Stories

Saint Christopher is often depicted with a small boy on his shoulder and a staff in his hand. According to legend, Christopher helped people cross a turbulent river by carrying them on his shoulders.

Quattro Canti is known both as the “Theatre of the Sun” and the “Crossroads of Spirits.” The square was designed so that at least one of its corners is always lit by the sun. But this was once a place not only for celebrations and processions, but also for executions — hence the old saying, “Feste e forche a Piazza Vigliena”: “Festivals and gallows in Piazza Vigliena.”

According to legend, the Beati Paoli brotherhood defended the poor: judges sided with the nobility, while ordinary people could turn for help to the brothers who gathered in the underground tunnels beneath Capo Market. There, they held their own kind of people’s court and decided how the guilty should be punished.

Arab-Norman architecture in Palermo was born quite literally at the crossroads of cultures. The Normans arrived in a city where Greeks, Arabs and Jews lived side by side, and built their Catholic churches with Byzantine mosaic artists, Western architects and local Arab craftsmen. That’s how very different traditions came together in the same architecture.

A few centuries ago, parks were a privilege reserved for churches and the aristocracy, while Villa Giulia became one of the first places in Italy created simply for the public. Here, Atlas holds an unusual sundial, the Sicilian Pantheon hides among the cypress trees, and one of Palermo’s Genii.

Panelle and crocchè are classics of Palermo street food today, but they were once food for poor families. They say panelle were even shaped like little fish and fried in old oil that had already been used for fish, to give them some of its flavour and make it feel like there was a proper fish dinner on the table.

Palermo’s old aristocracy openly looked down on the Florios — outsiders, merchants with no title and no great fortune. But when the aristocrats needed money, it was the Florios they turned to, putting up their properties and businesses as collateral or simply selling them.

One of the main secrets of a good cannolo is fresh ricotta. That’s why one of my favourite places at Ballarò is Benedetta’s, where she makes fresh ricotta every morning and turns it straight into cannoli cream.