Travel Notebook · Sicily
Palermo cannot be understood from a single point of view. It is a city made of layers: stone and vegetation, devotion and street life, solemn palaces and noisy markets. Walking through its districts, we followed these traces, trying to observe the city through art, architecture, and craftsmanship.
A city built in layers
In Palermo, eras do not follow each other neatly: they coexist. A Baroque facade can hide older structures, while Arab motifs, Byzantine mosaics, and Norman architecture meet in the same building. It is precisely this mixture that makes the city recognizable.
At the Chiesa del Gesù di Casa Professa, we were drawn in by the richness of Sicilian Baroque. Mixed marbles, sculpted elements, and dense decorations cover almost every surface. In the ancient monastic rooms, however, the tone changes: the spaces become more intimate and convey a dimension of silence, discipline, and daily life.
Palazzo dei Normanni and Palatine Chapel
The Palazzo dei Normanni tells one of the most fascinating seasons of Palermo's history. Inside, the Palatine Chapel brings together Byzantine mosaics, Islamic geometries, wooden carvings, and Norman architecture.
The muqarnas ceiling, gilded surfaces, and mosaic figures create a rich, yet never random, ensemble. Each language retains its own identity and, at the same time, contributes to a common work. It is a lesson that is still relevant: different materials, cultures, and signs can coexist without canceling each other out.
The Cathedral of Palermo also makes the passage of eras visible. Its architecture is the result of additions, transformations, and changes in function: a complex history that is not hidden, but remains legible in the building's forms.
Notes from the street
Vucciria and Ballarò: Palermo through its markets
To change pace, just step into the historic markets. At Vucciria and Ballarò, the city expresses itself through voices, smells, and gestures repeated every day. Spices, citrus fruits, fish, vegetables, and street food create a landscape very different from that of monuments, but equally important for understanding its identity.
We tasted panelle, sfincione, and specialties cooked directly among the stalls. Palermitan popular food is immediate, but not simple: each preparation retains influences, family habits, and ways of using ingredients born over time.
Color
Fruits, signs, ceramics, and fabrics compose an intense palette, far from overly controlled combinations.
Gesture
In the markets, work is visible: cutting, kneading, arranging, calling out. Even daily life becomes a form of representation.
Material
Worn stone, metal, wood, paper, and terracotta coexist without needing to be uniform.
Ceramics and Sicilian craftsmanship
In the alleys and workshops, Sicilian ceramics appear in many forms: anthropomorphic heads, pine cones, decorated plates, vases, and hand-modeled figures. Some subjects belong to tradition, others are reinterpreted with more contemporary colors, proportions, and languages.
We are particularly interested in how these objects manage to maintain a connection with local culture without remaining static in the past. It is the same balance we find in the work of the Sicilian ceramist Artema Galli , where majolica, irony, and island iconography are transformed into personal and recognizable figures.
To delve deeper into materials, processes, and possible pairings in interiors, you can also consult our guide to ceramics in decoration .
A city that does not separate beauty and memory
Palermo is not just monumental heritage. Its contemporary identity also comes from civil memory, from the neighborhoods and images that commemorate those who defended the city from mafia violence.
The large mural dedicated to Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino is now part of the urban landscape. It is not a neutral decoration: it is a public presence, a sign that connects recent history to the daily life of the city.
During the trip, we perceived this continuous coexistence: splendor and wounds, irony and solemnity, chaos and contemplation. Palermo does not try to simplify itself. Perhaps this is why it continues to remain in memory.
