Today started with a grimace and a chuckle at breakfast.  Although the buffet opened at 7, when we arrived at 7:15, they were just getting things set up.  They were obviously running behind schedule.  It happens.  No big deal.  I was going to get my cappuccino from the machine but Doug insisted I ask the gentleman to make me one.  So I did.  He promptly told me to get it from the machine.  Thoroughly chastened, I did.  A few minutes later Fiona who is in our group came up and told me that he had made her a cappuccino just a few minutes before I had asked him.  She had seen my whole interaction with the gentleman.  I had to laugh.  Welcome to Italy:-)

I was very much looking forward to today's excursion.  Not only were we exploring the historic center of Palermo but we were going to talk with the real life son of a Mafia Don.  How exciting is that!  That is why I enjoy traveling with OAT so much.  You get awesome opportunities like this.  

Now I really don't know much about the Mafia other than what all is in pop culture—"I'm going to make you an offer you can't refuse."  I never saw any of The Godfather movies or "The Sopranos."  I tried watching that before we left and I barely made it through the first episode.  So I was looking forward to getting the real scoop this morning.  I did learn that Cosa Nostra is what the insiders call the criminal organization.  It's outsiders that call it the Mafia.  In Sicily the headquarters was the city of Corleone.

First a little background on the two gentlemen talking with us.  Gino and Angelo grew up on the same street five houses apart.  But their stories are vastly different.  Their two fathers were young boys living in Corleone when the Allied troops rolled through.  They cheered and hoped for better days that did not come.  Both ended up dropping out of school to help make money for the family so that they could eat.  Gino's father became a tailor.  It was a meager living but at least it was a living.  Angelo's father became a bag man for the Mafia.  Angelo's fate was sealed.

Now during the time Mussolini was in power, he suppressed the Mafia.  He wanted to be the only power in Italy.  He jailed many and the most powerful fled to the U.S. or went into hiding waiting for a chance to re-emerge.  That chance came with the Allied forces in 1943.  Salvatore Lucania (Lucky) a high ranking Mafioso was in a high security prison. He wrote a letter saying he wanted out.  I guess prison life didn't appeal to him.  Around the same time the SS Normandie sank on mafia run docks.  It is believed that he struck a deal with the U.S. that his men would guard the naval ships for the Normandy invasion and help Patton speed through Sicily if he was let out of prison.  The deal was struck and Patton got through Sicily in 33 days and our battleships were protected.  Lucky was release and deported to Sicily where he did very well for himself.

Meanwhile a power struggle for Mafia supremacy was emerging in Sicily.  A man named Navarra who happened to be a medical doctor was in the power seat.  He ran the local hospital in Corleone.  He was a total dictator.  An upstart named Luciano Liggio wanted that power for himself.  Navarra had the police in his pocket so Liggio had his work cut out for him.  He needed an army so he began recruiting.

Fast forward and Angelo  and Gino are born.  Angelo's father Bernardo was recruited by Liggio and began working his way up the organization.  Bernardo was sucked in through the promise that the Mafia's role was to help the poor like himself.  It was a way to improve his circumstances.  That WAS one of the original roles of the Mafia.  Angelo's two uncles moved to Germany to escape the Mafia.  Gino's dad was still a tailor but his family's life was precarious.  He saw that the best way to make money was to get a job with Dr. Navarra's hospital.  In order to ingratiate himself with the doctor, he began making the doctor and his higher ups in the Mafia nice suits for free.  Gino's mother saw what he was doing and was angry he was basically working for the mob for free.  Then in 1958 something happened that completely changed Gino and his family's life.  One afternoon his mother was visiting family like she always did.  They were sitting outside enjoying the evening when gunshots rang out.  This was nothing unusual.  It happened often.  However, when his mother went to run inside and hide, she saw the jacket of the assassinated man.  She knew who he was—a very close relative whose identity Gino swore to his mother he would never reveal.  She went home that night and demanded that her husband stop making the suits.  He agreed and they packed up and left Sicily, escaping the Mafia.  It was years later before they returned.  Actually Gino has a British accent so they must have gone there.  We didn't ask.

