#85 First and lasting impressions of Palermo: stereotypes
Hello friend,
I’ve been taking a look at some old diary entries from my first little trip to Palermo, many years ago. I jotted down a few notes, to share with you. Here they are…
Looking above the street level I see high rise ‘Palazzi’ buildings, elegant apartment buildings all along the road as far down as I can see. The street is lined with the multi storey buildings with intricate stone work, some with particular wrought iron designs and glass panels. They are all stylish, antique and remind me of the apartment buildings found at the historical centres of big cities such as Florence, Milan or London.
Tired out by the endless apartment buildings and the expensive clothe and accessory shops I retrace my steps to the station and change direction, walking straight out from the frescoed main entrance. This part of the city has a little less traffic and confusion. Directly across the road I meet two tourist stalls, one selling tacky Sicilian carriages, tambourines, vases and other ugly Sicilian memorabilia, the other selling pirated C.D’s and D.V.D’s.
Striding along the road I see a Chinese dress shop, which is the new budget way to shop in Sicily. In the past couple of years throughout Sicily and Italy these stores have sprung up in every town imaginable. Usually run by Chinese migrants they sell clothes at very reasonable prices, which make them a good alternative, to the high quality but expensive Italian shops.
Italian clothe shops are full of exquisite fashion yet with the advent of the Euro currency, prices have become exaggerated over a variety of sectors, clothing being the most inflated followed closely by petrol and food.
Further down the street there are a series of bus stops, with people lining up and busily buying tickets, others are sitting on the heaviest luggage I’ve ever seen. I overhear some German phrases of frustration, no doubt the German’s sense of order is being insulted by the typical tardiness of some greyhound bus.
Happy to leave behind the tour buses behind me I see my first glimpse of an authentic Palermo, which strangely doesn’t seem too authentic at all. Stopping for a coffee I sit and try to take in what’s going on around me. The café is quite stingy, the front display counter is out on the wide pavement, exposing food to an excess amount of sunlight, making the ice cream fridge work way too hard.
My coffee is brought out, but my croissant is forgotten and the teaspoon is bent out of shape. I wonder if this is all a practical joke, perhaps it is true what they say about Palermo.
There are many stereotypes about the Palermitani which I never really took note of until I sat down at this café. People say those from Palermo are dirty, lazy criminals with a distinct lack of personal hygiene and peculiar taste in food. I completely disagree with theses stereotypes finding them totally unfounded.
In regards to the typical food dishes of Palermo there is a wondrous array of seafood including pasta with sword fish and pasta prepared with the black ink of octopus.
There is one dish which perhaps leads to the unfounded rumour of Palermitani’s taste for particularly strange food. There is the sought after delicacy of the stigghiola which is grilled lamb or goat intestines stuffed with barbecued over hot coals like a giant sausage. Or the pane cu meunsa a panino filled with boiled offal and other often discarded parts from veal.
After finishing off my coffee at the dodgy Palermo café, I walk around the block to see a variety of different food shops. From fruit and vegetable vendors, to butchers and a seafood market complete with carved up swordfish proudly on display. Swordfish is the famous speciality of Palermo, together with an array of other seafood which is a product of the still fertile coast off Palermo.
Looking at the gigantic swordfish it seems too fake to be real, the huge head severed and put to the side with its meter long sword nose sitting proudly on the bench. The carcass was being sawed up into thick fillets for a discerning seafood client. The thick inner bone is slit easily its pinkie red colour makes me realise it resembles more a side of beef rather than a swordfish.
The swordfish is impressive with its glorious sword nose and equally sharp fins and dark blue silvery fins reminds me of a tuna. It is a real delicacy, seeing this grand fish being carved up made me feel sad. I would have loved to see it in action in the sea instead of on display being carved up ready to be cooked and eaten.
A common trick by fishmongers is to procure the head and tail of already slaughtered swordfish and the trunk of the less expensive ‘pesce mucca’ a type of shark common in this area, which can be easily passed off as swordfish.
Taking in this part of Palermo, a few blocks from the station I suddenly get the feeling I am watching a carefully constructed show, like someone was playing me a line. I see many people walking around, working, the general confusion of an ordinary day, yet I feel there is a lot more going on under the surface. It all seems too much like a movie set.
With this strange sensation swirling around in my head I puzzle to myself how on earth I got this impression. Perhaps it is seeing too many Mafia films set in Palermo or maybe all of those stereotypes about Palermo have made their way into my subconscious without me realising it.
Walking back to the train station I sit eating a panino lunch while waiting for my train. I am happy to have had my first brief taste of Palermo, without a map or the complications of a tour group, managing to discover some beautiful works of art on my own.
I promise myself my next visit will be longer, with a general map and the expressive aim to work my way past those misconceptions. I want to explore Palermo without the baggage of clichés . I look forward to seeing more of Palermo beyond its stereotypes.
Be sure to come to Sicily with an open mind to see something authentically Sicilian.
From Rochelle
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About me
My name is Rochelle Del Borrello (@rochelledelborrello), and I'm a writer, ESL teacher and blogger based in Sicily, Italy. Over the past decade, I've been writing about Sicily online, as a travel writer and on my blog. I started 'A Load off my Mind' to share more of my writing, thoughts, and discoveries directly and regularly with you. My newsletter is a way of sharing what is happening in my creative life in Sicily—part slice of life, part travel memoir and all with my philosophical yet honest point of view.
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