Reader’s Digest
104 february 2020
take-off to landing with only a break
to buy a scratch card from the stew-
ardess. “In Naples,” Domenico says,
“all hell is sure to break loose, but
they know it will be OK. In Palermo,
we just pray all hell doesn’t break loose
in the first place.”
D
rive 30 minutes out of the city
in spring to the fishing village of
Sferracavallo, and eat fresh sea-
urchin spaghetti while watching the
multicoloured fishing boats rocking
so intensely beyond the sharp rocks
that when you get up to leave you
walk with a sailor’s roll.
A little closer to town is the resort
of Mondello, where wealthy paler-
mitani built elegant weekend villas
in the early 1900s, and where from
June to October crowds of school-
free teenagers buy ice cream at the
seafront gelateria Latte Pa. Fourteen-
year-old girls with salt-mussed hair
Pastries on display in Palermo
ph
ot
o:
©
sh
ut
te
rs
to
ck
TRAVEL TIPS
lodging: Gorgeously romantic and
elegant, BB22 lies behind a rundown
square whose few remaining residents
play tango records out of their win-
dows at night and passers-by stop to
dance. Via Pantelleria 22 (Angolo
Largo Cavalieri di Malta), doubles from
110 euros, bb22.it. Tucked away in the
ancient Arab quarter, Chez Jasmine
has a little roof terrace overlooking a
church dotted with hundreds of swal-
lows. Vicolo dei Nassaiuoli 15, there
are only two rooms, priced from
75 euros, chezjasmine.biz.
dining: Trattoria Torremuzza
serves fresh swordfish cooked on bra-
ziers in the street, and a caponata with
flaked almonds worth crossing the city
for. Walk to Ilardo around the corner
for ice cream afterward. Via Torre-
muzza 21, about 40 euros for two.
Two minutes’ walk from the Teatro
Massimo, the small Trattoria Del
Massimo serves the best ragu or spa-
ghetti with seafood. Plazza Guiseppe
Verdi 25/26, about 40 euros for two.
what to do: Via Chiavettieri is
the best street for people watching.
It comes to life after 5 p.m., when bar
owners put out their tables and start
serving wine and olives. By 11 p.m. the
street is packed. The anti-pizzo (extor-
tion) movement runs deeply personal
walking tours about the history of the
mafia in Sicily and the civil anti-mafia
movement in Palermo that is finally
rebelling against it, addiopizzotravel.it.
1 euro was `80.64 at the time of going to press.