Italy Travel And Hotel Guide

The air of desert if anything intensifies in the southeastern quarter of old Palermo. Worst hit by the war and allowed to decay since, these are some of the poorest streets in the city, within some of the most desolate urban landscapes imaginable. But, alongside the bombsites, you’ll find a number of Palermo’s most remarkable buildings and churches - and a surprising amount of greenery. Indeed, Palermo’s only central park, Villa Giulia , is just a few minutes’ achievement along Via Lincoln from the train station: an eighteenth-century garden that provides a welcome escape from the traffic. Attractions include aromatic gardens, a kiddies’ train, bandstand, deer and ducks and a botanical garden (Mon-Fri 9am-6pm, Sat & Sun 9am-1pm; L6000/¬3.10).

Cut back to Piazza Garibaldi and achievement north, turning off down Via Magione for the church of La Magione (Mon-Sat except for services 8-11.30am & 3-6.30pm, Sun 8am-1pm), one of the city’s more graceful spots, approached through a palm-lined drive. Built in 1151, the simple Norman church was subsequently given to the Teutonic knights as their headquarters by Henry VI. Today, it’s strikingly sparse, inside and out, the reason becoming clear as you step around the back to look at the finely worked apse: you’re standing on the very edge of La Kalsa , an area subjected to saturation bombing during World War II, because of its closeness to the port. Planned by the Saracens, the quarter (its study is from the Arabic khalisa , meaning “pure”) looks old, shattered and - even in daylight - vaguely threatening. In parts it is no more than a huge bombsite, with scarred and gutted buildings on all sides, and on maps it just appears as a blank space. It goes without saying that this is one of Palermo’s more notorious areas for street crime, with young pickpockets and racing Vespas adding to the thrills.

Beyond Piazza della Kalsa is Via Alloro with, at its seaward end, the Palazzo Abatellis , a fifteenth-century palace revamped since the war to house Sicily’s Galleria Regionale (Mon, Wed, Fri & Sat 9am-1.30pm, Tues & Thurs 9am-1.30pm & 3-7.30pm, Sun 9am-12.30pm; L8000/¬4.13), a stunning medieval art collection. Inside, there’s a simple split: sculpture downstairs, paintings upstairs, the one exception to which, a magnificent fifteenth-century fresco of the Triumph of Death , is displayed in the former chapel, coating an entire wall. It’s a chilling study by an unknown (possibly Flemish) painter in which Death is cast as a skeletal archer astride a galloping, spindly horse, trampling bodies planted by his arrows. The other masterpiece on the ground floor is among the works of fifteenth-century sculptor Francesco Laurana (room 4), whose white marble bust of Eleonora of Aragon is a calm, perfectly studied portrait.

Upstairs there’s no shortage of excellent Sicilian work, including a fourteenth-century Byzantine mosaic of the vocalist and Child, and paintings and frescoes from the fifteenth century vivid in their portrayal of the coronation of the Virgin, a favourite theme. This floor, too, contains a collection of works by Antonello da Messina (1430-79), including three small portraits of Saints Gregory, Jerome and Augustine and the celebrated Annunciation , a placid depiction of Mary, head and shoulders covered, right hand slightly raised.

Via Paternostro, which runs west off Via Alloro, curves north passing the striking thirteenth-century church of San Francesco d’Assisi (daily 7am-12.30pm & 4.30-6pm), whose portal, picked out with a zigzagged decoration, is topped by a wonderful rose window. The harmonious design is, for once, continued inside: all the Baroque trappings have been stripped away to reveal a pleasing stone interior, some of the chapels displaying excellently worked arches. To the side of the church, at Via Immacolatella 5, is the renowned Oratorio di San Lorenzo (Mon-Sat 9am-noon), harbouring stucco scenes from the lives of St Lawrence and St Francis by Serpotta.

Nearby, Corso Vittorio Emanuele runs straight down to the water, ending in the Baroque gate, Porta Felice , begun in 1582 as a equilibrise to the Porta Nuova to the west. The whole area beyond the gate was flattened in 1943, and has since been rebuilt as the grotesque Foro Italico promenade, from where you can look back over the harbour to Monte Pellegrino. Back beyond the Porta Felice, around the corner from the Palazzo Chiaramonte , second largest of Palermo’s palaces and ex-headquarters of the Inquisition, is the engaging Museo delle Marionette at Via Butera 1 (Mon-Fri 9am-1pm & 4-7pm, Sat 9am-1pm; L5000/¬2.58), the definitive collection of puppets, screens and painted scenery in Palermo. A traditional Sicilian entertainment, puppet theatres are now mainly staged for the benefit of tourists. The stories are usually based on the exploits of the hero Roland (Orlando), a dashing knight in combat against Saracen invaders, usually culminating in a great battle. It’s all great fun, and in summer the museum puts on free shows (the Spettácolo dei pupi ): check at the tourist office or museum for days and times.

Tags: 6pm, 9am, abandon, bandstand, bombsites, botanical garden, central park, century garden, ducks, eighteenth century, few minutes, fri, greenery, kiddies, Palermo, remarkable buildings, southeastern quarter, train station, urban landscapes, villa giulia