contact very early, then be assertive; wimps are left standing at the start line being tooted frantically by the driver behind. And horn tooting is an equal opportunity sport, definitely not a male preserve. They appear to have redefined the meaning of “instantaneous” here in Palermo – it is the delay between the time that the light turns green and when you are first tooted by the car behind.
Our Palermo Base
Our accommodation here in Palermo can only be described as palatial and real value for money given that it has not been the most expensive that we have stayed [or will stay] in. It is about 300m2, half the ground level of a 50-year old three-storey home. Apparently, the grandparents built the house on a mandarin grove that they owned about 45 minutes walk from Palermo city centre. The property is now in the hands of the grand-children. It has been designed so that when the other parts of the family are in their sections of the house, each is quite separate from the other. While you can hear the others, we really only meet them [occasionally] in the large car park near the front gate to the estate. That is another of the noticeable things here in Palermo; everyone seems to very security conscious with their properties and live behind locked or guarded gates. At this property, we are surrounded by orange and mandarin groves [part of the family land] and noisy nasty dogs next door. Great watchdogs but you would think they would have recognised us as their next door neighbours by now.
Watching Where We Put Our Feet
Speaking of dogs, that is probably one of the negatives in Italy. While you occasionally see signs indicating a penalty for not picking up your doggy's doo, it appears to be one of those pieces of local legislation that is absolutely ignored in Italy. Every now and then you strike a town where the streets appear to be doggy doo free and they really stand out [like the proverbial]. Maybe they solved their problem by simply shooting the dogs [or the offending owners]. Palermo, however, gets the prize for the worst streets from this aspect. Not so much city centre [because that is more commercial] but as you move further out, it almost reaches plague proportions. OK, that is a bit of an exaggeration but it is certainly worse than anything we have struck elsewhere.
Weather
Yesterday, on the south west coast, it slipped back up to 26oC. Generally, however, the weather heat pump has definitely switched from heating cycle to the cooling side. Temperatures are now generally in the high teens and occasional low teens. We have done another repack of our luggage and we watch the weather forecast more closely, especially where the rain is concerned, and plan our travel accordingly. Something we didn’t have to worry about up north at the start of the journey because every day was high 20s/30s and rain was rare. However, we think we got the sequence of our trip right because the Arco area [our first week with the car] had snow a couple of days ago and our cold weather clothing would not have been warm enough for that.
Daytripping
This week we visited Trapani, Erice, Agrigento, Corleone, Mazara del Vallo and Marsala. Most of the travel [with the exception of leg from Agrigento to Corleone] was on “A” roads and therefore our day trips have been to spots further afield than most to date. All of the west coast cities that we visited had a definite North African feel to them. The writing and signage was Italian but the buildings in the main would be right at home in Tunis or Casablanca. The buildings are a golden sand colour which tends to mask the dust, resulting in the towns somehow looking tidier than they really are.
Trapani
We had passed through Trapani on a previous visit to Sicily, landing there in the overnight ferry from Tunis. However, on that trip, it was a case of “off the ferry, on the bus” and we were away. Trapani sits on a promontory on the western most point of Sicily. It is a natural harbour which has been enhanced with extensive protecting breakwaters. The city [pop ~70,000] sits at the base of Monte San Giuliano and at the northern end of a wide fertile coastal plain. Trapani is the natural jump off point for the North African ports and there are regular ferry runs from Trapani to Tunis, the southern island of Lampedusa, the western Isola Egadi group, and Sardinia.
Like so many other Italian towns, it has been no stranger to conflict. The Carthaginians first developed the harbour as a naval base during the First Punic War [264-241 BC]. It later fell to the Romans, the Vandals, the Byzantines, the Arabs, the Normans, and the other usual suspects. Trapani was one of the first Sicilian cities to revolt against control by the House of Bourbon dynasty in 1848 before finally opting to join the unified nation of Italy.
Erice
Overlooking Trapani, Erice [pop ~ 28,000] was first established by the Elymians [predecessors of the Greeks]. The town is situated 751 metres above sea level on Monte San Giuliani [formerly Mount Eryx]. It offers superb views of Trapani and the Gulf of Castellamare – at least until the afternoon cloud/fog rolls in and then you are hard pressed to see to the end of the street. Temperature difference between Erice and Trapani was about 4oC [in Trapani’s favour].
Erice presents a simple medieval presence, with a maze of narrow cobblestone streets, and lots of old churches including the original Orthodox Church of Saint John the Baptist, built in the 15 th Century. Older still is the Duomo [the Chiesa Matrice], built between 1313 and 1332, with its imposing campanile [bell tower].
