Jesuit priests built a fine monastery and had use of two qanats, underground water supplies built in the persian style, to water their fields and grapevines, and they made fine wine. With the unifiction of italy, in 1861, all religious property became state property, and the state decided to use this convent and surrounding grounds Read More
Sicily
and Vermont
le Vignicelle Former asylum
April 1, 2014
Jesuit priests built a fine monastery and had use of two qanats, underground water supplies built in the persian style, to water their fields and grapevines, and they made fine wine. With the unifiction of italy, in 1861, all religious property became state property, and the state decided to use this convent and surrounding grounds Read More
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Incredible public school in former cloisetered convent
April 1, 2014
Two events converged last weekend. It was one of those weekends when palermo opens the doors to certain forgotten or under-appreciated monuments, schools, crypts, asylums, prisons, castles, cemeteries, or museums and there is no entrance fee. The other thing that happened last weekend was " The schools adopt the city," a program started in current Read More
Villa Garibaldi
March 29, 2014
These are not tree trunks, but shoots or branches the banyan tree sends down to the ground that then root. This is not even one -third the diameter of the tree. This one happens to be the largest banyan tree on the European continent.
Filippo Basile, one of Palermo's finest architects, designed this small, square park in the Liberty style. Read More
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Walk in the park
March 29, 2014
Crazy lamp post base in Villa Garibaldi
I just realized my last eight posts were all about food and places to get it. I've been on a diet, so I'm obsessed, I guess you could say. So today I took a walk in the park. A guided tour of the Villa Garibaldi. The cast iron fence that surrounds it and the Read More
The restaurant with moral standards
March 28, 2014
The overflow crowd at lunchtime, Antica Focacceria San Francesco
The food is so good and the prices so reasonable that the crowd spills out the door a full hour before traditional Sicilian lunchtime. Not so bad, though, because across the piazza is the fabulous medieval ( 1300s) Basilica di San Francesco. To see what they serve, go to www.afsf.it for mouth-watering photos Read More
Antica Focacceria San Francesco
March 28, 2014
Antica Focacceria San Francesco serves the best traditional Sicilian food at moderate prices.
I went to the focacceria today to ask fo an interview with Fabio Conticello, the brother of owner Vincenzo Conticello. Vincenzo, back in 2007, stood up in court and pointed the finger at the mafioso who came to the restaurant and demanded protection money. This was an unprecedented act of courage. Five Mafiosa went to Read More
Sami
March 27, 2014
Look. I mean, really. This is Sami, from Tunisia.
I left thinking, now I know where the good-looking Sicilians get their good looks from.
Bangla Sonar, Via Maqueda 258, Palermo, Italy
March 27, 2014
Two guys from Tunisia and Bangladesh serve bi-national fast food.
The largest foreign population of Palermo are the people from Bangladesh. Every time I walk home from the Teatro Massimo neighborhood, down Via Maqueda to the corner of Via Napoli, I pass this one fast food place, Bangla Sonar, that emits the most delicious aromas of spices unknown to me. It's a clean, well-lit Read More
View from our table at Le Nespole
March 25, 2014
View from our table at Le Nespole.
What a great spot. Mythic, and I am not kidding. Those rocks in the sea are the boulders that the Cyclops threw at Ulysses when he escaped from his cave.
Her lunch.
March 25, 2014
Spaghetti and scampi.
We sat at her favorite table at Le Nespole, her favorite restaurant. The staff never bother to bring her a menu because she orders the same dish every time, she loves this so much.
