Valentine’s Day in Palermo

Palermo is the 5^th largest city in Italy, and is busy and congested. We caught the local bus from near the campsite into the centre, a distance of about 10 miles, and that took an hour.

We started at the Quatro Conti, the crossroads that divides old Palermo into its four original districts. Right there is a small church, La Martorana, dating from 1143. It was built by the Greek chief minister of the Norman King Roger ii, so it is basically a Greek Orthodox Church, with world class mosaics by Byzantine craftsmen. It’s literally covered in mosaics, roof, floor and walls, as the next two photos show.

La Martorana is next door to an even smaller church, San Cataldo, a mixture of Arab and Norman design. It’s now been restored as a church, but was used as a post office in the 19^th century. Photo: La Martorana left, San Cataldo right.

In the next square is a beautiful fountain surrounded by white marble statues. You can’t get near the fountain because it’s enclosed by iron railings. A shame, yes, but there is a good reason. It wasn’t originally enclosed, but the statues are all nudes and the railings are there to keep the graffiti artists at bay!

Just around the corner is another lovely church, Santa Caterina, of later date, this time in ornate baroque style (17^th/18^th century). Every inch is covered in elaborate marble sculptures and decoration, with beautiful inlaid floors. Take a look at just one side chapel.

There’s also a captivating 3D picture of Jonah and the whale. The whale, in the bottom left-hand corner, looks a friendly, cuddly sort. With his twinkly eye and open mouth he could be a muppet character about to break out into a jolly song.

Strolling around the centre we came upon a huge street market that dates back to the Arab era. It still retains that atmosphere, which took us back to Morocco. The photo seems much too orderly and can’t convey the hustle and bustle of it all.

On the other side of the market was a much poorer area where buildings were scruffy and the streets piled up with rubbish. Whilst we couldn’t say the people were in any way threatening, we didn’t feel comfortable so didn’t linger.    

We soon came to the 16^th century Porta Nuova, one of the main gates into the old city. It commemorates King Charles V’s exploits in Tunisia, and is covered in carvings of stern turbaned figures, see sample underneath. The upper warrior seems to be holding the hair of the lower one who is grimacing as if to say, “if you keep on pulling my hair I’m gonna thump you.”

Just beyond the gate, and after a tasty hazel nut ice cream, the cathedral comes into view. A beautiful exterior, if you ignore the repair hoardings and scaffolding. In style, it’s a mixture of St Pauls in London and Kings Cross railway station. The interior’s somewhat bare and cold, so no pic included.

An interesting feature is the weather vane above the clock. It’s the figure of a bishop, and could well be a subtle comment on the church hierarchy being inclined to go whichever way the political winds are blowing at the time.

Palermo had much more in the way of churches, palaces and museums but there’s only so much you can do in a day. The overall impression was of a city with a wealth of multicultural roots. We had a very enjoyable visit.