BYE BYE, BY PALERMO
We had planned to spend Friday in Palermo with Mike and Wendy, exploring the cathedrals and monuments, visiting Angelo from Turkey, buying a set of sheets, eating lunch in a local trattoria. Instead, Palermo had a general strike, and traffic that was next to impossible promised to be impossible.
So instead, we looked for local alternatives. We decided to start in the lovely little town of Sambuca di Sicilia, the one with the unique little theater that the town has restored so that the ceilings and box seats are painted in charming bright colors. The theater was closed, but I have a picture of the outside below. We went across the street to see the Institute of Gianbecchina, a local artist who painted very feelingly the faces of the people after the Belice Valley earthquake. The woman there had the key to the theater and opened it up for us to see. Then she suggested we go on to the building that houses the Antiquarium as well as a sculpture show. So we went on to there and saw for the first time the relics from the ruins of the Adranone pre-Greek settlement. There are some fine things there, and the guide Antonio kept mentioning that the show of pots we had seen with Tim at the Agrigento museum also contained some very nice samples from the Sambuca ruins. He showed us a picture of one of the things we had seen, a frying pan with the body of a woman for a handle. We remembered it, and he said it would be returned to Agrigento once their Museum restoration is complete. Then he took us to the fabric and knot sculpture of Sylvie Clavel, a French woman whose work we had seen before.
From there we stopped at a favorite coffee and sweets bar, Il Giglio, and loaded our guests up with dolces for the last time. Then on to San Cipirello, to a wonderful trattoria called Apud Jatum, which is surely the best in the area for Sicilian cuisine.
We ended the day in Acamo. It has a castle in the middle of town, and it has just been restored. So we took a tour with a guide who knew no English, and did not know how to slow down his language for those who did not speak Italian. He did not let us ask questions, and when he did he could not answer most of them. But the castle restoration was great, and the art show that was being installed looked very interesting. We were only allowed outside pictures, but you can see what a "new" castle looks like.
So good-bye to Mike and Wendy without the hassle of Palermo!
So instead, we looked for local alternatives. We decided to start in the lovely little town of Sambuca di Sicilia, the one with the unique little theater that the town has restored so that the ceilings and box seats are painted in charming bright colors. The theater was closed, but I have a picture of the outside below. We went across the street to see the Institute of Gianbecchina, a local artist who painted very feelingly the faces of the people after the Belice Valley earthquake. The woman there had the key to the theater and opened it up for us to see. Then she suggested we go on to the building that houses the Antiquarium as well as a sculpture show. So we went on to there and saw for the first time the relics from the ruins of the Adranone pre-Greek settlement. There are some fine things there, and the guide Antonio kept mentioning that the show of pots we had seen with Tim at the Agrigento museum also contained some very nice samples from the Sambuca ruins. He showed us a picture of one of the things we had seen, a frying pan with the body of a woman for a handle. We remembered it, and he said it would be returned to Agrigento once their Museum restoration is complete. Then he took us to the fabric and knot sculpture of Sylvie Clavel, a French woman whose work we had seen before.
From there we stopped at a favorite coffee and sweets bar, Il Giglio, and loaded our guests up with dolces for the last time. Then on to San Cipirello, to a wonderful trattoria called Apud Jatum, which is surely the best in the area for Sicilian cuisine.
We ended the day in Acamo. It has a castle in the middle of town, and it has just been restored. So we took a tour with a guide who knew no English, and did not know how to slow down his language for those who did not speak Italian. He did not let us ask questions, and when he did he could not answer most of them. But the castle restoration was great, and the art show that was being installed looked very interesting. We were only allowed outside pictures, but you can see what a "new" castle looks like.
So good-bye to Mike and Wendy without the hassle of Palermo!
posted by Sicilian Mama at 5:17 AM
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