We departed Erice straight after breakfast, having decided to head to Monreale before entering Palermo where the traffic and parking is reputed to be a challenge.
Monreale cathedral was breathtaking, an exquisite abundance of byzantine/arab/norman influenced mosaics covering virtually the whole ceiling and upper sides of the nave. I have been in many churches and cathedrals, but I cannot remember one as beautiful as Monreale. I wont try to describe it; rather I suggest interested readers google it and enjoy. What was particularly impressive was not merely the workmanship, but the overall conception of the artistic design, the consistent quality, and the design variety within consistent patterns on a grand scale.
The drive into Palermo was uneventful.
The following two days have been dedicated to exploring the city, mainly its historic centre. Our focus has been on the key churches, the markets and artisan areas, the art museums, and finding good places to eat. The city is terrific for walking, with much of the two main streets bisecting the centre of the city closed to vehicular traffic, making it a rival to Barcelona for its capacity to facilitate locals and tourists alike to take a pleasant afternoon or evening stroll through the centre of the city.
The city has a strong edgy feel, lots of graffiti, both good and bad quality. There are many small artisan shops, a good number of book shops, and plenty of street stalls catering to the passing tourist trade. People have been friendly and helpful on the whole.
A visit this morning to the Cappuchin catacombs which house some 8000 deceased citizens of the city from the last three or four centuries, many pegged to the wall in a standing position, wearing faded and disintegrating clothes, and looking down on their visitors in a variety of expressions, from surprise to blithe insouciance, was a rather macabre experience. My overwhelming feeling was of slight repugnance at my own morbid curiosity, and that I was intruding where I didn't need to go, and perhaps shouldn't go. It left me feeling much more firmly inclined towards a desire to be cremated when the time comes.
Sicilian culture is much more overtly focussed on death and the dead, with many churches displaying relics of saints, including bones, skulls, and other memento mori; and often including iconography of the skull and cross bones on tombs and other engravings. The shadow of the mafia's earlier power and influence appears to persist in various ways, and Palermo has successfully transformed itself from a city bound to mafia controlled politics, to one which celebrates its apparent victory over mafia control: in monuments acknowledging individuals assassinated by the mafia, in piazzas which have been returned to community control, and the like.
But the thin boundary between life and death appears to be ever present in cultural life in so many ways. Of course, it is arguable that it is the Sicilians who are the realists, and Australians such as myself live in an artificial bubble which one day will burst.
Palermo is a terrific city not just because of its gritty sicilianness, but its history, its art, and its people. It has been a pleasure to be here.
No comments:
Post a Comment