Like so many Sicilian towns, it passed from one invader to the next as all of the usual suspects came and went, leaving their architectural calling cards and cultural footprints. The name changed from Eryx [Greek], to Erice [Roman] to Gebel Hamed [Arab] and Monte San Giuliano [Italian] but its essential character remained, holding firmly against any attempt to change its real identity. Today, there is a 3099 metre long cable car connecting it to Trapani; we kept our feet firmly on the ground [even if they were in the form of four car tyres].
Monreale
Monreale [pop ~ 30,000] is about 10 kms south of Palermo, in the mountains with a view over the capital. For the tourist, the main attraction is its cathedral which was built in the 13th Century. When the Arabs took control of Sicily in the 9th Century, they took over the existing Palermo Cathedral and converted it into a mosque. The then Bishop of Palermo was banished but allowed to set up shop in Monreale, in those days a small village in the hills overlooking Palermo. He built a modest church there as the focal point for the Christians who held true to their faith. The surprising part of that is that he was allowed to not only leave without losing his head [or any other important part of his anatomy] but he was also allowed to establish another Christian church. Clearly, the Arab leader at that time was far more benevolent than some of his contemporaries. Two centuries later, the Normans drove the Arabs from Sicily, in the process establishing Palermo as their capital and bringing the Palermo cathedral/mosque back on line under its former management.
However, in recognition of the original Palermo Bishop’s efforts to maintain the Christian presence in the face of Arab sovereignty, King William II had a new church built in Monreale. On its completion in 1182, the Pope of the day elevated the church to the status of a metropolitan cathedral. The finished church is absolutely stunning...there is no other word to describe it. The best Arabic, Byzantine and Norman craftsmen worked on the cathedral and the result is a fusion of architectural styles quite unlike any we have seen to date. The cathedral's inlaid mosaic walls, with more gold finish than Fort Knox, tell the story of the Bible. For a detailed view of the Cathedral see: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKP2 TDJxdog>. There is a Palermo saying that if you visit Palermo and do not visit the Cathedral at Monreale, you arrive as a donkey and leave as an ass. A totally supportable sentiment. If you are ever this way, it is a must for your bucket list.
Agrigento
Agrigento today [pop~58,000] is a shadow of what it was in the Greek period. The Ancient Greeks had established outposts along the south coast at Gela and Selinunte [near Mazara del Vallo]. Agrigento is about midway between the two. Over time, Agrigento grew in importance until by the 5th/6th Century BC, it had a population of about 200,000. The city fell to the Carthaginians at the end of the 5th Century BC and from that point, its importance waned and it then changed hands about every 100 years – Greek, Carthaginian, Greek, Roman – the latter occurring in the 3rd Century BC. From that point, it followed the normal [for Sicily] line of succession. Today, Agrigento is a centre for the production of sulphur, cement and furniture.
Our main interest in Agrigento was the Archaeological Park [now part of the UNESCO Heritage list]. We had visited the area 15 years ago but our experience of it then was limited to a fleeting drive by. Indeed, having just checked our photos of the time, we have only a single photo of a distant temple - taken from the speeding bus. So the opportunity to visit properly was not to be missed. The site is huge and its main attraction is the Temple of Concorde. The park which includes temples, the acropolis, catacombs, sanctuaries and city walls, is well maintained and well worth a visit if you are in the area.
Corleone
Corleone [pop ~ 12,000] was made famous to the rest of the world through Mario Puzo’s novel “The Godfather”. What most of us probably hadn’t appreciated fully at the time was that the movie was a thinly veiled version of real life. Corleone is an agricultural town in the middle of Sicily. Our research suggests that it is “fertile land and the area has an abundant water supply”... that probably means it rains a lot [just like it did the day we visited]. Corleone was once an Arabian fortress and later a French garrison town.
