After two weeks submerged in a story about the current terrible condition of bridges and quay walls in Amsterdam that I was commissioned to write for a distinguished magazine, I finally find respite and come back to firm soil. For days and nights this was all I could think, write and dream about. Such a time-consuming story that, once it was done, I felt empty.
For me, Italy invokes the best feelings we can have in life: the pleasure of food, of a conversation among friends, of the union in a family, of the moment when our skin prickles when we first look at Santa Croce in Florence, of the streets full of clotheslines in Palermo, or the splendid color of the Lago di Como.
This province (or beach) of Palermo is the refuge and meeting point for Palermitani, especially on sunny weekends and holidays. It is 11km away from the center of Palermo and easy to reach by car or bus. Its sea is an emerald green that fills your eyes and invites you to both go for a walk along its coast, as well as to spend hours in its fine white sandy beach.
Cattedrale di Palermo: I could be content by just observing its façade. It has a rich architecture with different shapes and techniques that represents all the cultural diversity that Palermo is made of: Roman, Norman, Greek, Arabic, and even a touch of Sicilian Baroque. A great mix that could not have been more successful.
This city has either an ugly beauty or a beautiful ugliness. Many people consider it ugly. I consider it more beautiful than ugly. I think this is because I was able to see it beyond the abandonment and negligence much seen in its old center, the ravaged buildings and deep marks of long-gone conflicts: in other words, the neglect from its rulers…
It would be a sin to visit Sicily and not taste the real Sicilian gelato. Like the rest of Italy, that makes exceptionally good gelato, such as the San Gimignano region itself - a medieval village near Firenze - in Palermo there are unique pistachio-flavored gelatos that can’t be found anywhere else in the world.
Sicily has a long-standing tradition of pastry making whose heritage was left by Arabs, Greeks and also Spaniards. That's one of the reasons of which Sicilian desserts are so rich, diverse and commonly made with sweet ricotta and almond paste. I particularly love two of them: the cassata and the cannolo.
Basically, the most interesting restaurants, bars and pizzerias in Palermo are in the Old Town Center, known as Borgo Vecchio. There are other very nice places outside this area, but I recommend exploring this region that has a huge historic and cultural richness.
Palermo doesn’t have a large offer of hotels. There are all types of hotels in the city, but I can’t recommend any because I have never stayed anywhere else other than a Bed & Breakfast or at a friend's house. When I first went to Sicily, it was a pleasant surprise to find a charming B&B named BB22, whose owner became a great and dear friend.
This is a very rich neighborhood, historically speaking. This is also where the beautiful Palazzo Reale is. The street market of which I speak in another article, Ballarò, is also located here, surrounded by old buildings, palaces and baroque churches. It's kind of decaying, because many buildings and constructions are so abandoned. Despite the fact that immigration is growing in this neighborhood, it is said that there is an attempt to revitalize it.