Stories

You’ll see Teste di Moro almost everywhere in Sicily — two heads, one male and one female. And behind this beautiful ceramic tradition is a story that isn’t quite so lovely. According to one legend, a Sicilian girl fell in love with an Arab young man, only to discover that he had a wife and children and would soon be going back home. While he was sleeping, she cut off his head, turned it into a flowerpot and planted basil in it.

Palermo’s two Sunday flea markets couldn’t be more different. At Ballarò, you’ll hear “Tutto 1 euro!” all around you, and among the dishes, books, clothes and local ceramics, you sometimes have to do a bit of digging. At Piazza Marina, everything is prettier, calmer and noticeably more expensive: antique textiles, ceramics, old posters and even wooden pieces from old palazzi.

In Palermo, arancina is feminine. Palermitans believe that everything beautiful and wonderful should be feminine, while in Catania they strongly disagree: there, they eat arancino. Even the shape is different — Palermo’s is round like an orange, while Catania’s is cone-shaped, like Mount Etna.

The Genius is the spirit and symbol of Palermo. My favourite version of his story is the oldest one: long before Christianity and Rome, people believed that every place had its own spirit — a genius loci. A person, a house, a family, a city — each had its own genius, whom people asked for protection and good fortune. For centuries, Palermitans turned to their Genius for help too.

Historically, Via Garibaldi was the street of the berrettifici — workshops where caps were made. The craftsmen worked side by side, shared suppliers and customers: cooperation rather than competition. And even today, if I want a coppola not from an expensive boutique but simply a good cap for everyday life, this is the first place I go.

Saint Christopher is often depicted with a small boy on his shoulder and a staff in his hand. According to legend, Christopher helped people cross a turbulent river by carrying them on his shoulders.

Quattro Canti is known both as the “Theatre of the Sun” and the “Crossroads of Spirits.” The square was designed so that at least one of its corners is always lit by the sun. But this was once a place not only for celebrations and processions, but also for executions — hence the old saying, “Feste e forche a Piazza Vigliena”: “Festivals and gallows in Piazza Vigliena.”

According to legend, the Beati Paoli brotherhood defended the poor: judges sided with the nobility, while ordinary people could turn for help to the brothers who gathered in the underground tunnels beneath Capo Market. There, they held their own kind of people’s court and decided how the guilty should be punished.