Meanwhile the war for supremacy between Navarra and Liggio ended in 1958 when Liggio had Navarra assassinated.  During the war Angelo's father was involved in one of the bloodiest shoot outs.  He was shot in the head but survived.  The police arrested him but he managed to escape and spent the next 43 years in hiding in Sicily.  Angelo was born during this period of his father's life.  

Flash forward to the 1970s, Toto Riina, John Gotti, and the Pizza Connection.  Riina became head of Sicilian mafia in the 70s and led its crudest era.  John Gotti was the U.S. Mafia Don.  By this time the Mafia had gotten involved in the heroine trade.  The two dons had created a means by which to make millions from it.  They would get heroine from Turkey, refine it in Sicily where they would also package it in flour bags and tomato tins.  The heroine was then shipped to the U.S.  Between them the two Mafia heads controlled almost the entire worldwide heroine trade.  

Two magistrates in Sicily were tired of the crimes, the drugs, and the violence of the mob.  They decided to take it on.  These two magistrates were Falcone and Borsellino.  Their goal was to destroy  Riina's Mafia ring.  They were confident that they could do it.  Then friends and family began dying.  The two magistrates knew they had to change their strategy if they wanted any hope of success.  So they reached out to the U.S. and then attorney general Rudy Giuliani for cooperation.  Both sides knew that they needed inside men to confess to crimes so they could arrest the top dogs of the organization.  The only way these men would talk is if they were promised protection.  Otherwise the men would never breach the code of silence.  Sicily didn't have any type of witness protection so Giuliani told Falcone and Borsellino to send them to him.  The U.S. would take them and hide them.

The Maxi Trials ran from 1986 to 1987.  They were held in a bunker court specifically for the trial.  The cells in the back of the court rapidly filled up with mafiosi as men began talking without the fear of reprisals.  It was getting serious for the Sicilian Mafia now.  Riina was still free and he knew he had to stop the magistrates before somebody ratted him out and he was discovered.  Falcone and Borsellino knew their lives were in danger.  They had bodyguards and took every precaution when moving from place to place.  Falcone wasn't careful enough.  On May 23, 1992 He and his young wife were traveling to Palermo by armored car over a bridge when a bomb exploded killing them all, driver and bodyguards included.  This new Mafia had broken the golden rule of never, ever touching women or children.  They had already broken the rule about never getting involved with drugs.  After Falcone's brutal murder, Borsellino became a broken man.  He knew his days were numbered.  They would get him. Too.  He was assassinated on July 19, 1992, just a few months later.

In 1993 Riina was arrested and spent the rest of his life in prison.  His brother-in-law took over and began a vicious war with the police.  However, popular opinion had already swung against the Madia after the brutal murder of the magistrates and priest Giuseppe "Pino" Puglisi.  As a result the other Mafiosi chose Bernardo as the new head in 1995.  He stopped the war against the police.  After spending 43 years in hiding, he was finally caught and arrested on April 4, 2006.  He died in 2016.

Like I said earlier, Angelo was born while his father was hiding from the law.  He had no clue that his father was Mafia.  Bernardo kept it hidden from both of his sons.  The boys were homeschooled and Bernardo was strict about their education.   When Angelo was 16 his father sent the boys and his wife to live in Corleone without him.  They could finally live out in the open.  Angelo didn't truly realize about his father until the 1990s.  All he had ever known since he was seven was that his father was "hiding from justice."  When he asked his father questions about that, his father never answered.  As an adult he can recognize the love his father had for his family and the sacrifice he made in sending them away.  He knew his fathered loved him because he set Angelo free.  And Angelo loved him, too.  However, on the flip side, he knows the evil his father did as a Mafioso and he hates that part of his father.  He will never be able to condone Bernado's actions.  It must be so difficult to live with such opposite feelings.

