9/20/24: Palermo's Catacombs, Gilt, & Marble

After a relaxing and enjoyable week exploring Luxembourg's castles, small towns, and the capital city, Steven and I flew to Palermo to explore the Italian island of Sicily for the next two weeks. Once considered the intellectual capital of southern Europe, Palermo has embraced the Mediterranean world's cultures whether Arab or Christian, Byzantine or Roman, or Norman or Italian. Though the city's heritage includes all of Sicily's diverse eras, Palermo's Arab-Norman identity coupled with Byzantine and Jewish components brought about dazzling works of art.

Teatro Politeama Garibaldi was one minute from our apartment in the heart of the city.

I’m sure it must seem odd that we chose the eerie Catacombe dei Cappucini as our initial sight in a city full of works of art, public squares, and chaotic vibrant markets. It and the next location on our itinerary were outliers so it made sense to start with the Catacombs and then make our way toward the city center, The 16th-century catacombs were home to 8,000 mostly mummified corpses of adults and young children hanging in rows on walls and divided by social rank. gender, and age. The site was administered by the friars at the adjacent Capuchin church who closed the catacombs to new bodies in 1880 when a cemetery opened nearby.

The Capuchin Catacombs were created as a private cemetery for the friars but that changed when especially wealthy citizens and rich celebrities of Palermo, sought burial in the catacombs in the late 18th century. Their generous donations paid for the friars’ mummification process and their eternal display in the wall niches of the underground cemetery. The mummification became a status symbol, to preserve status and dignity even in death so that families could visit and venerate their loved ones.

A sign asked for respect because even if "our bodies are destroyed, our souls are alive." Another sign noted, "You are what we were, we are what you will be."

In case you didn't know or have forgotten about Egyptian mummies,  a mummy is a preserved corpse that has not decomposed. It still retains some of its tissue, such as skin, hair, and muscles through either natural mummification or a process called artificial mummification.

It was gratifying to learn that the admission price supported the friars' charitable activities including a daily meal for the needy.

Around many of the bodies were signs with their names and when they lived and died but none were legible.

It was tragic seeing the little ones laid out on shelves in a separate chapel.

Chapel of the Virgins:

In 1920, the friars accepted the body of Rosalia Lombardo, who died at just two years of age. She is now known as the "world's most beautiful mummy."

The corridor of professionals kept the mummies of professionals: soldiers, doctors, lawyers, and painters including Velasquez.

One corridor was devoted to the Capuchin friars who founded and ran the bizarre site from 1599 to 1971. There appeared to be a greater degree of reverence for their corpses. 

We didn't find the visit too unnerving as we understood the reverence given by the friars to those wanting to be remembered less conventionally. 

A mural en route to the Chiesa di San Giovanni degli Eremeti or the Monastery of St. John of the Hermits, was founded by the Norman King Roger II in 1142, during the most glorious years of Sicily's Norman rule, and the annexed monastery was the wealthiest Sicilian convent. It was built on the site of an earlier mosque, one of 260 that once inhabited Palermo.

In 2015, UNESCO acknowledged the enormous Arab and Norman influence in Palermo and its vicinity, designating specific sites considered of special beauty and authenticity in relation to their Arab and Norman heritage. They make up Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalú and Monreale, also on our Sicily itinerary. San Giovanni was one of the UNESCO churches.

The term "Normans" or “men from the North” applied first to the Scandinavians and was the name given to the Viking colonists who settled in Gaul and founded Normandy in northern France. From there, they set forth to conquer the British Islands, southern Italy, and Sicily.

Now deconsecrated, the church’s most fascinating part is its striking five domes, a characteristic element of several Arab-Norman buildings. Their red color was derived after an architect found pieces of red plaster on some of the domes and decided to paint them all red.

Entering through the garden was simply divine as we were surrounded by lush plants climbing the walls and columns of the small cloister. We inhaled the scents of citrus trees, agaves, roses, and pomegranates. 

The interior was very small and had a few traces of tiles, mosaics, and frescoes of the mosque on which it had been built. 

The church is considered one of the most characteristic monuments of Norman Palermo and is often chosen as a symbol of the city.

Not far away was the monument to King Philip V of Spain in front of the monumental Palazzo Reale or Royal Palace, also part of the Arab-Norman Palermo route. The palace, now also home to the Sicilian Parliament, was a fascinating mix of 10th-century Norman and 18th-century Spanish architecture.

The corridors were like a teaser of the beauty within the celebrated Palatine Chapel.

The splendor of 11th-century Greek Byzantine mosaics covered every inch of the chapel in a riot of gold with Biblical stories interspersed with scenes of Arab life. The mosaics have been described as the finest products of Byzantine art, without equal in any of the churches of Constantinople, now Istanbul. The Christ Pantocrator in the dome, the angels surrounding him, and the Evangelists absorbed in their studies, which are the oldest mosaics, stood out.

