Stories

In the 16th and 17th centuries, Oratorio dei Bianchi was home to the Compagnia del Santissimo Crocifisso — the “White Brothers”, who accompanied prisoners sentenced to death through the last three days of their lives. They talked to them, helped them make peace with their fate and their loved ones, accompanied them to their execution, and later took care of their burial.

They say the ceiling of the Cappella Palatina is a vision of paradise. Look up and you’ll see a heavenly palace: music, dancing, birds, hunting scenes, gardens and flowers — a whole world carved in the Arab tradition.

When Lisca Bianca set off on her round-the-world voyage, her owners, Sergio and Licia, were around 60 years old. Over the next three years, they sailed around the world on a 13-metre wooden yacht, meeting Sicilian emigrants along the way and working on a book. When they returned to Palermo, around 5,000 people were there to welcome them.

The first time I decided to try brioche with gelato, I had absolutely no idea how I was supposed to eat it: with a spoon or by taking a bite, together or separately. Turns out, it’s simple — eat it however you like. And the little ball on top of the brioche, which always reminded me of the knob on a pot lid, is called a tuppo — a woman’s bun.

Sicilian blood oranges are compared almost like wine: tasters find notes of wild berries, raspberries and grapes in them. I can’t taste all that myself, but I know one thing for sure — they’re delicious and incredibly varied. And very red.

When I first stepped inside Villino Florio, I noticed the strange black wood around the fireplace, and then started seeing it in other parts of the interior. It turned out to be charred wood. The villa was badly damaged by fire in the 1960s and was later restored using surviving drawings by the architect and Florio himself.

At the Oratorio di San Lorenzo, I was especially struck by the 17th-century benches — wood inlaid with ivory and mother-of-pearl, with carved legs, each showing a different scene. Then my eye caught a tiny inscription, Hospitalitas — “hospitality” — on one of the ten large sculptures. Each represents a different Christian virtue.

According to the most entertaining legend, Palermo’s pink-and-black kit was born from a laundry mishap: red turned pink, and blue turned black. The more documented version explains the colours differently: pink represents the sweetness of victory, while black stands for the bitterness of disappointment.