30 May-05 June 2024

This is the first of three posts from Palermo.
We, along with twenty-six other family members and friends, descended on Palermo to celebrate Richard Loyd’s 70th birthday! Part One includes our wanderings before, during, and after the main events, Part Two—Walking tours with Domenico, and Part Three—Birthday Celebrations!

We flew out of Rome on ITA early afternoon. Smallest airplane seats ever. But so cheap. At the airport in Palermo we found the taxi stand and Bonnie played bad cop, insisting to know the cab fare before we got in. After two taxi drivers were too vague in their responses, we settled on a third who first quoted 55 euros and then went down to 50 if we paid cash. He later referred to Bonnie as a hard, intelligent, and furbo (cunning, sly, wily). She made quite an impression! We gave him a five euro tip. He was happy.

Our thirty-minute drive at high speeds and at minimal distances from the car ahead of us included an intense rant by the cab driver. For the first half of the ride he complained bitterly about high taxes, low wages, the rising cost of living, and the weak economy in the south. This quickly switched to politics after he asked us: Trump or Biden?

Biden, of course. He fully agreed and then brought up the issues we are aware of, such as Biden’s age. He was well informed. He equated Trump to a neofascist along the lines of Italy’s current prime minister Giorgia Meloni. By the end of ride, we were friends.

Lodging

We stayed in a hotel a five-minute walk from the heart of the city. Very convenient.

The Hotel Ambasciatori has a rooftop terrace for cocktails and dinner with spectacular views over Palermo. They upgraded the elevator since our last visit for drinks only eighteen months ago when the antique version only rattled up to the fifth floor. With a new elevator, white tablecloths, and a stronger menu, the spot now has a big appeal to the younger set who stream in around seven dressed to party. In central Palermo, businesses are quickly spiffing up to attract tourists.

We had dinner on the main pedestrian street of Palermo, which is lined with casual spots, all packed with diners. Simple.

Eighteen Months Doesn’t Seem Like a Long Time

But it is.

We were last in Palermo in the fall of 2022 and saw signs that the city was on the verge of becoming a blockbuster tourist destination. Richard, who was with us then, noticed the lack of large hotels able to handle bigger crowds. This has changed partly because hotel rooms now float in on cruise ships. As many as 12,000-15,000 visitors on three ships arrive in a single day. On this trip we also noticed more a few more glamorous restaurants, some new boutique hotels, and more stylish shops. Things are changing fast.

On our first full day in Palermo we encountered long lines at several churches and historic sites and at one spot in particular—the famous pastry shop in the former convent. (Until recent years it was operated by nuns, but now by a collective who uses their recipes.) On our last trip, Richard and Robert would venture in every morning around ten, select a variety of pastries, usually made of almond paste, and exit in fifteen minutes. Not this time. The line was so long that we gave up and came back later that afternoon.

Walking down Via Maqueda, one of Palermo’s two intersecting pedestrians streets, means running the gauntlet of restaurants where barkers in the t-shirt of their place aggressively grab your attention. Robert estimates that the number of restaurants has increased by thirty percent and the number barkers by one hundred percent. It takes a bit of the charm away from the experience.

Roughly 650,000 people live in the city of Palermo, and the metropolitan population is 1.2 million. So the city population is slightly less than the 800,000 of San Francisco, Most buildings in the city center are between four and six stories. but there are few tall buildings, other than church or civic buildings. No skyscrapers. Perhaps a good thing.

Birthday Prep

The day before the birthday celebrations officially began, we offered to accompany Bob and Richard to check on two locales that they had booked for celebratory meals. The first stop was Villa Igiea, a luxury hotel on the water, twenty-minutes by taxi from the city center. The hotel, with an interior in the Liberty (art nouveau) style, opened in 1900.

