The tower of the Church of San Nicolo` in Ballaro` will once again be open to the public at night for a 5-euro admission fee.
Sicily
and Vermont
Rick Steves at the Ballaro` suq in Palermo
October 15, 2015
Rick Steves did a good job on this short clip of merchants singing their wares.
Persimmons
November 2, 2014
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Persimmons at Ballaro` market
I ate my first persimmon in Palermo. You cut off the top and eat he flesh with a small spoon. So sweet, one does not talk while eating them. Friends will bring over a basket of them for dessert. They look like frosted tomatoes.
Kids in the street
September 29, 2014
I was walking home from an event at the Santa Chiara urban mission in the ancient, low-income Albergheria neighborhood of Palermo when these boys who were kicking a soccer ball around in the street said, "Take my picture! We'll be on YouTube!"
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Palermo pit bull
August 15, 2014
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Pitbull, either victorious or untried, Albergheria, Palermo
I saw this beautiful dog most days chained up to this doorway, or heard him whine behind the shuttered saracensche of a storage shed in center city. His coat and confirmation were beautiful and unscarred, so he either he had never fought or he had always won.
Three-seater
August 10, 2014
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Three-seater bicycle at the Mercato del usato, a flea market in Ballaro`, Palermo
Found this three-seater bicycle at the "mercato del usato", the used items market in Ballaro`. About a year and a half later I saw it again in the workshop of Palermo inventor Marcello Lampone.
Olives at the Ballaro` market
June 11, 2014
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Green olives, Ballaro` market
A bank of green olives for sale in the Ballaro` market street.
Memorial murals
May 14, 2014
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Pasquale and Giuffrida's Memorial Wall
If you die young in Ballaro` someone will immortalize you with a giant mural of your face and maybe a garden, tended like an altar, that no one will defile. Pasquale Ferrara and Giuseppe Giufridda were two youths of Ballaro` and this mural of them was near the Mercato del Usato, the used items market, otherwise Read More
Odd and wonderful
May 11, 2014
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Street art at the entrance to Ballaro` street market.
Call it street art, call it grafitti. I like it. The three eyes are a recurring theme of this anonymous artist.