As an epilogue to Angelo and Gino's story, somehow OAT discovered them and got them to agree to tell their story to their travelers.  It was a big hit.  It also made the New York Times.  That was not a good thing for Angelo as he started receiving threats and was told to stop.  The Mafia and others wanted that period swept under a rug.  Hotels refused to host the discussion.  It was a real hot potato.  The two men and OAT persisted and now years later the conversation continues which I think is a good thing.  I was truly grateful we had this opportunity.

During the course if this conversation I also found out that one of our ladies lived in a Mafia neighborhood in New York.  Her neighbors had bulletproof-proof glass and everything.  It didn't help the husband though because he was taken out in a mob hit.  Wow!  I think I need to appreciate my calm life more:-)

When the last question was answered and Angelo and Gino thanked, we moved outside where we found Gabriella waiting for us.  It was now time to walk the streets of Palermo.  First I think a bit of background about Palermo would be beneficial.  The city has approximately a million people.  It is the largest city in Sicily and the 7th largest in Italy.  The Greek were never in Palermo.  The Phoenicians were the ones who founded the city in 734 B.C..  Although there is no longer a king or queen, Palermo still has a princess living here.

Palermo was particularly hard hit during WW II.  They were bombed by everybody.  After the bombings in May 1943, 43% of the city was in rubble.  It was bombed 67 times and was the second most bombed city.  Interestingly enough, the city is just now getting around to restoring some of the buildings damaged in the war.  Instead of spending the money they received from the Marshall Plan for restoring what was damaged, they built cheap apartments on the outskirts of town.  Some say the Mafia had a big hand in that decision.

Now according to Gabriella and Luca, Palermo has one of the largest historic centers in Europe.  It was pretty darn big!  We walked it for hours—without a toilet break.  Palermo isn't big on W.C.s for the general public.  Anyway, we started at the harbor gate—Porta Felice— which is one of 11 remaining gates from the city wall.  Originally there were 19.  It was interesting to note that this gate had no arch, just an empty space for passage.  We soon found out why.  As we walked into the next square, we saw what appeared to be a large mechanical float.  It was a float, a float for the patron saint of the city—Rosalie.  This float was the reason the gate had no arch.  It was extremely tall so the people wanted to make sure the float would fit through the gate.

Rosalie's Float

Now how did Rosalie get to be patron saint of Palermo?  Well, one day she was out and about minding her own business.  Two angels came down from heaven and grabbed her.  They took her to Mount Pelligrino and left her there.  She remained on the mountain for the rest of her life.  Five hundred years later a plague came upon the city.  One night a man had a dream that Rosalie came to him and told him to go to the mountain and bring back her bones.  He did and the plague ended.  She has been revered by the people of the city ever since.  On special days you are suppose to read 25 prayers about Rosalie and your ancestors will be released from Purgatory.

As we walked, Gabriella gave us a mountain of information.  It was much more than I could remember so I'll just be giving the highlights.  Palermo had four medieval quarters.  It also has the largest ficus tree in Europe.  It was planted when the Orto Botanico di Palermo opened to celebrate the unification of Italy.  It was huge, I have to say.

Palermo use to have 300 mosques in the city.  However, not a single one is left.  After the Arabs were displaced from power, their mosques were destroyed.  The mosques may be gone but the people still use the spices that the Arabs introduced.

It seems that every city we visit has a cathedral.  Palermo is no exception.  However, I have to admit that this cathedral was the largest one I have ever seen.  Construction lasted from the 1100s through the 1700s.  As a result, the facade is very eclectic, reflecting many different architectural styles.  It was actually built at the site of the Grand Mosque from Arab rule.  Of course the mosque had been built on top of a Byzantine church.   The portico of the Cathedral was wonderful.  Gabriella pointed out to us that one of the columns had Arabic writing one it.  Sure enough, it did.  Although we didn't see them, the church is suppose to hold the bones of Rosalie.

