Sicily, Italy 6 - Palermo 3
Good morning, Brioche col Tuppo! We had a breakfast at La Martorana, a pastry shop that we found on our way to the port of Palermo. J had a plain Brioche col Tuppo while I ordered Iris, a typical Sicilian dessert or breakfast - a fried brioche filled with sweet ricotta and chocolate chips. The pastry shop offered not only fried but also baked version, so I chose one baked, which sounded lighter and healthier. It was delightful! The warm bun was packed with delicious, creamy ricotta. Chocolate chips were a nice accent. I wouldn't mind having a baked Iris for breakfast every other day.
In addition to Brioche col Tuppo and Iris, various sweet pastries were already available at 7am. Bravo!
We walked through narrow streets, checking out hidden historical landmarks such as a marble sculpture from the late 15th century.
As part of the city's photographic project, an enlarged photo was placed at the exact spot where it was taken years ago. We found a few more photos in the city.
Eventually we reached La Cala, U-shaped marina located in the center of Palermo.
While walking along the marina, we had a view of a cruise ship and Mount Pellegrino. It's the sacred mountain of Palermo, where Basilian monks historically embraced a hermetic life within its caves.
Porta Felice stands at the southeastern end of the marina. Built between 1582 and 1637, the Baroque structure was designed to celebrate Spanish power and represented a main access point for those entering or leaving Palermo by sea. Quattro Canti, Porta Nuova, and several historic churches are all located along Via Vittorio Emanuele, which begins at the grand city gate.
We crossed Parco Tomasi di Lampedusa to the waterfront. The large green field was a nice cushion between the busy road and the peaceful seashore.
We explored the neighborhood near the sea for the first time. We thought we would spent some time in Villa Giulia, a large 18th century city park, but it was closed unfortunately.
We visited Friggitoria Chiluzzo for a morning snack. A friggitoria is a traditional Italian shop or street food stall that specializes in serving fried foods, and this particular place is famous for Panelle. Dating back to the Arab rule of Sicily between the 9th and 11th centuries, Panelle are iconic Sicilian chickpea fritters, made from a mixture of chickpea flour, water, fresh parsley, salt, and black pepper, which is cooked into a dough, cooled, shaped, and fried until golden. Although I am not a big fan of fried food, I was curious about what Panelle looks and tastes like, and how it differs from Socca - the savory thin pancake from Nice (made with chickpea flour, olive oil, and salt) which I enjoyed very much.
We ordered Panelle for me and a set of three kinds of fritters (Panelle, Crocchè (Sicilian potato crocchette), melanzane fritte (fried eggplant)) for J, and didn't know those were served in a sandwich style. Panelle was simple but savory. It was deep-fried, so it was somewhat oily naturally. I liked it overall but I was a little worried whether I could have a lunch later if I ate the whole sandwich. I did it anyway. J also finished his triple-fritter sandwich.
We found a small dried goods store near the street food stall by chance. Those colorful, adorable beans, grains and nuts looked tempting, so we ended up buying some in-shell pistachios. When we got back home and tried them, I thought we should have gotten more. They were so good!
Within a couple minutes walk from the store, we reached Palazzo Butera, a late 17th-century noble palace which has gone through a major renovation and today is filled with the owners' private remarkable art collections: contemporary art, decorative art, old masters and antiques.
While the interior of the palace was gorgeous, the terrace was a wonderful place to sit in the shade, overlook the sea and relax in the cool breeze.
We returned inside of the palace. There were more halls and arts to see.
Going up the staircase at the corner of the second floor, we found a space that exposed the structure behind the ceiling. It was as interesting as the art collection; in fact, the engineering of the suspended ceiling was artistic.
There was a further staircase to go up that led us to the rooftop platform, where we had a wonderful panoramic view of Palermo. It clearly showed us that the city is surrounded by mountains and bordered by the Gulf of Palermo in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The entire roof of the Baroque palace was also fascinating to observe. While we were appreciating the height and the nice weather, no one else came to the rooftop. I imagine it is easily missed because the path there is somewhat hidden.
There were a few more halls of the palace we hadn't seen yet. A room with the two exhibitions, "The Prince's Cities" and "Life in the Palace, was my favorite. The former features the paintings of the ten cities owned by the Princes of Butera between the 18th and 19th centuries, which once hung in the entrance hall on the first floor of Palazzo Butera. The latter showcases paintings by 18th-century Sicilian artist Gaspare Vizzini, inspired by daily life within Palazzo Butera and noble Palermitan interiors around 1780.
We spotted two gentlemen in the courtyard and I recognized one of them was the current owner of the palace. We briefly talked to him, thanking for sharing his great art collections. The other gentleman was an artist from England who has been working on the frescos in the building as part of the restoration project. He kindly told us some stories of his works and how much he likes Sicily.
The next destination was a restaurant for lunch. We walked for about 40 minutes across the city to get there. It was good for me to recover from the heavy Panelle experience to work up a good appetite!
I Sapori del Mare is a small, family-run seafood restaurant, located in the northwestern of the city center. I found the place as "a highly-rated seafood specialist in the Politeama district that frequently features Spaghetti Ai Ricci on its menu" while I was researching the best sea urchin pasta in Palermo. I was excited to figure it out!
Since we weren't having much fresh salad on the trip, I ordered simple green salad as a starter. The portion was as generous as a main dish. I got already full when I finished the dish. J also had a salad but his was Sicilian salad. It looked nice and generous, too!
Here was my spaghetti with sea urchin. It had a wonderful, deep, fresh, delicate flavor of the ocean. I was very satisfied. J's pasta dish was ravioli stuffed with fish, red shrimps, ginger and cherry tomatoes. I don't remember what he said exactly about the dish but I got an impression that it wasn't something memorable for him.
For desserts, we decided to revisit I Segreti del Chiostro. It was about 30 minutes walk from the restaurant to the pastry shop. Good for us!
Ciao, I Segreti del Chiostro! We got their legendary cannolo, again. Plus, a slice of Cassata al Forno, which features a buttery shortcrust (pasta frolla) pastry shell, filled with a mixture of sheep ricotta cheese and dark chocolate chips, lightly flavored with cinnamon and so on.
Their cannolo was still the BEST!!! I feel it would be impossible to find a better one in the world. Meanwhile, Cassata al Forno was very tasty. I loved it! The pastry was traditionally baked by nuns for Easter, historically known as Cassati. It was so popular that in 1574, the Diocese of Mazara del Vallo banned its production during Holy Week because the nuns were choosing to eat it instead of praying. I understand their preferences.
I have noticed that Sicily has an abundance of pastries with ricotta cheese. During the 9th-11th century,
Arab rulers introduced advanced irrigation techniques and new crops to Sicily, including sugar cane, lemons, bitter oranges, pistachios, and various spices. These ingredients were blended with local ingredients - notably sheep's milk ricotta - to create the foundations of iconic desserts like cassata as well as cannoli. What a fascinating history!
To be continued...
