In the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies 3 – Bella... Bellissima

©Nigel Summerley

There seems to be something particularly grand about grandeur when it's a little faded, a little eccentric.

Hence, the appeal of La Bella Palermo, a palazzo property in Sicily's capital doubling as both a holiday let and a kind of living museum.

The place is lovingly curated by Francesco Cazzaniga, nephew of the owner – who is a collector of objets d'art both weird and wonderful.

With its five bedrooms and vast living areas, La Bella Palermo can be rented only by large families or groups – or couples or individuals who have a lot of money and want some palatial space to themselves.

Every day and night staying here offers up new discoveries. The rooms are so packed with paintings, books and upmarket bric-a brac, that there really never is a dull moment.

And apart from pretending that you're in The Leopard [see this blog – An Odyssey in the Second Year of the Plague – The Leopard, 15 March 2021], you are right in the beating heart of Palermo, a few paces from seductive little streets and the Vucciria market [see this blog – An Odyssey in the Second Year of the Plague – Midnight in Sicily, 7 March 2021].

La Bella Palermo is part of the Palazzo Pantelleria; originally a 14th-century fort, it was transformed into a palace in the 16th century.

More information: https://www.labellapalermo.com/

©Nigel Summerley

©Nigel Summerley

In the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies 2 – The Height Of Good Taste

©Nigel Summerley

One of Palermo's gastronomic high spots – and it has many – is the DoBa restaurant, named after its founder and food maestro Domenico Basile.

OK, it's pricey. OK, it has a tendency to serve what long ago used to be nouvelle – ie, plates with not a lot to eat on them. But what you do get is of the highest quality and surprisingly (to me, someone who enjoys a full meal) satisfying.

However, apart from the incredibly attentive Domenico himself, DoBa serves up one unbeatable thing... the view from its rooftop terrace down over the Piazza Giuseppe Verdi to the Teatro Massimo opera house.

With that dramatic sight to take in, you would probably be happy to have a glass of house red and a packet of crisps.

So, yes, go to DoBa by all means, but insist on a table at the top of the building. Otherwise you're going to be starved of the ultimate dining pleasure.

https://www.dobarestaurant.it/

The Teatro Massimo seen from the DoBa rooftop                                                 ©Nigel Summerley

In the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies 1 – Dead Heat

 

This blog has covered Naples extensively – in the two series See Naples and Live and See Naples and Live More – but it hasn't touched on the fact that for the first six decades of the 19th century the city was the capital of what was known as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

The two Sicilies – the whole of southern Italy and the island of Sicily – constituted a kingdom under the rule of the Spanish Bourbon royal family until the unification of Italy.

That unification was a forced marriage of northern Italy and the south which remains a strained relationship even today.

The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies – the south and Sicily – still feels like a different country to that of Rome and Milan.

After spending time in Naples, one can't help finding Palermo to be something of a tribute act to that greater city. Palermo has the churches, the art, the markets, the food, the narrow back alleys, the history of mafia wars and bodies in the streets, and the juxtapositions of light and dark, of life and death... but somehow it doesn't come close to the edginess and perversity of Naples.

However, there's one Napolitan-style aspect in which Palermo can chalk up at least a draw: Naples has catacombs and cadavers aplenty (see this blog See Naples and Live) but the catacombs of the Capuchins in Palermo are a genuinely stunning near-death experience for the visitor.

It all started with the Capuchin monks preserving their fellows' bodies, but in the 19th century it became a fashionable thing to do to have you and your family put on show rather than buried.

Hundreds and hundreds of skeletons hang here in row upon row, many still dressed in their best clothes. In some cases, the clothes have worn much better than their occupants – the material of a dress still has its colour, the fabric still holds together...

The inescapable message is that death comes for all of us... it's the ultimate levelling up. Or maybe that should be levelling down.

They are all here: men, women, old, young... little toddlers in their toddler clothes. Nameless but every one the remainder of a life just like yours or mine or Biden's or Trump's...

Many were plague victims, so sometimes you will be confronted by whole families of skeletons with father, mother and children – all dressed for life but now long dead.

It's unmissable and only €5 to enter. Although I'm not sure what to think about the fact it's free for under-sixes. We all need to face up to death – but maybe that's just a tad too early to be forced to do it?