The Normans built the church to make a power statement.  The cardinal overseeing the project wanted to intimidate the young king, William II.  It didn't work.  William II was building his own church in Monreale and he diverted money from the Palermo Cathedral to his cathedral in Monreale.  Poorly funded, it took hundreds of years to complete the structure.  We ran inside very quickly just to get a taste of a small portion of it.  The most interesting thing was the solar calendar on the floor.  Zodiac signs were placed on a meridian line. A small hole in the dome allowed in just enough light to pinpoint the zodiac for the month.  That was nifty to see.

One of my favorite places we saw today was the Fountain of Shame which is located in Piazza Pretoria.  The actual name of the fountain is the Fontana Pretoria. It was a beautiful and large water fountain right in the middle of the square.  This is actually one of the few Renaissance pieces to be found in Palermo.  It's made of the fabulous Carrara marble and was made in 1555 for a Spanish viceroy to put at his Tuscan villa. His son who was the mayor of Palermo, sold it to the city.  His workmen broke it down into 640 pieces and moved it to the front of City Hall.  Why is it called the Fountain of Shame?  Well, all of the figures in it are nude which was racy in and of itself.  To top it off the workmen reassembled it right in front of the Dominican Santa Caterina. A group of nuns lived next door.  The scandal of it all! The nuns tried "dressing" the nudes but that didn't work.  In desperation one night they slipped out and chiseled off the most offending parts.  After that a fence was added to the fountain to keep the nuns or anybody else from damaging the fountain any more.  I'm glad they did that because the fountain truly is a work of art.

Fountain of Shame or Fontana Pretoria

The heart of the historic center of Palermo is the Quattro Canti or Four Corners.  It is at the intersection of the two major roads in the city—the Via Maqueda and the Corso Vittorio Emanuele.  The buildings at each of the four corners have facades that dazzle the eye.  They each had several layers of decor.  The first layer has a female statue representing one of the four seasons.  The second level has four Spanish kings (Charles V, Phillip II, III, IV).  The last level has the four patron saints of the city.  The Four Corners was created before the time of Rosalie so she is not one of them.  The concave facades were built during the Spanish control of the city.  It was a bid to get the Spanish nobles to move into the city from the countryside.  The facades are baroque at its best.

One of the Four Corners

We took a break from looking at old buildings and visited a puppet theater.  Actually the theater used marionettes but they called it a puppet theater.  This theater has been around for five generations, more than 200 years.  Puppet theaters were for the common people.  They were educated by the shows as well as entertained.  At this theater they can tell between 100 and 250 stories through the puppets, all of which were created by the family.  There are only three puppet theaters left in Palermo.  It's a dying art.  However, UNESCO named it a Material UNESCO World Heritage for the art of entertaining with puppets.

The name of this puppet theater was Teatro Argento Opera de Pupi.  The owner brought us all inside and demonstrated how to make the marionette walk.  Several of us tried it.  It was not easy.  We also got to see their many puppets in the costumes and some undressed.  Then we got a small taste of a show on the stage.  It was great.  I was sorry we weren't going to get to see an entire show.  Maybe next time we are in Palermo.

Marionette from the puppet show

When we walked out of the theater, it was raining.  Yuck.  Fortunately it was a slow, soft rain.  I didn't worry about getting wet.  I just worried about my electronics.  Despite the weather, we still wandered through the il Capo Market.  It was outside but each stall had a huge umbrella so we stayed fairly dry.  It was like many other markets we have been to over the years.  The array of fish was interesting.  They liked to pose the fish as well.  To be honest, with the rain we didn't tarry long here.

