Stories

For me, Casa Professa is the perfect way to explain the Sicilian word tascia: bright, excessive and a little showy. You walk inside and are overwhelmed by the sheer amount of Baroque. It’s the most “Baroque Baroque” I’ve ever seen in my life.

Red shrimp is one of the icons of Sicilian cuisine. It’s caught at depths of 500–700 metres, in cold, dark waters, and is already a deep red while still raw — the colour most shrimp only get after cooking.

At the very beginning of Ballarò Market, there’s a tiny alley named after one of the most mysterious people ever born in Palermo — Count Cagliostro. A great adventurer, a brilliant con man, an alchemist, a healer, or simply someone who knew how to tell a convincing story.

Palermo’s two Sunday flea markets couldn’t be more different. At Ballarò, you’ll hear “Tutto 1 euro!” all around you, and among the dishes, books, clothes and local ceramics, you sometimes have to do a bit of digging. At Piazza Marina, everything is prettier, calmer and noticeably more expensive: antique textiles, ceramics, old posters and even wooden pieces from old palazzi.

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.