Bunch of grown men in their forties in the Capo market quartiere cleaned out a warehouse and found this fake mummy that had been given to one guy's father at Carnevale when he was a kid. They decided to have a laugh, dressed it up in an old ladies' shmatte, called her Aunt Titina and put a sign around her neck: "Photo with Aunt Titina 50 cents." Tens of tourists have stopped to take selfies with the plastic mummy.
Jacopo Rosso, president of the Save the Capo committee, thought the idea interesting. Just like the popular tradition of the Capuchin catacombs [where there are thousands of real mummies] and the Triumph of Death [a medieval mural depicting Death riding a skeletal horse and mowing down kings, bishops and children] the people of Palermo interact with death. Irony is a way to play with it and undramatize it.
Once in the Capo I'd seen a thigh-high pile of garbage in an alley with a sign on it: "Photo with pile of garbage, one euro" and there was a tin collection cup. Tourists had been coming through taking photos of the uncollected trash. At one time the trash problem was so great that Mayor Orlando sent police cars to follow the garbage trucks to make sure they made their rounds. Absenteeism is a terrible problem in Sicilian work life.
Jacopo Rosso, president of the Save the Capo committee, thought the idea interesting. Just like the popular tradition of the Capuchin catacombs [where there are thousands of real mummies] and the Triumph of Death [a medieval mural depicting Death riding a skeletal horse and mowing down kings, bishops and children] the people of Palermo interact with death. Irony is a way to play with it and undramatize it.
Once in the Capo I'd seen a thigh-high pile of garbage in an alley with a sign on it: "Photo with pile of garbage, one euro" and there was a tin collection cup. Tourists had been coming through taking photos of the uncollected trash. At one time the trash problem was so great that Mayor Orlando sent police cars to follow the garbage trucks to make sure they made their rounds. Absenteeism is a terrible problem in Sicilian work life.