After the market it was time for lunch.  More to the point for me, it was potty time!  We hadn't had a single toilet stop since the hotel for the Mafia talk several hours earlier.  That was a long time without a toilet.  Of course there were no public toilets anywhere around.  I had originally wanted to eat some street food at the market but now I wanted a nearby bar with a toilet!  We chose the closest one and sat down.  It was a bit different.  You ordered your beverage outside but had to go inside to order your lunch.  That didn't make sense at all to me.  After visiting the W.C. At the bar, we ordered.  Doug got a sandwich while I went native and got the arancini which is a deep fried rice ball that has all types of filling inside.  I really liked it.  It was tasty and filling.

Arancini

While eating we made a plan of attack for what we wanted to see in the next hour and a half.  We would have to be really quick.  I wanted to see Falcone's tomb which was in a nearby church.  And I had read that you could get the best cannoli in town at the Cathedral.  We hadn't see anything like that there.  When I asked him about it, Luca suggested another place just down the street and basically on the way to Church of San Domenico.

But first we wanted to check out the tour times for the old opera theater.  It was just a stone's throw away from where we were eating.  We were shocked when we were told they was a tour leaving immediately.  We showed our vaccination card and were off and running.

Now the Teatro Massimo is beautiful.  The exterior is huge. Supposedly it is the largest theater in Italy and the third largest in Europe.   However, the actual theater is not that large.  The first show ever staged here was "Faust" by Verdi.  Unlike most theaters, the actors here cannot use microphones.  Currently the theater only holds 500 people because of COVID regulations.

Teatro Massimo

I have to say that although certain areas were beautiful, it couldn't compete with the theater in Buenos Aires.  They truly gilded the lily on that one!  Every room and hallway was a feast for the eyes.  Here only certain rooms were masterpieces such as the theater itself.  The most impressive room was the Pompeiian Room.  With its domed ceiling and gallery of frescoes, it was a feast for the eyes.  The acoustics were amazing as well.  If you stood in the very center of the room and spoke, your voice was magnified.  It was crazy.  I tried it and it sounded like I was talking on a microphone.  It was totally spectacular.  The thirty minute tour went quickly and soon we were back out in the street in front of the theater.

The cannoli ended up being a challenge.  Pam and Steve were with us as they were interested in seeing the tomb as well.  And Pam was interested in the cannoli :-). The place Luca suggested was all closed up but about a block away Doug found a place called Cannoli and Co.  It looked promising and the sign said they had been around since 1024 so we got our Italian treat there.  They were very tasty.  And very filling.  I was feeling a bit bloated when I finished.  I think I'm done with cannolis for a while.

After walking for several blocks, we finally found the church.  It looked rather plain on the outside.  Unfortunately the tomb was on the inside and it was all locked up.  I think they may have been doing renovations of some type.  I was truly disappointed.  I didn't find out until tonight that Borsellino was buried in the Cathedral.  If I had known I would have made it a point to see his tomb as well.  Out of luck with Falcone, we hoofed it back to our meeting point with Luca at the theater.

The ride back to Cefalu was a quiet one.  We were all tired from the long day.  Plus we still had our Welcome Dinner.  It was going to be another long night!

The dinner was actually quite nice.  We ate outside right next to the Cathedral which was all lit up.  It was beautiful.  The night was cool.  It was the perfect setting.  The meal wasn't without its drama, however.  I was sitting at the very edge of the cover and it started raining.  I wasn't getting wet but Fiona insisted we move the table closer to the middle of the cover so I wouldn't get wet.  She started pulling the table her way before Gwen was ready.  Gwen said her chair wouldn't move and she bumped the table and knocked over some of the water glasses....right onto me and my purse with my new camera!  I had a lap full of water and a wet purse.  I didn't care about my blouse or purse.  I cared about my camera.  I got it out of the side pocket and wiped it off carefully.  It seemed no worse for wear.  Whew!  Gwen felt so badly about it but it wasn't her fault.  It was just one of those things.  Stuff happens.  At least it was just water 🙂

Tomorrow we leave lovely Cefalu and head southwest to Mazara del Vallo.  Enroute we are going to see the Cathedral at Monreale and eat at our first agrituristico.  That should be fun.  We may even get to see an unfinished temple!