The exterior is reminiscient of a fortress because the structure, despite its grandeur, was originally intended to house a tuberculosis sanatorium built by the wealthy Florio family. The site is magnificent. The hotel sits high with gardens that gently descend to the water. A perfect location for a White Lotus episode and for a birthday celebration! Before the trip, Bonnie and Richard were reading Midnight in Sicily by Peter Robb, a well-known history of the mafia, and they noted that the hotel was a preferred meeting place in the 1980s and 90s. Perhaps it still is.

Next Day

Richard and Robert ventured back to the pastry shop and had success. Robert consumed a ricotta-filled pastry. Bonnie made quick work of those Robert brought back in a small scatola (box).

In the evening, our pal Domenico Aronica and his boys, Leonardo 9, and Ricardo 6, picked us up for dinner with his wife Laura and his parents. Always fun to see them all together. We have known Domenico since our first trip to Palermo in 2019 when he guided us through the city on a rigorous walking tour and then looped us into his family life. We consider him part of our family now. He met his wife fifteen years ago on the terrace of our hotel. During covid lockdown he and Bonnie organized weekly zoom tours of Palermo for a group of friends in San Francisco.

After dinner, we all drove to a very new pedestrian destination, Molo Trapezoidale, north of the yachting harbor. Robert dubbed it an Apple Store on steroids—low white buildings with clean lines dotted on acres of pavement. It is replete with restaurants, bars, and shops along with a dancing fountain coordinated with colored lights and music. On a warm weekend night the place is a big draw. Lots of people of all ages and cars lined up in search of parking.

Another Day.
Another Breakfast on the Terrace.
A bit of Strolling.

We started Saturday with breakfast on the bright, sun-filled hotel terrace. Because our first birthday walking tour did not start until two, several of us in Richard’s gang decided to use the morning to stroll to the Palazzo Butera Palermo, which we visited on our last trip.

The baroque palazzo is built on the base of the walls that once fortified the city. Massimo and Francesca Valsecchi see their collection of contemporary art as a catalyst between the past and present to produce ideas for the future. They say it is a way of understanding the underlying ties of a range of cultures displayed in their worldwide collection. JESSICA: Robert checked and they appear to offer residencies. https://palazzobutera.it/en

We returned to the hotel for a quick bite before the walking tour and ran into the Hudson family from LA—all eight of them! Ready for Richard’s celebration.

A Church, a Stroll, and Some Drinks

On this trip we visited Chiesa di S. Cataldo, a church built in 1154, known for its unusual Arab-Norman architecture. It is easily identifiable by the three red domes but it is a Christian church. As Eileen noted, since the 1930s it has been part of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. Then we took a leisurely walk down Via Maqueda past the opera house and ended up for drinks at Spinnato, a spot that Richard and Robert went to in 2022 for breakfast.

The next day, after drinks with Eileen, Richard, and Bob, we ventured out for light meal. In the center of the city we have noticed a lot of wedding shoots over the past few days that include a Ferrari or Maserati.

Last Day in Palermo

By Tuesday, the birthday troops had left to explore Sicily or fly home. Bonnie and Robert had decided to stay in Palermo another day. Robert hit the pastry shop and scored a small box of almond and pistachio-filled goodies. Our next stop was the Church of Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio (Martorana), always worth a visit to amaze our visual senses. The exterior, simple and monochromatic, gives way to an interior encrusted with colorful mosaic tiles—in both geometric patterns installed by Muslim artisans and in religious figures installed by Christian artisans. Centuries of application of the mosaics display a variety of tastes in art, architecture, and culture.(ty WIkipedia).

Church of Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio (Martorana)

Lunch

Robert’s Stroll After Lunch

Drinks and Dinner

While paying the tab for dinner at Assud Sicilian Pizzeria, Robert overheard the owner tell a tourist: We do not serve spritzes here. That’s a drink from Northern Italy. We are a Sicilian restaurant. Nicely stated. But spritzes have innudated all of Italy.

Next Post-Palermo Two-Touring with Domenico!