Folksy Travel by Bill Smale

the Palermo Royal Palace is definitely a “must see” place in the city. You should make time to spend a couple hours there. There might be a different exhibit going on when you visit. I noticed that in many of the palaces which were given up by the owners for financial reasons have been turned into exhibition places, a great chance for the public to see all different kinds of interesting things.

MATERIALS. wood, metal, leather, textiles (among them velvet and damask), stucco, gold and silver foil. On April 3r’, 1766 the Golden Carriage of the Prince of Butera, 1st Peer of the Kingdom of Sicily, opens the sumptuous procession of the 120 Peers of the Kingdom, for the inauguration of the oldest Parliament in the world.  The carriage, on the occasion of the “gallery with dance party” organized in the halls of the Royal Palace, parades through the city streets. In the 19th century its restoration is commissioned by Pietro Lanza e Branciforte, Prince of Trabia and of Butera; it is then abandoned, dismantled and stored in the Palazzo Butera warehouses. In 1952 it is reassembled by the production of Panaria Film on the occasion of the realization of the film “La Carrozza d’Oro” (“The Golden Carriage”) by Jean Renoir, with Anna Magnani, a great actress and unsurpassable performer and Rossano Brazzi; the film, produced by the Sicilian film company, is the first ever made in Technicolor.  In the same year the carriage, taken to the Venice Festival, is used by Anna Magnani to inaugurate the event, giving great European and international visibility to the city of Palermo.  The Carriage was never placed in and exhibited in a city museum. In 1968 the Golden Carriage is purchased, according to the wish of then President of the Sicilian Regional Assembly Rosario Lanza, from a group of antique dealers, who had previously bought it from the heirs of Pietro Lanza e Branciforte.

The urban fortifications underneath the Duke of Montalto Halls. The huge defensive structures, visible here, were discovered in 1984 during an emergency intervention carried out by the Superintendence fe Archaeology of Palermo, under the direction of Rosalia Camerate Scovazzo.  They pertain to three different phases concerning the fortifications o Palermo and include a gate to the town connecting the urban road network to the peri-urban territory and, in ancient times, to the area where the necropolis stood. This extraordinary concentration of defensive works can be explained by the fact that this area was of great importance in the control of Palermo as it was the most exposed and accessible side compared to the other sides protected by the rivers Kemonia and Papireto The oldest fortifications were built using a very regular technique of carefully squared blocks, and placed without the use of mortar. Along them is the town gate, 5.18 m wide, flanked by two towers, and a poster, 0.90 m wide, flanked by a small tower. They are a segment of the Punic Panormos fortifications, dating back, according to some scholars, to the middle of the V century B.C., or to the IV/III century according to some others comparing it to the walls of Selinunte’s first Hellenistic age Later, the defences were strengthened through the construction of a new wall, leant over the previous one and made of big irregular blocks (up to 1.80 m), placed, as in the previous case, without the use of mortar and stuffed with stones. The town gate was made smaller (2.50 m) and covered by an arch; the postern was closed. These works have been dated back to the first half of the Ill century B.C., that is, during the decades preceding the First Punic war (264-241 B.C.) and they are explained by the need to adapt the town defences to the new siege techniques and to the use of war machines. These new walls protected the town for a long time, until the Islamic age; according to some scholars this town gate can be identified as one of Balarm’s gates the Arab geographers talk about, the Bab Ibn Qurhub (Gate of Ibn Qurhub) or the Bãb al-Riyad (Gate to the Gardens). During the late Islamic age or during the Norman age, between the late XI and the first half of the XII century, major transformations were carried out: the gate was closed, so modifying the access routes into the town, and a new defensive line was built running parallel with the previous ones, to which it was connected through some section walls, probably counterforts. The new fortifications were made of medium sized ashlars cemented by abundant lime mortar. Elena Pezzini

The King Roger’s Hall is a rectangular hall covered with a cross vault supported by arcs and marble pillars, with re-used Corinthian capitals.  There were originally two double lancet windows on the east side and three lancet windows on the north side. Using high 3D technol-ogy, recent studies confirmed this plan. All the walls are covered by white marble slabs, with a frame in the middle, and gold ground mosaics on the top. The mosaics may be contemporary with the ones from the Palatine Chapel, but they represent pagan themes without any reference to Christian allegories.  The mosaics all represent the Genoard, the Zisa’s big garden, full of trees, animals, and hunting scenes. At the centre of the vault there is an eagle, symbol of power and nobility, killing with its claws a rabbit, symbol of cowardice. All these images are inspired by middle-east models.  The floor was replaced manyfold times through the centuries, but it contains some original parts in porphyry. It is difficult to conjecture how it originally was used: the room was built by the first Norman king, Roger II, and it may have been destined for his leisure activities or as a bedroom or dining room.  G.B. Scaduto Traduzione a cura di Giulia Rullo e Paola Torre

