Theresa Maggio

Here is a shot of the art deco mosaic of Demeter, the goddess of grain, outside a bread bakery in the Capo market of Palermo. The mosaic is still there. The bakery recently closed. People are forming Facebook groups to save the mosaic, have it put in a museum.

Just look at it. The aristocrats who danced here probably had their shirts laundered in the Danissini stream (see post below.)

In the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the women of Danissini, in downtown Palermo, were renowned launderers for the rich and aristocratic. They took in the counts' and dukes' soiled, frilly white shirts, washed them in the stream you see here and ironed them. Danissini is one of the poorest parts of Palermo.  Read More 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/luciano52/15097563993/


Photo slide show of Serpotta's white plaster sculptures at Palermo. Incredible.
Photos by Luciano Romeo. Excellent!!!! Open the slide show and use the zoom tool to see the incredible details.

Here is a fine shot of Palermo by day, the same scene as Palermo by Night, of my Feb. 1 blog post below. If you don't look down at the refuse and garbage on the ground, things look really good.

This park,used very much by retired me who sit in the sun and play cards, has been vandalized, abused and neglected, like so many spots in Palermo. You have to take the good with the bad here.

Here is the mosaic of Il Capo, one of Palermo's three suqs. It is an art deco (in Sicily they would say Stile Liberty) mosaic depicting Demeter, the goddess of grains and agriculture, the mother of Persephone, and it is embedded in the exterior wall of the now closed Panificio Morello. A few tiles  Read More 

Today Sergio Mattarella, who in 1980 pulled his dead brother, Piersanti, then President of the Sicilian region, from his car, was elected President of the Republic of Italy. Yes, if you lose your brother to dirty assassins, you are a victim. A man from the south, one who has shed tears because of the Mafia, is now at the head of the country.  Read More 

She is never more beautiful. This is a view of the Palermo cathedral from a rooftop in the historic center. Photographer unknown to me.

Just about every Palermitano has bought at least one bike here. I found this excellent photo on the facebook group "Palermo in Bianco e Nero." Photographer unknown to me.

Everywhere you walk in historic Palermo, there are mattresses in the street. They can be taken away by the city for free by simply calling a toll-free number, but I think either the Palermitani don't know about this service, or they leave the mattresses for homeless people to sleep on. Some are thoughtfully kept  Read More