However, back to what the town is now most famous for [or should that be, infamous] – the Mafia, the Cosa Nostra. Puzo’s book mirrors reality because in more recent years several Sicilian Mafia bosses have come from Corleone. The Corleonesi clan is considered to have been the most violent ever to have led the Sicilian Mafia. They were in control during the 1970s - early 2000s and it was under Salvatore Riina’s reign that the anti-mafia prosecutors were targeted. Prosecutor Giovanni Falcone [along with his wife and a number of his bodyguards] was killed by a remotely detonated bomb on the highway into Palermo. Prosecutor Paolo Borsellino [along with his bodyguards] was killed two months later by a car bomb outside his mother’s house. These two incidents triggered a public outrage and the authorities decided to move against the leaders. Some argue that key figures in the authorities had been complicit with the Mafia but could no longer take a “hands off” approach. Whatever the reason, efforts to curb the Mafia’s activities were stepped up and over the next decade serious inroads were made into capturing [or otherwise neutralising] the leadership of the organisation. Notwithstanding that, we have been surprised by the openly disparaging comments that have been made about the Mafia during our short time here...on the city tour bus travelogue, in the newspapers, on the radio and TV and even public signs. People obviously feel that they can now speak up about the matter.
An interesting side note is the etymology of the name “Corleone”. When succeeding foreign management occurs, the names of places often change dramatically. Corleone, however, has retained a name which sounds similar albeit with different spelling. It started off under the Ancient Greeks as Kouroullounè, changing to Qurlayun under the Arabs then Curilionum [Roman], Coraigliòn [Norman], Coriglione [Aragonese] and finally to Corleone. Somehow, the Sicilian dialect seems to be able to make “Cunigghiuni” out of that. Fortunately modern history [and local maps – including – “Carla”] simply use Corleone. We can get our tongues around that; we're not sure where to start with the Sicilian dialect version.
"Corleone - We came, we saw, we made no eye contact and we left. We survived!!"
Stu and Trish
Mazara del Vallo
Mazara del Vallo, which sits on the coast between Agrigento and Marsala, has a foot in both the agricultural and fishing industry camps. With one of the largest and best equipped fishing ports in Italy, Mazara [pop ~ 50,000] can trace its heritage back to the time that it was a Phoenician trading colony. Later, Mazara was the site where the Saracens [Arabs] launched their campaign to capture Sicily. Later still, after tossing out the Saracens, the Normans made their presence evident by building a fortress and declaring the city a bishopric [and along followed the prerequisite bunch of churches].
Most travel information regarding the western part of Sicily reflects the fact that most of the towns in this area have tended to absorb and re-use the cultures of the predecessor rather than destroy and start again. Hence, the Baroque renovation of the main piazzas left the Islamic road network intact. In more recent times, agriculture and fishing have contributed to the town’s rapid growth but the old centre has been retained, and the maze of narrow streets is reminiscent of North African towns.
Marsala
The moment one mentions Marsala, most people think – fortified wine. And they are not far wrong. Marsala wine was first developed back in the early 1800s. At the time, England had a base in Marsala in response to Napoleon and the French occupation of Italy. Not surprisingly, they grew to savour the local wines and wanted to ship them back home. But knowing they were unlikely to travel well, they employed a trick learned in Portugal, that by adding a little grape brandy to the local still wine, you have a fortified wine that can travel well. And there you have Marsala. However, some may not be aware that Marsala is not limited to the sweet variety. There is a dry version, an almond flavoured Marsala and a cremovo version, one with eggs. All are delightfully palatable but the cremovo version is particularly smooth. Those wishing to read more on Marsala wine, check out <http://www.cantinevinci.it/catalogo _en/cat_marsala-wines_67.html> While it is a particular cantina’s web page, it will give you more technical detail on these wines.
Marsala [pop ~ 80,000] is fifth-largest city in Sicily. The present-day name has evolved from the Arabic “Marsa Allah” – Port of God. However, its origins go back even further to a Phoenician settlement on the island of Mozia, just off the coast of modern day Marsala. Eventually, the Greeks got fed up with this arrangement and they destroyed the outpost. Whereupon the survivors fled to the mainland [of Sicily] and set up a peaceful [and more defendable] settlement in the area of Marsala. The usual sequence of outsiders moving in and taking over applied but with a couple of twists. While wine making had obviously been on the agenda for a few millenniums, it was given a bit of a nudge in the late 18th Century by John Woodhouse, an English trader. Another Englishman, Ingham-Whitaker, established a winery and with the development of Marsala wine, trade really took off. Sicily today is a huge wine producer and has more vineyards than any of the other Italian regions, competing with Apulia for first place as the largest wine producer. The bulk of the wineries are in the western half of the island. Yet, Sicilians consume less wine per capita than any other Italian region. This is not because it is bad wine, because having sampled a few, we can attest to the fact that they are very good.