The Pisan Tower is to be considered as the core of the Norman power within the Royal Palace, and the manifesto of the monarchs’ political success in the town. The tower considerable size is probably due to the fact that it served as a donjon, a military role it played from the Norman period to the times when it was called “turri mastra” (master tower) by the architect Ferramolino in the XVI century. The Pisan Tower was probably built under the reign of Roger II of Hauteville, and definitely before the construction of the Palatine Chapel. Its “double shell” structure was inspired by some northern Africa buildings like the XI century Qasr al-Manãr at the Qal’a of Beni Hammad.  Inside, the Pisan Tower central room, more than 15 meters high, with its large window and its surmounting porthole, inspired deference in those who went to meet the king. In fact, the mosaics covering the walls (of which only some fragments full of gaps remain today) narrated of battles glorifying the Hautevilles and the king. This repertory of figures was supplemented by phytomorphic elements, which can be compared with others in Roger Il’s Hall. It is probable that, at the time of Frederick II, in this solemn place, used as throne room by the Norman and Swabian kings, where Eastern and Western Mediterranean cultures met, important verses were written which contributed to the spreading of the Italian language through the Sicilian School of Poetry.

The Norman and Swabian pottery. Norman pottery in Sicily is linked to the Islamic age production, their common features being, for example, the technique used or the persistence of some shapes. The similarities between the artefacts of the two periods show that the Muslim potters still worked even under the Norman rule, and as a consequence, the knowledge and expertise of the Islamic artisanal tradition were handed down to the pottery production of the following age; but, compared to the variety of the Islamic age, the shapes and decorations were simpler.  Between the late XI and the early XII century A.D., the typical shape is a deep hemispherical glazed bowl with a short brim’s edge that, according to some scholars, was already produced during the Islamic age, between the late X and the first half of the XI century A.D., alongside the more numerous open and carinated shapes. These vases show a transparent or green glaze of modest quality, and few brown elements; or they are colourless, with or without a surface discolouration. During the Norman age the bowls sides and brims get thicker and thicker and they show a recurring decoration, a plait or leaf pattern. Moreover, during the late Norman age, there is a production of green glazes with a furrow decoration performed before the firing. The. spreading of this kind of products over various areas, mainly along the. Tyrrhenian coasts, is supported by documentary evidence. In Sicily, the connections with the Byzantine Empire are attested by the rare presence of yellow, on engobe, glazed pottery, with a graffiti decoration. Starting from the late XII century A.D. and during the first three quarters of the XIII, brown and green pottery decorated with spirals arrives from Campania, later imitated by the Sicilian potters whose products only show green decorations. From Tunisia comes the “cobalt and manganese” pottery, painted in brown and blue over a white enamel, and from Liguria comes the so-called “graffita arcaica tirrenica” pottery.  Carla Aleo Nero, Monica Chiovaro

Palermo’s fortifications. during the Norman-Swabian age. On January 10, 1072 the Normans, after a six-month siege, conquered Madinat Sigilliya. The conquest accounts seem to indicate that «high walls» closed in a single defensive line the whole town perimeter and that a further defence were Balarm’s huge fortifications. Yet, some scholars date Palermo’s wide outer walls circumference to the Norman age. However, Norman Palermo had a complex fortified system that was the result of various interventions and which was made up of several defensive structures: a wide surrounding outer wall; Balarm’s walls that kept their defensive function and helped maintain the control over the territory and that had also a function of internal barrage in a town where conflicts were common; a further fortified area within Balarm, called Galka, probably the Norman kings’ palatine town; two castles, the Castrum superius, corresponding to the Royal Palace, and the Castrum inferius or Castello a Mare.  The large outer town wall surrounded the whole urban area, which included Panormos-Balarm, called al-Qasr (the “castle”, “palace” or “fortress”) al-qadim (old”), and what the Norman age writers call the village, corresponding to the Khãlisa and to some quarters that developed during the Islamic age. The external wall measured little less than it measured in 1493 when it was «Surrounded […] by a string […] and it measured 3,253 canne» (that is 6.5 kms). In fact, it underwent several reconstructions, but its course was not changed, until the XVI century A.D. We know from al-Idrisi’s Book of Roger. (1154), that the town walls were «equipped with a wall, a moat and a shelter», and so, apart from the high wall, there were a moat and a rampart. Its average height was of 10 metres, it was strengthened by towers and along it opened at least 10 gates, placed where the main road axes were. The wall remains belong to different periods. Those ascribed to the Norman age seem to have been built with a double face made up of small squared blocks, bound by lime mortar and stuffed with shapeless stones and lime mortar and they are a little more than 2 metres thick. In the course of the centuries, the outer wall underwent important restoration works, the curtains were repaired and new towers were built. The wall made up of small blocks bound by lime mortar preserved in the archaeological area of the Royal Palace (stage Ill) has been related to the construction of the outer wall or to the construction of the Normans’ Castle. As it seems, the Swabians did not make any important changes to this fortified system. Traces of interventions dating back to Frederick Il’s age can be located on the so-called Master Tower and on the Castello a Mare.  Elena Pezzini

What amazed me about the city is when you’re walking around Palermo you see a lot of things that you probably don’t expect to see. Sicily has been left behind economically in comparison to other places in Italy and the tourism has not been that robust. But I see a big change in that and a great improvement and many new building projects and renovations going on. You will see some poorer parts of the city right next to a newly renovated and beautiful church or a very nicely decorated Trattoria or bar. This is a great city to walk around and to just go around the backstreet to see what you can find. You need at least three days in the center to start to see some of the interesting attractions. Here are some of them.