Noah and his Ark:

The city’s Islamic heritage was represented by the wooden ceiling with muqarnas or stalactites, a classic ceiling that is normally found in the largest and most elegant mosques. What a most unpredictable covering for a Christian church!

I'm sure one could spend a lifetime gazing at every inch of the chapel and still miss so much, it was such a feast for the eyes.

After tearing ourselves away from the chapel, Steven and I wandered from room to room while admiring an exhibition of female marble figures.

The Pompeiian Hall:

The glittering mosaics in King Roger's Hall were of the same vintage as those in the Palatine Chapel but without any Christian allegories. Instead, the hunting scenes spoke of power as represented by the eagle in the dome clutching a rabbit in its talons representing cowardice.

The Pisan Tower, built before the construction of the Palatine Chapel, was the core of Norman power within the Royal Palace and also served a military role.

The 17th-century wooden ceiling, decorated with images of flowers and vegetables evoked the era when the Royal Palace and the Pisan Tower were the residences of the Viceroys.

Parliament wasn't in session so we were able to peek in the chamber.

The Royal Garden:

We strolled from the Palace to the Catedrale, also part of the Arab-Norman Palermo route, and the Cathedrals of Cefalù and Monreale UNESCO World Heritage. Its location was in the oldest sacred area of Palermo, where the Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines, and Arabs had built their own places of worship. The Muslim mosque was immediately replaced with a Christian church when the Normans took power. However, that was torn down in 1184 by Palermo's archbishop who began the construction of a new splendid cathedral, a symbol of religious power in the city. Additions and restorations over the following centuries modified the original building to provide a union of incongruous different styles. Note the interlocking Arab arches.

The Baptismal Font:

The Chapel of Santa Rosalia, where the ashes of the patron saint of Palermo have been kept in a silver urn since 1631.

Chiesa del Gesu was built by the Jesuits shortly after they arrived in Palermo in the late 16th century. After suffering major bomb damage in WW2, the building was significantly restored. While the church's facade displays relative restraint typical of the late 16th century, its interior burst with 17th-century Baroque extravagance. 

The marble reliefs with their figural and ornamental motifs were amazing as was the elaborate, inlaid black, tangerine, and cream-colored marble covering every inch. 

One of my enduring memories of Palermo will be our visit to Piazza Bellini and its three churches and wandering minstrels. Noting spoke more to me of Italy right then than this idyllic combination of la dolce vita. The Chiesa Santa Caterina, built as a hospice in the early 14th century and transformed into a Dominican convent the following century, was also decorated with impressive precious marble.

From its terrace, we looked down on the piazza and across to the neighboring churches: on the left was Chiesa di Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio, which was closed for a wedding. On the right was the Chiesa di San Cataldo, built in 1160 during the Norman period, with three red domes of Arabic inspiration. Although unadorned, the interior was very evocative and a pleasant reprieve from the gilt and ornamentation found in the other churches.

The Pavarotti wannabe entertained us and many others on the piazza.

One minute away was the Piazza Pretoria Fontana, a spectacular landmark occupying almost the entire Piazza Pretoria in the heart of the city's historic center. The fountain was built in the 16th century with the basin decorated with dozens of statues of nudes which many Palermitans objected to. It garnered its nickname, the Fountain of Shame after people speculated the fountain's waters were infected with syphilis!

Just around the corner was Quattro Conti or Four Corners, the very decorated intersection of two main thoroughfares. Four, rather beleaguered Spanish palaces met at concave corners, each with a fountain and representation of a Spanish ruler, a season, and a patron saint. I grew dizzy while turning around in a circle and looking at each figure AND  standing in the middle of the intersection, Luckily, traffic was slow then! I took so many photos that I'm having difficulty remembering which statues go with each corner and if any are duplicates!

Steven and I joked many trips ago about how often we come across weddings - today, we were two for two!

Knowing that entering was only by a reserved tour, we walked past the neoclassical Teatro Massimo, Italy's largest and the third largest in Europe after Paris's and Vienna's. Constructed in 1875, it has a glorious interior after its reconstruction for the centenary. The exterior may be more well-known, however, as its steps were the location of a famous shooting scene in The Godfather, Part III!

Next post: Monreale's jaw-dropping Catedrale & a puppet museum!

Posted on November 6th, 2024, from Tunis, Tunisia on our last night on the road. After almost two months, we have great memories from so many sights throughout Luxembourg, Sicily, Malta, and Tunisia as we look ahead to returning home to snow and lots of changes afoot on the political front because of yesterday's momentous election. I'll only be home for a week before we visit our daughter and her family in Chicago together and then I travel to my hometown of Ottawa to see my four brothers. Stay safe and take care of yourself and your loved ones as life can throw a monkey wrench into well-laid plans.