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Palermo: Italian Capital of Culture for 2018

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I recently ran across a small handful of blogs I wrote about Naples from our time there.  I   love Naples.  Anyone who has ever heard me talk about the city will be familiar with my description of it being “too much” of everything – too much life… too much music… too much corruption… too much crime… too much food….  The list could go on and on.  Naples is overwhelming.

Antica Focacceria S. Francesco

Antica Focacceria S. Francesco

I don’t live in Naples any longer, though.  Indeed, I’ve lived in Palermo almost 3 times as long as I lived there, and despite the common tendency to assume that one can lump the “two Sicilies” into a single category, Naples and Palermo are extremely different.

Strangely, I have done very little blogging about Palermo.  (Actually, I suppose it isn’t all that strange – I pastor three churches, serve on a variety of boards/committees/groups/etc., am married, and parent two children.  I don’t have much time for blogging.)  To be clear though: I love Palermo too, there’s no question about it.  Yet, Palermo is very different from Naples.  (Northern Italians may categorize them both as “mezzogiorno” or “sud,” but do not be fooled, they are not at all alike.)

Chiesa Valdese (Via Spezio)

Naples is loud and raw.

Naples wears it’s emotions on its sleeves.

Naples is in your face.

Palermo, on the other hand, is like finding an ancient bottle of wine in the corner of your cellar left by some long-departed home-owner.  It’s dusty and covered in grime, and until you open it up and experience it, there’s no way of knowing whether it’ll be stomach-churning or divine.  It has the potential to be either one, but you never quite know which until you give it a try.

Cappella Palatina

The thing about Palermo is that it refuses to be categorized.  It’s too African to be called European, too Greek to be called Italian, and too Arabic to be called Latin.  Two and a half millennia of history have created a city unlike any other in the world.

In the coming weeks and months I want to share a bit about this city I currently call home.  It has been named the “Italian Capital of Culture for 2018.”  I’m looking forward to sharing part of why I think it deserves that honor.

 


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