There is more to Marsala than wine [even though some might say, “well, what more is there to think about?”] Marsala's next claim to fame is that it was the landing place for Garibaldi and his thousand men (the Mille) in 1860, starting the campaign which ultimately led to Italy's unification. Apparently, the locals gave him a rousing welcome which probably says something about the people that were then ruling Sicily and the local hope that those rulers would soon be a thing of the past. Throughout town, there are commemorative plaques, and businesses of every description trading under Garibaldi's name and image. But then that is something held in common with most other Italian towns.
The coast line around Marsala is interesting, particularly on the northern edge of town, towards Trapani. There is the “Stagnone” lagoon with Mozia and the other little islands that form part of the Natural Reserve and, a little further on, the Salinas with the salt basins for producing salt and the Dutch-style windmills used for grinding salt and pumping sea water. Along the edge of the salt basins, we saw large piles of salt. The salt basins, albeit modified over the years, date back to the early Phoenicians. They are in a saline reserve protected from industry pollution. Relying on sun, wind, and the clean waters off Sicily, the finished salt is unrefined, unwashed, and unaltered in any way and contains more magnesium, potassium and less sodium chloride than regular salt. Today, notwithstanding a drive for healthier food and a diminished demand for salt, there is still a market amongst those who swear by this particular salt’s unique qualities: it is totally sustainable, 100% natural and because the product is not chemically treated, the trace elements are maintained, thereby enhancing its flavour. We can vouch that it is particularly good for fish dishes.
The Men in Black
We mentioned that we would keep a watchful eye on men in black with sunglasses and carrying violin cases. Fortunately, none sighted so far and while we have seen some street musicians we didn’t think they actually fitted the bill. Nonetheless, while the Mafia had suffered some setbacks with the capture of some of their bosses over the past decade, they are still a force to be reckoned with. The Police believe that there are 94 Mafia families in Sicily comprising about 30 sub groups, the bosses of which sit on the Mafia Council under the direction of the Capo di Capo - “Boss of Bosses”. In the 80s/early 90s, under the reign of Riina, the Sicilian Mafia used violence against the authorities, culminating in the 1992 assassinations of the two anti-mafia prosecutors, Falcone and Borsellino. The subsequent public backlash and crackdown finally resulted in the 2003 capture of Riina himself. One of the supergrasses who turned state’s witness swore that this was less the work of the Police and more the fact that Riina’s deputy [Bernado Provenzano] had done a deal with the authorities and actually gave up Riina in return for favours. Provenzano then took over as the “Boss of Bosses” and moved the clans into a less violent stance [at least to those that were non-Mafia].
As with all of the top Bosses, Provenzano had been in hiding for many years, relying on the loyalty of the families to conceal his whereabouts. He was finally caught in 2006 and there is a suggestion that this created a power vacuum at the top of the Cosa Nostra. Provenzano’s successor was considered to be Matteo Denaro but this week he was sentenced to 10 years in jail so there may be a vacancy at the top yet again [unless, of course, he also was shopped by one of his own and the line of succession has already been activated. “The King is dead; Long Live the King.”] An aside to the Riina - Provenzano situation – they are both being held in the same mainland jail. Must be nice for them being able to talk about old times and loyalty. “Bernado, tell me again what you said to the policeman...”
The adjustments to the law in recent years have assisted the Italian authorities in the fight against the Mafia [and the other Italian crime factions], enabling them to seize millions of dollars in Mafia connected profits and gain convictions of high ranking members. However, these groups still have a major impact on the Italian economy; it has been reported that Italy’s four mafia groups make an estimated annual profit of €100 billion, which is about 7% of Italy’s GDP, and their estimated cash reserves of €65 billion effectively make them “Italy’s biggest bank.”
Finally, we noted a Stuff article this week which suggested that the 'Ndrangheta [the Calabrian version of the Cosa Nostra] had allegedly targeted Pope Francesco for assassination because of his intended reforms to Holy See financial bodies. The report had originated from a respected anti-mafia state prosecutor, who said that factions within the Ndrangheta were angered by the Pope's crusade against corruption and were considering lethal attack. If that is correct, there would probably be some within the Ndrangheta who would be counselling against such a move because of the public backlash; "Officials - OK. Il Pappa? You’re kidding. You're kidding... right?"
So that’s about it for this report. While we covered a lot of country, it has been a fairly relaxing week, largely because of the good roads we have been travelling over. But wait, folks, ...there’s more. In our next episode, we will have visited Mondello and Cefalu and will also talk about the big one – Palermo. So until next week, we will maintain the violin case and black cars with heavily tinted windows alert ... and continue to enjoy ourselves. It’s a tough job laying our livers and waistlines on the line to bring you this report but we are up to it [at least for another five weeks].