6 secrets of Palermo that few in the world know
6 secrets of Palermo – “Cities, like dreams, are made of dreams and fears, even though they thread secretly, following impossible rules and deceitful perspectives. Everything conceals something else.” Italo Calvino, Invisible cities
Tourists love Palermo, yet almost no one really knows it, its one-of-a-kind beauty is considered a given. One should re-visit it and roam through its streets with a renewed point of view, one capable of spotting – this time truly- all those details otherwise ignored. Here’s the six secrets of Palermo, the most unique city in the world. Discover them clicking the below button Next >
6. UNDERGROUND PALERMO
There’s a hidden city underneath the surface, an underground maze made of alleyways and galleries where the water canals used to flow. Exploring this side of Palermo one can still see the traces from the time when these galleries, called qanat , where built in accordance to Middle Eastern hydraulic knowledge, the wells supplying water to citizens and the countryside alike. Palermo’s Moors knew how to “read the ground” in order to trace aquifers, excavate galleries for the waters to flow and how to create a veritable pipeline connecting even those places at the opposite ends of the city. Continue reading clicking the below button Next >
5. THE LEGEND OF ZISA CASTLE
The castle of the Zisa is full of esoteric references thanks to its distinctive mix of Moorish and Norman art and architecture. On the ceiling of Fontana’s Hall there is a fresco depicting a group of devils – can you count them all? According to a legend, counting their exact figure would reveal the position of a hidden treasure: a casket full of gold coins of which these devils are believed to be the guardians. Who hid this casket? To whom did it belong? The complete legend says that two lovers, Azel Comel and El-Aziz took shelter in Palermo on their run from the wrath of the girl’s father. Here, they built the Zisa castle, where they lived for the rest of their short lives and entrusted their treasure – the golden coins – to the little devils on the ceiling of the hall. These demons are so devoted to their task that they would exchange position every now and then, so as to confuse the greedy seeker of the booty. Trying to sort them out on 25th March is said to be particularly tricky, for witnesses had recounted that on this day, the demons’ mouths and tails would start to move. Continue reading clicking the below button Next >
4. PALAZZO STERI’S PRISON
Palazzo Chiaramonte-Steri is one of the many historical palaces of Palermo, but this one served as a prison during the Spanish Inquisition, housing all those poor souls doomed to suffer torture and unjust, horrible deaths. With its walls full of graffiti and engravings left by the prisoners, this is certainly one suggestive place. All those traces left on the walls tell us about the convicts’ thoughts and despair. They somehow make for proper art, born in the shadows and meant to remain there, testaments of mankind’s cruelty and savagery against the innocents. Continue reading clicking the below button Next >
3.VILLA NISCEMI’S TINY LAKE
This little lake can be found in the square of Villa Niscemi and it’s a beautifully peculiar place, for it’s Sicily-shaped. Admiring it from the square may not reveal the trick, one needs to see it from above. Continue reading clicking the below button Next >
2. VILLA GIULIA’S GARDEN
This garden is full of history. Approaching it from the Eastern gate, one sees two statues representing two lions protecting two covered urns, but getting closer, the urns are revealed to be actually uncovered. The North side of the garden is where the palace known as Villa Giulia stands with its pentagonal structure suggesting a pentalpha – after all, the garden was built by the Masons and donated to the city, their fiery star pointing toward the Cathedral of Saint Rosalia – Palermo’s patron saint – on Mount Pellegrino further symbolizing that historical event. Every garden of the city is full of intriguing details, Villa Giulia is particularly full of them, since keeping on strolling down it, one will finds the statue of a child contemplating the sea, a little fisher of sea urchins dedicated to those people who live by the sea. Continue reading clicking the below button Next >
1.THE CHILD MUMMY
Her name was Rosalia Lombardo and she’s usually referred to as Palermo’s sleeping beauty or “the most beautiful mummy in the world”. Her body is perfectly preserved thanks to the treatments it was subjected to: injections of formalin, glycerin, zinc, alcohol and salicylic acid; her face was treated with paraffin melted in ether so as to preserve its childish puffy looks. The result is a body so well preserved that it really looks like a sleeping child – that occasionally wakes up, opening her eyes. This spooky and supernatural event was even captured on camera, but scientists rushed to explain it: the combination of the catacomb’s humidity and the flashes of cameras combined would cause a gradual photo-decomposition resulting in a sudden movement of the eyelids. This, plus the angle of the lights entering from the tiny window on the side of the wall during certain hours of the day, would “conspire” against the visitors and trick their eyes into seeing Rosalia opening her eyes.
Discover also the 5 romantic places in Palermo clicking here
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(Photo credit cover picture: www.costaromita.it)
