Tag: Palermo

  • Recognizing Sicily

    It’s hard to get something about Sicily past me without me recognizing it right away, so when watching CNN the past couple of days (for obvious reasons/I usually avoid TV news), when I saw the promotional spot for Stanley Tucci’s Searching for Italy show that premiers in February, I said, “Wait, that’s the Mother Church…

  • La Vucciria Isn’t So Cacophonous Anymore

    Oh, how much La Vucciria market in Palermo has changed over the last few years! It gets its name because it used to be a butchery (fish and meat) with vendors singing their sales at the top of their lungs from crowded stalls and carts. Not so much anymore (at least during the day). Now,…

  • A Peek In Palermo

    Inside a Palermo pastry shop (from 2019)

  • Giuseppe “Peppino” Impastato, Organized-Crime Fighter

    January 5 is Giuseppe “Peppino” Impastato’s birthday. Impastato was a political activist who vociferously exposed and confronted the mafia in his hometown of Cinisi. After his uncle Cesare Manzella was brutally killed in a car bomb in 1963, when Impastato was 15 years old, his outlook on the Cosa Nostra, of which his father was…

  • Mother And Child, Monreale Cathedral

    Merry Christmas! Buon Natale! (Madonna and child from Monreale Cathedral, Palermo, Sicily)

  • Little Suns Hang On Sicily’s Trees

    This time of the year, oranges and lemons hang on the trees in Sicily like little suns. It’s still early in the citrus season, but with patience the results will be sweet.  

  • Sicilian Folk Music Concert This Sunday On Zoom

    Concert on Sunday! Register at https://experiencesicily.com/sicilian-folk-music-concert/ Yes, this too is Sicily … On a snowy January day in Palermo Province (2019). The weather outside is frightful, and so, listening to an online concert-lecture of Sicilian folk songs with a bonus rendition of “Winter Wonderland” and more will be perfect this Sunday, Dec. 20 at 3pm…

  • Thank You Alessia! Viva Santa Lucia!

    We had a wonderful online celebration for the Feast of Santa Lucia today! Thanks to Alessia Liistro of Smile and Food for teaching us your arancini and cuccìa recipes from your kitchen in Siracusa! Viva Santa Lucia patroness of light, eyes, wheat, grains, and the harvest!

  • Santa Lucia Answered Their Prayers

    Today we’ll make rice balls and cuccìa at noon (eastern time) for Santa Lucia. Details at https://experiencesicily.com/santa-lucia-2020/  In the days leading up to the Feast of Santa Lucia, December 13, many Sicilians refrain from eating pasta and only eat un-ground wheat grain, or “farro,” that is prepared as a dish called cuccìa. Devotees observe this ritual…