Sicily, palermo, markets and operA: CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA AND GODFATHER PART 3

20 June 2018

A week’s holiday in Sicily contained several long-held ambitions that included visiting Palermo’s fabulous street markets and watching perhaps my favourite opera Cavalleria rusticana. Attending this opera at the wonderful Teatro Massimo in Palermo was an ambition that linked the occasion with my favourite trilogy of films, particularly the dramatic last scenes of Godfather Part 3 on the theatre’s steps outside and the beautiful Intermezzo played in the background.

A guided tour of the theatre allowed Jan and I to appreciate its size and grandeur that, after twenty years in construction was finally opened in 1897, creating the largest theatre in Italy and fourth largest in Europe after Paris, London and Vienna.

The Teatro Massimo was designed by Sicilian architect Giovan Battista Filippo Basile (1825-1891) in a neoclassical style, inspired by the Greek temples at Selinunte and Agrigento. The building was completed by Giovan’s son, architect Ernesto Basile (1857-1932) who became famous for his fusion of ancient, medieval and modern design elements and was a pioneer of Art Nouveau in Italy.

For us, the opera Cavalleria rusticana, performed in its traditional format, was a thoroughly moving experience.

The next day was a delightful stroll around Palermo’s bustling food markets, that provided a different kind of theatre, with lively vendors selling the huge variety of produce that makes up Sicily’s multi-cultural cuisine.

Although we consider ourselves reasonably well-travelled around the Mediterranean, we are always amazed at the unusual variety and amount of different seafood, fish, fruits and vegetables on display. So mouth-watering were the foods on offer, it was impossible not to sit down and taste freshly cooked, yet simple dishes such as fried anchovies with several different stuffing’s and the classic Sicilian arancini and cannoli.

Forgetting we had already booked a restaurant near to our very pleasant hotel, we were able to ‘walk off lunch’ and enjoy an aperitivo on a roof-top terrace that overlooked Palermo’s busy port.

After several nights in Palermo, the rest of the holiday was to take the train along the northern coast of Sicily towards Messina to Milazzo, our departure point for the Aeolian Islands, the volcanic archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Named after the Greek demigod of the winds “Aeolus”, there are eight islands, the largest of which are Vulcano, Lipari, Stromboli and Salina, our destination. Here we were intending to relax, enjoy the natural beauty and peacefulness on offer.