3/11/18
Today marks the first full day in Sicily, specifically in the city of Palermo. We arrived pretty late the night before after a full day of traveling, so we all were overcome with tiredness and “pigrezza”, as one would say here. Nonetheless, we had a day packed with activity. To start off, we walked through the narrow streets of the warm city, filled with bustling crowds, and the sounds and smells of the morning. After stopping by at various notable piazza’s along the way, we made our way to Palazzo Steri, a French-inspired prison and palace. The prison housed 20 men and women, and one of the most remarkable aspects of the place was the rooms covered with beautiful charcoal and colored powder drawings of various biblical references and figures. My favorite drawing, pictured in this post, was the “not-so-accurate” map of Sicily that juxtaposed a very detailed map in the adjacent room. The rest of our day was filled with an anti-mafia tour, or “addiopizzo”, a trip to a puppet show, and a dinner of traditional Sicilian street food at the Focacceria di San Francesco.
