A morning in Palermo

Serpotta Ceiling in Palermo

Today instead of our staple Muesli we went in search of, and I kid you not, ice cream filled brioche for breakfast. It took us a while to find, what with all the distractions along the way, but we finally got there and enjoyed this incongruous but delicious treat at lunchtime.
But let me start at the beginning. After sticking my nose in a couple of chandlers we got waylaid by a nautical bookshop, which leaped out at us and held us captive for more minutes and Euros than we had planned. All in all, a nice divertimento. Our dog-eared analogue map, still refused to reveal the location of a famous purveyor of the above mentioned indulgence though and despite some significant recent experience in navigation we realised we had to ask someone. So we headed toward where there seemed to be some commotion going on. As we rounded the corner we came across a large crowd of people standing silently in the street and on the steps of the church opposite. It was clearly not the moment to ask any of the bystanders what was going on. This was, and is, mafia territory and curiosity killing the cat is no longer just a funny cliché. Anyway, our interest piqued, we stood there for a while and realised that the many young adults wearing white t-shirts with a girl’s face printed on them signalled that this was a sombre and sad occasion. Some minutes later, accompanied by applause and large bunches of white balloons a white coffin was carried out of the church doors on the shoulders of six young men.

Funeral in Palermo	Mourning fireworks
Anti Mafia Tour	Businesses against racketeering

As the amplified sound of Ave Maria sung on the steps, to the accompanying release of balloons and white doves into the clear blue autumn sky began, all eyes for a centro storico block welled up. Some barely audible words about the young person’s life drew repeated peals of applause until there was total silence in the proceedings. This was then broken by a series of deafening firework rockets being shot into the air as if to catch the fast disappearing balloons. As the cortege moved on we, and the other bystanders, caught our breath and tried to remember what had brought us here in the first place. Finding the restaurant was not really a priority anymore but nevertheless we enquired where it was and at the same time gently asked about the funeral. An ‘18 year old girl’ was all we heard. As the by now small crowd dissipated with lumps in throats still evident, we walked silently in the direction of familiar streets.

Oratory Courtyard

Oratorio di Santa Cita

Not a hundred yards up the cobbled alley we passed a very trendy looking tourist information point and looked in to ask about the puppet theatre we were thinking of going to later. The tiny shop, it turns out, is home to an independent business that offers both tourist information and a brokerage for services like: vintage Vespa hire, personalised cooking courses, baby equipment rental, and more. The one that caught my eye was the “Anti Mafia Day Tour”. ‘Is that really a thing these days?’ was soon set straight by a swift history lesson by Martha, the manager. The tour is run under the auspices of Addiopizzo which grew out of a civil rebellion that boldly rejected the protection rackets and the pizzo – protection money. Their orange X logo on shop and restaurant doors signifies this defiant stance. Strength in numbers has meant that as an association they are growing and Sicilians proudly support these establishments. Ultimately the mafia prefers to operate where there is less hassle and since the Addiopizzo movement bravely and diligently reports every transgression to the police they live in relative peace and quiet. It works in part of course because others still kowtow and pay the pizzo.

More puppets than Westminster

Barbiere di Sevilla

Musical strings

The history is fascinating and complex, but she explained, while it is still current, it is not like the dark days of the 1980s. ‘Those guys don’t go around the streets shooting at each other anymore, they sit in the Parliament now’. Her own brush with the local Don sounds like folklore she admits, but just ten years ago while moving into a local apartment she was summoned and ‘interviewed’ to see if she posed some threat or other to his business plan. It may sound scary, but the other side of it is that if people have a problem they don’t go to the city council. The local mafia sorts it out. This can even be for such mundane things as garbage that hasn’t been collected. Mundane, but pervasive based on my observation.

Street food

One portion?

Chestnuts

These areas are gradually being re-gentrified and as this happens million Euro apartments are to be seen in their former glory right next to ones where families with no money and living in squalor steal electricity from the grid with jumper cables. This stark contrast is part of the grit and charm of Palermo though and tolerance and coexistence is woven into the fabric of the society here.

Frida Khalo Pizza

Ice Cream Brioche

Our discussion was interrupted by a Kiwi chap wishing to print a boarding pass so we said our goodbyes and continued our fast disappearing morning. Just a few blocks further on we found a great little Cioccolateria that served brioche with ice cream for breakfast – at mid-day. It seems a little trivial to go into the details of this offering now, but it is delicious with Nocciola and Pistacchio and worth a detour to find. As we paid for the cappuccini and brioche we realised it must be lunchtime already.

The neglected	awaiting restoration
the cared for	the opera house

Not much further away is a restaurant that serves typical street food either take-away or table service and which had been totally full the evening before so we thought we might see if we could get a seat. We did, right next to Tommy – the boarding-pass-printing-Kiwi from the tourist office. Tommy, it turns out, is a restaurateur in Wellington and owns a chain of Pizzerias. He is about to open a pasta place and was on a foodie ‘research’ trip (I know the kind). We spoke about pizza dough hydration levels and bulk fermentation periods while eating delicious street food and drinking crisp Sicilian white at one of the oldest restaurants in Palermo, Antica Focacceria San Francesco, a founding member of the Addiopizzo movement. I glanced at my watch, it wasn’t even 2pm.

Leaving Mount Pellegrino behind for Castellammare