June 26 Sicily (Palermo), Italy

Palermo is a cosmopolitan city, hardly surprising considering its years as everything from a Greek colony to an Arab emirate, not to mention the influences of the Romans, Normans and quite a few others. My friend Maureen provided much information about this city for us prior to leaving CA. This is some of the information she shared: The airport in Palermo, Falcone e Borsellino Airport, was named after the 2 beloved judges who were killed by explosives in their vehicles by the Mafia, they were controlling the island. This started a new wave of Sicilians uprising against the rampant criminal behavior, and criminal behavior improved due to the citizens.

The Sicilian language is very different—a combo of Arabic and Italian. Many words end in -iddu or -eddu, and it is mostly an oral language, their dialect which is fast and hard to understand. Italian is written and commonly used.

Today’s excursion is centered around food! Specifically the street food of Palermo. My friend Maureen provided information about some of the traditions and culture of this population. During our tour today we walked by some of Palermo’s important monuments the Teatro Politeama and Teatro Massimo, one of the largest in Europe. Next we went to the Carpo Market one of the three main markets in the city. We tried many different street foods. Panel (thin chickpea fritters), Crocche (Potato croquets, Sfincione (a type of street food pizza and Caponata. (Tomatoes, eggplant, onions).

Teatro Massimo

Teatro Piloteama

Carpo Market

Panel (thin chickpea fritters), Crocche (Potato croquets, Sfincione (a type of street food pizza)

Caponata. (Tomatoes, eggplant, onions)

Next we walked by the Cathedral of Palermo and San Cataldo Church on our way to Passim o Coppu. Passim is renowned for its delicious paper cone with fried fish or shellfish. Next we tried the Sicilian specialties: Arancini (deep-fried rice balls. Sometimes filled with meat and cheese and anything else the chef feels like!!!

Cathedral of Palermo

San Cataldo Church

Today’s fried fish: shrimp calamari and the little fish!

Tom’s black pig and cheese arancini.

Another focus of this trip is to identify the different styles and types of cannoli we can find. My friend Chris and I have a running joke- When life becomes unbearable, we are going to open a Canoli food truck! Thus, all Canoli tasting is R&D for our next adventure! Today’s treat was truly authentic and might just be the gold standard for the future!

Palermo cannoli regular with chocolate chips