Theresa Maggio

Pietro Tramonte, whose family is from Gibellina, runs a bookstore in an alley in a street parallel to Via Roma. The books go from floor to ceiling and now spill out into the alley in these shelves he covers with tarps at night to protect from weather and thieves. He is also a poet.  Read More 

Norman kings were crowned in the cathedral but came out to exhibit themselves on this stone terrace behind the cathedral in Via Incoronazione.

A sunny Saturday.

Pizzo is the Sicilian word for protection money, which most businesses in Palermo still pay monthly to the mob. Read More 

Sunny this morning. First day without clouds on the mountain all March. This is our view from the kitchen balcony. Palermo is ringed by mountains except for the part bathed by the sea.

This seems to be the favorite coffeepot of the house, despite the fact that its handle fell off, or melted off, and the plastic knob on the lid has melted into a sorry blob. Once a coffee pot is seasoned, no one wants to get rid of it. It takes a long time to break in a new one. Read More 

Prof. Carlo Di Franco, an anthropologist, author and president of the non-profit cultural association Palermo Dei Misteri, has been walking me around the four quarters of Palermo. Most recent trip was to Ballaro`, where he pointed out this beautiful, majolica tile-covered church cupola known locally and affectionately as the Breast of Ballaro`, although he named it in Sicilian. Read More 

Two historic palazzi have crumbled from neglect in Palermo's city center since I got here early February, and more are ready to fall. I walked around the centro with a group wearing hardhats to raise consciousness about the frailty of these once stunning medieval, abandoned buildings.

Some of my favorite mummies.
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Papier mache miniature rocking horses were given to children on I Morti, the Day of the Dead. Artisans Nunzio Venuta and his wife, Marina Mancuso, still make these beautiful, traditional toys at their store cum workshop, Il Laboratorio in Via 4 Aprile just off Piazza Marina. Il Laboratorio first opened in 1991.

Cristina Buccellatto, a jewelry maker, runs Europe's smallest store, a hole in the wall next to the Hotel Centrale just a few steps from the Quattro Canti, the intersection at the center of Old Palermo. The store is just over one meter wide and three meters deep. The name of the store is " U Pirtusu", Sicilian  Read More