Palermo (16/9)

Another first impression - that Sicily is mountainous.
This hill is the backdrop to the harbour.

Last night we had an inkling of the state of the streets of Palermo, but daylight confirmed it - litter everywhere, and like the French, don't clean up after their dogs. Interestingly enough, there is no smell and no flies, and few pigeons. Our hotel is on the waterfront, and there are few seagulls either considering the amount of garbage lying around. We are not sure how often the garbos get around to emptying the bins. There seems to be little civic pride in Palermo, most of their buildings also suffering from neglect and decay. It would seem that once something is built, don't bother with maintenance. Perhaps living in an earthquake prone country like Sicily they are a little fatalistic about how long a building might stay upright. Fix it today, and it might fall down tomorrow. Perhaps we are a little hasty to judge, because apparently some areas are still recovering from the heavy bombing the city suffered during the war.

Palermo has a long and rich history. It's roots as a city started with the Phoenicians, the Greeks arrived, it prospered under the Romans, it's golden age was under the Arabs, and was then successively conquered and/or ruled by the Normans, the Aragonese, the Bourbons, more recently the Mafia, but things are now supposed to be on the up. (I'm sure that I have left out a few dynasties.) Unfortunately little remains of the Arab quarter other than its street plan, or lack of it with its tiny alleyways and winding streets still remaining, but their influence is reflected in some of the architecture. Much of the domestic architecture is Renaissance, but many of the churches are of the Baroque style with Arab influence. After the war, there was much illegal and unplanned building, and there is the occasional severe modern edifice.

The Politeama Garibaldi - Sicily's biggest theatre
Impressive by night, scruffy by day.

We set out to explore the sites in old Palermo with map in hand. Street signage is a little better than in France, until the name is carved into the stone work and then it is difficult to read. The first significant building we came across was the church of San Domenico with finest baroque facade in Palermo. Ignorant of this fact, we continued on to the Piazza Bellini with Fontana Pretoria, one of the largest fountains in Palermo, in its centre. It's claim to fame is that it was once known as the fountain of shame because of all its nude statues. The faces of some of the statues would seem to indicate that they were carved from live models, because their features were not of the beautiful, classical lines you normally see in this sort of work. The hands on a number of the statues seemed a little too large, almost as if they should have been viewed from above rather than below.

Fontana Pretorio in front of the
Palazzo Pretoria

The Palazzo Pretorio faced onto this square, and it is now a municipal building, one which has been restored. Unfortunately many of the buildings seem to decay to the extent where the only way of saving them is to stucco over the original stonework, leaving hints of the original where possible. Often this is the portico over a door, or some of the original decoration higher up which has escaped the ravages of time. To be fair, much of the stone used was limestone which does not wear well. This original palace had a very grand staircase which lead to high ceilinged rooms with stuccoed decoration.

Just around the corner was the church of Santa dell'Ammiraglio, or more popularly known as La Martorana after the lady who founded a Benedictine convent nearby. The church was built in 1143 and combines the original Norman features and decor with later architectural styles. The original decoration is all spectacular mosaics - stunning - and the later Baroque extension is all frescoes. The church is now entered via the bell tower, instead of the original portal which is actually on the side of the church.

La Martorana - stunning mosaics

Just a stone's throw from this church is another which couldn't be more different in style. San Cataldo was built as a private chapel for a palazzo in the 12th century, and hasn't been altered in any way. Unfortunately it was closed for lunch so we didn't get to go in, but it is apparently very plain because of Arab influences at the time of construction. Interestingly there are inscriptions with quotations of the Koran inside. From churches to piazzas, gardens and palazzos.

Moreton Bay figs are big -
that's Allan on the right

Piazza Marina is one of the largest in Palermo and has the biggest Moreton Bay Fig trees we have ever seen. They were huge, and looking carefully, many of the upper branches had been trimmed, so they could have been even larger. Unfortunately we are not seeing Sicily at its best. It is the end of summer, and by the look of the gardens, nothing gets watered. Even the cacti look as if they are suffering. Just around the corner from the piazza was the Palzzo Abatellis. It was designed and constructed in 1490-95 for the then city harbour master and mayor, who felt that he needed a mansion that befitted his social status. (Nothing changes!) It was taken over by the Benedictine order when he died without an heir. It was restored after suffering damage during the war and is now an art gallery. Much of its collection is religious art, mostly by Sicilian artists, but the most exquisite work was by a Flemish artist Mabuse. It is called the Malvagna Triptych and portrays Mary and Child surrounded by angels. It wasn't very big, but the detail was staggering. It had the fineness of detail you see in a miniature, but the central panel was about 20cm by 35cm, and the two smaller flanking panels about 12cm by 35cm. He must have painted it with a brush containing two hairs! We spent quite a bit of time just admiring it, to the point where the attendant came to see what we were doing, and was really pleased that someone had spent some time actually appreciating the work. I suspect that it was her favourite piece in the gallery. There were two other works we really admired, and they were very different. One was of Moses, and the other was another religious work, but the artist who was responsible for both paintings (his name started with V - that's all I can remember) was superb at painting old men.

Entrance to Palazzo Mirto
The craftwork in the furnishings was incredible

From one palazzo to another, but Palazzo Mirto is essentially unchanged since it was built in the 18th century on 14th and 15th century foundations. The last line of the family left it to the Region of Sicily, and essentially walked out, leaving furniture, art collection, and the most amazing dinner set, in situ. The dinner set, distributed in display cases over three floors, illustrated every known bird of the region for the period it was made. I don't know if it was used or just for show, although a couple of the handles on soup ladles and large spoons (all ceramic) were broken. No photography was allowed, so we just have to remember how sumptuous the furnishings were. There was a silk- embroidered bed canopy which was just beautiful. The canopy itself must have been at least four metres high (taller than any we have seen in France or the UK), so there must have been months and months of work in it to complete it. Because of the layout of the building, a grand entrance through to a courtyard around which the rooms are arranged, and typical of Italian palazzos, the rooms also act as corridors. The only truly private rooms are small vestibules which are built between rooms, with one door off one of the main rooms they are between. Imagine several letter H's side by side with the vertical strokes combined and really thick. These are the major rooms. The joining horizontal bar is the corridor between these rooms, and the spaces above and below the horizontal bar are the small private rooms, dressing rooms, or servants' rooms. All floors have the same layout. There appear to be very few stately mansions open to the public and preserved for posterity in their function as a house. This was the only one we knew of in Palermo, all the others being converted into museums etc.

Cats waiting for the fisherman
There are cats everywhere in Palermo

Churched and museumed out, we headed for the gardens by the waterfront to sit and rest the legs. It was a balmy evening and we just sat and people-watched for an hour or so before going back to our hotel, then finding somewhere for dinner. The menus are interesting. For a set sum you can have a four-course dinner, but there is no way I could even contemplate eating that much, so we usually order one course, and if we feel like it, dessert as well. More often, dessert is usually a gelati on our way back to the hotel.