Sicilia non è Italia: Palermo

That phrase means “Sicily is not Italy” and is a sentiment shared by many of the folks who live there. And even the very briefest of trips to this large region of Italy provided an explanation as to why. Culturally, the mainland and Sicily are very, very different. This gave us a unique opportunity to explore a very diverse area. We did this of course by eating everything we could and by exploring the area as much as we could. Getting to this Southern island city is not normally doable from where we are in Bologna, but we saw some cheap Ryanair tickets so we hopped on a plane to have an unforgettable experience.

Street Markets

We had read ahead of time that there were some….interesting…foods to try in the city and we readied our minds and stomachs to eat as much as we could. A highlight for me was walking through the street markets (there are 3 main ones inside the city walls) and gawking at all the seafood and interesting dishes that were on display. That and listening to the loud calls and songs of the street vendors trying to get your attention. At one point in the Capo market, a DJ started playing music and the whole street broke out in dance. This is the kind of culture that Palermo has to offer – it’s insanely fun and unexpected and colorful.

The narrow streets of the markets wind through alleyways and the sights, sounds, and smells are pretty overwhelming. For about 6 or 7 city blocks, your senses are accosted by so many different inputs that you come out the other side feeling pretty drained. But I would do it again. And again. And again. It was so fun to see the way different vendors displayed their foods to try and grab your attention and the overall feel of it was so inviting to me.

The foods we got to try at the markets were stigghiole which is pork intestine that is seasoned and barbecued (extremely chewy but amazing flavor), insalata di mare which in our case ended up just being a lot of polpo (or octopus) with parsley and olive oil, calamari (so. much. octopus.), little fried fishies (I don’t recall what the name of these were), and anilletti al forno which is a local pasta dish that’s oven baked rings (kinda like spaghetti-O’s except not at all). The food was amazing and the people watching was just as good.

Other Delicacies

Cannoli supposedly comes from Sicily. There’s a convent in the city where the nuns used to make pastries to sell for the church. The convent is no longer active but the pastry shop is so we had to check it out. The cloister there was gorgeous and basically all of the treats were filled with a delicious cream filling that wasn’t sickeningly sweet or bland – it was a perfect texture and flavor and the crunchy fried breading with pistachio and chocolate was a perfect combination.

On a savory note, we also got to try local sandwiches. One is called pane con panelle which is made with a fried chickpea fritter. Very tasty but rather dry. And pane ca’ meusa which is a sandwich made with mafalda bread and veal spleen and other innards. That one wasn’t our favorite but we’re glad we tried it. We also went to a restaurant that served donkey meat burgers. The flavor was pretty good but the texture was a little off. Again, not a favorite but it was fun to try it!

Then of course there’s arancini which are fried rice balls with different fillings. We got one that was just filled with butter. Yup…fried rice and butter. And it was as good as it sounds. I also had one with ‘nduja which is a spicy sausage that you can find all over Italy, it was also great but nothing beats eating straight up butter.

Churches and Palaces

After the fall of the Roman Empire, Arabs colonized the nation for a period and heavily influenced the architecture and art. The main palace in Palermo (Norman Palace) is opulent and within the chapel of the palace the Muslim influence is made obvious through the muqarnas that are found on the ceiling as soon as you enter. I’ve seen this type of architecture before in Spain’s Al Hambra. Typically they’re just stone colored but the ones we found here were vibrantly painted with stories and figures from the Bible. It was a beautiful sight and my neck was hurting from staring up at them for so long. In addition to the beautiful chapel, you also got to tour the gardens and courtyard which were gorgeous.

About an hour south of Palermo is a city on a hill called Monreale. The bus ride alone is worth the trip. Gorgeous views all the way up as you climb the mountains that surround the port city. Once we got to the top, the main (and kind of only) attraction is the cathedral. Not only is the cathedral itself gorgeous with a beautiful cloister to walk through replete with pomegranate and lemon trees and fountains, there is an extended path for more views. You careen through narrow passageways that dip in and out of the building itself so that sometimes you’re walking in a dark passage that overlooks the chapel and sometimes you’re outside on the edge of the building (being slightly harassed by swarms of hornets for some reason). The views from here are literally breathtaking and I could have spent an entire afternoon just standing on the top of the dome and watching the city below.

(Tried to add a video here but it doesn’t seem to be working – click here for a quick shot of the views!)

Mondello Beach

This is probably what most people think of when they think of Palermo thanks to the TV show White Lotus. While that show is incredible and I want to rewatch it, the basic premise of it is highlighting the ignorance and vapidity of rich tourists. That being said….Mondello was probably the nicest beach I’ve ever been to. The crystal clear water mixed with the surrounding mountains create an atmosphere that makes you feel completely at ease. I found myself staring off into the azure waters and tearing up, astounded at the natural beauty in this world, grateful for the experiences I’ve been able to have in my life and the people that I cherish. We were only able to stay for a short 4 hours and the water was pretty cold but it was still an incredible place to experience and I would love to go back.

Cultural Surprises

Palermo is a less wealthy city than Rome or even Bologna. Because of that, the general infrastructure isn’t particularly well maintained and so the streets surrounding the main toursist spots were pretty down trodden and dirty. However, we read up on Palermo a bit before coming and so we knew what to expect and it didn’t take away from our experience. I’ll be honest though, it was sometimes challenging to navigate the streets at night and feel totally safe, to not be disturbed by the 10 year old children drinking beer and riding scooters in very dangerous looking traffic, or feel put off by the areas near the trash cans that were littered with garbage and old mattresses. BUT the fact of the matter is that I don’t live there and the people who do were some of the most friendly and vibrant that we’ve met.

Make sure to turn the sound on for the video below. Our AirBnb host who grew up in Palermo said that neighborhoods will periodically do parades through the streets to gather proceeds to help those in need in their community. This was a random sighting on our walk home from dinner one night.

My ideas of comfort and what I think a city “should be” and how people “should act” are not applicable – this is a 3000 year old city with an incredible amount of charm and so much to explore. Skipping this would have meant missing out on some of the best/weirdest food we’ve ever eaten and some of the most genuine and heartwarming interactions we’ve had so far. This entire experience in Italy so far has taught me so many things. Not least of which is that cultural ideologies are completely subjective. “Different” isn’t bad and being a considerate tourist means trying to the best of your ability to strip away preconceived notions of normality. The experiences we have end up embedding themselves in a way that can easily become judgements if we’re not careful. This was a very unique experience that will stay with me forever and I would recommend it to anyone coming to Italy – but buyer beware, you control the expectations and experience; the charms of Italy aren’t always offered outright. Rant over, pedestal descended.

To close things off, here’s a video of Alyssa dancing with some locals at what had to be the least German Oktoberfest I’ve ever been to: