Distance: 3km (2 miles)
Time: A full day
START: Oratorio di Santa Cita
END: Villa Giulia
POINTS TO NOTE: Consider booking tickets at Teatro Massimo, www.teatromassimo.it, which has a wonderful programme of opera, ballet and concerts (for more information, click here). A few safety tips to bear in mind: beware of pickpockets in the market and take care in the backstreets at night.
The restored oratories (Catholic chapels) at the start of the tour display exquisite stuccowork by Giacomo Serpotta. In his hands simple square chambers are transformed into theatres of irresistible grace and gaiety. These quiet oratories have surprisingly few visitors and feel off the beaten track.
In the southeast, La Kalsa is one of the most interesting parts of Palermo. In Arab times the emir lived in splendour here and during the Middle Ages it was the home of wealthy merchants. Today it is a picturesque but impoverished quarter, having been badly damaged during World War II. But regeneration is ongoing, especially around the Piazza Marina area.
Oratorio di Santa Cita
Neil Buchan-Grant/Apa Publications
Oratorio di Santa Cita
Start the day at the Oratorio di Santa Cita 1 [map] (Via Valverde 3; Mon–Sat 9am–6pm, winter 9am–4pm; charge), accessed via a Renaissance loggia with garden. Serpotta’s art here is at its most exuberant, with walls literally overflowing with cherubs playing with scrolls, garlands, swags of fruit and military trophies. Spectacular scenes on the end wall depict the victory of the Christian fleets over the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto (1571).
As Paul Duncan, author of Sicily, observes: ‘You can nearly hear the chortling, farting and giggling of the putti, the rustling of undergrowth, the crack of a bottom slapped, and the swish of drapery.’
Puppet Theatre display
Insight Guides
Oratorio del Rosario di San Domenico
Neil Buchan-Grant/Apa Publications
Oratorio del Rosario di San Domenico
Turn right at the end of the road, crossing the square for Via Malta and Via Bambinai. The Oratorio del Rosario di San Domenico 2 [map] (Mon–Fri 9am–6pm, winter 9am–4pm; charge) at No 16 is a Baroque jewel, another Serpotta oratory, where merchants worshipped in an interior encrusted with seashells, angels and cello-playing cherubs. The Virtues, with their sweet faces and sensual bodies, were modelled on aristocratic Palermitan ladies.
The altarpiece is a beautiful depiction of the Madonna of the Rosary (1628) by Van Dyck.
Around San Domenico
Turn right at the end of the street, past a cluster of jewellers, for San Domenico 3 [map] (Tue–Sun 8.30am–12.30pm; free), a Baroque church with an imposing twin-towered facade overlooking the piazza.
For a break from the Baroque and a spot of retail therapy or sustenance pop into the stylish Rinascente, see 1, on the square.
The Vucciria Market
From Piazza San Domenico follow your nose south down Via Maccheronai through the labyrinthine streets of the ramshackle Vucciria Market 4 [map] (Mercato La Vucciria). Under red awnings, lit by lines of bare light bulbs, stalls display huge barrels of olives, sacks of spices as well as fried aubergines, chickpea or giblet snacks (for more information, click here).
On Piazza Caracciolo, the fishermen’s square, bloody swordfish and tuna steaks glisten on ice blocks alongside boiled octopus and live slithery eels. This is Palermo’s oldest market and used to be its largest, but the encroachment of Mafia-controlled modern blocks has reduced it in size and the market now only truly bustles on Saturdays (the Ballarò [for more information, click here] has taken over as the city’s number one market).
For lunch you could grab a pani cu’ la meusa, boiled beef spleen in a bread roll – a local favourite from market stalls, or if this is not your scene try the atmospheric Casa del Brodo, see 2, nearby on the main Corso Vittorio Emanuele.
La Kalsa
Neil Buchan-Grant/Apa Publications
La Kalsa
From Corso Vittorio Emanuele turn left and take the third turning on the right, Via A. Paternostro. On the little Piazza S. Francesco d’Assisi the Antica Focacceria San Francesco, see 3, is a Palermitan institution. The Church of San Francesco d’Assisi 5 [map] (Mon–Fri 7–11.30am, 4–6pm, Sun 7am–1pm) opposite has a splendid rose window and portal.
The nearby Oratorio di San Lorenzo 6 [map] (daily 10am–6pm; charge) has another Serpotta interior with lavish stucco decoration depicting the lives of St Francis and St Lawrence. Caravaggio’s Nativity, featuring both saints, adorned the altar until it was stolen in 1969. Walk down Via Merlo for Piazza Marina.
Piazza Marina
Piazza Marina 7 [map], the first area in La Kalsa which was renovated, contains the Giardino Garibaldi where old boys play dominoes and cards under banyan trees. The piazza is flanked by open-air bars and restaurants, and overlooked by handsome palazzi, including the Palazzo Chiaramonte 8 [map] (on the far side, also known as Palazzo Steri), a Catalan Gothic fortress that was a feudal stronghold before becoming the local seat of the Inquisition in 1598. The palace commands views of Piazza Marina, where heretics and dissenters were burnt. It is now part of Palermo’s university, has been restored and is occasionally open for exhibitions. Families will enjoy the Museo Internazionale delle Marionette Antonio Pasqualino (Puppet Theatre; Via Butera, on the other side of Palazzo Chiaramonte; www.museomarionettepalermo.it; Mon–Sat 9am–1pm, 2.30–6.30pm; charge), which has an exotic collection of puppets. Entertaining performances are held here from October to April, normally every Tuesday and Friday at 5.30pm (for more information, click here).
North of the square, the charming Catalan Gothic church of Santa Maria della Catena 9 [map] (daily 10am–6pm; charge) reopened to the public in 2010 after restoration. It was named after the chain (catena) that closed the nearby La Cala harbour at night in medieval times. The restored harbour, with a palm-lined promenade, is now full of swish yachts.
Antique treasures
A few blocks away from Santa Cita, the building which houses the Museo Archeologico Regionale Salinas (Piazza Olivella 24; www.regione.sicilia.it/beniculturali/salinas), Palermo’s Archaeological Museum, is undergoing major renovation work but should be reopening partially in late 2014. It is housed in a late Renaissance monastery and displays one of the richest collections of Greek and Roman antiquities in Italy.
Most of the treasures come from the Sicilian sites of Tindari, Termini Imerese, Agrigento, Siracusa, Selinunte and Mozia. The highlight are the Classical finds from the temples at Selinunte (for more information, click here) displayed in the magnificent Sala di Selinunte. Stylised friezes portray Athena protecting Perseus as he battles with Medusa, Hercules slaying dwarves, Hercules and the Cretan Bull, Zeus marrying a frosty Hera and Actaeon attacked by his own dogs.
Galleria Regionale della Sicilia
Take the Via IV Aprile south from the square for the Via Alloro, and turn left for the Palazzo Abatellis, home to the revamped Galleria Regionale della Sicilia ) [map] (Tue–Fri 9am–6pm, Sat and Sun 9am–1pm; charge).
The Catalan Gothic mansion and Renaissance loggia make a charming setting for Sicilian paintings and sculpture from the 15th and 16th centuries. The showpiece is the macabre but compelling 15th-century anonymous Triumph of Death: a skeletal grim reaper cuts a swathe through the nobles’ earthly pleasures.
Other great treasures are Francesco Laurana’s marble bust of Eleanor of Aragon, the Flemish Jan Gossaert’s Malvagna Triptych (c.1520) and Antonello da Messina’s Annunciation, a breathtaking portrait of the Virgin surprised at her reading by the Archangel Gabriel.
With a short detour, right behind the Galleria Regionale stands the former church and convent of Santa Maria dello Spasimo on Via dello Spasimo, which makes a charming setting for cultural events (for more information, click here). The complex is open during the day from Tuesday to Sunday 9am–6pm.
Foro Italico
Neil Buchan-Grant/Apa Publications
Palazzo Abatellis fresco
Neil Buchan-Grant/Apa Publications
The new seafront
Follow Via Alloro east in the direction of the Foro Italico ! [map]. This was Palermo’s grand seafront in the days of the Belle Epoque and a place for both public parade and louche encounters. The area fell into decline until the creation of the promenade.
The waterfront now features gardens and pathways, popular with joggers, football-players and sunbathers, and stretches all the way to the gardens of the Villa Giulia @ [map] and the delightful Orto Botanico £ [map] (Botanical Gardens; daily 9am–8pm, winter until 6pm; charge), a refreshing oasis full of tropical plants and shady walkways.
Orto Botanico
Neil Buchan-Grant/Apa Publications
For a laidback evening with the locals, opt for Kursaal Kalhesa, see 4, located within the old bastions.
Food and Drink
1 La Rinascente
Via Roma 289; tel: 091 601 7811; daily 11am–midnight; www.larinascente.it; €–€€
The top floor with terrace of this stylish department store has an Obikà mozzarella bar, as well as other eateries. In the evenings cool Palmeritans will sip cocktails while watching the facades on Piazza San Domenico turn from tawny to violet.
2 Casa del Brodo
Corso Vittorio Emanuele 175; tel: 091 321 655; L and D, but closed Sun in summer, Tue in winter; €
This pleasantly old-fashioned restaurant started off in the late 19th century as a soup (brodo) kitchen and still remains in the same family. Based on ancient recipes, soup still features on the menu along with other Sicilian fare, such as linguine with sea urchins and sarde a beccafico (stuffed sardines).
3 Antica Focacceria San Francesco
Via A. Paternostro 58; tel: 091 320 264; www.afsf.it; L and D every day; €
Not to everyone’s taste, but it is quaint, boisterous and rough and ready. Recommended by the Slow Food association, this is the place for trippa (tripe), arancine (fried rice balls) and panelle (chickpea fritters). It does also serve ‘non-street’ food, but that would be missing the point.
4 Kursaal Kalhesa
Foro Umberto I, 21; tel: 091 616 2282; www.kursaalkalhesa.it; Tue–Fri noon–3pm, 6pm–1.30am, Sat–Sun noon–1.30am; €€
Spend an exotic night out at this special restaurant cum wine bar, bookshop and concert venue in the heart of La Kalsa. Prop up the bar with cool young Palermitans, sip an aperitif or tuck into fusion food in the garden above, where the heady perfume of jasmine fills the air.
Sicily
