9/21/24: More of Palermo's Pretty Sights

After leaving the glorious, mosaic-filled Duomo and adjacent cloister in Monreale, Steven and I returned to Palermo, just a few miles away. The driver mentioned that one million people lived in the city.

We drove through Porta Nuova, a monumental city gate of Palermo located beside Palazzo Reale, the city’s royal palace. We smiled when we learned the gate was built to celebrate Charles V's conquest of Tunis and his visit to the capital of the Kingdom of Sicily because we’d be visiting Tunisia for a month at the end of this trip!

As Chiesa di Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio also known as La Martorana in Piazza Bellini had been closed to visitors the day before, we beetled back there. Thank goodness we did as we arrived just a few minutes before it would be closed for several days. The church was built in the mid-12th century by the great admiral George of Antioch in thanksgiving to the Mother of God for her protection during his long political and maritime activity. At the time, George of Antioch was the Grand Admiral in the Kingdom of Sicily, the highest-ranking officer after the Grand Constable. 

The church, with its elegant campanile or bell tower, was constructed in 1143, but its interior was considerably changed during the Baroque period. However, the church was justifiably famous for some of the oldest and best-preserved Norman mosaic artwork.  

Near the entrance was a mosaic of King Roger II receiving the crown directly from Christ and not the Pope. The mosaic carried the inscription Rogerios Rex in Greek letters. The king had been responsible for creating the Palatine Chapel in the Palazzo and was the grandfather of King William II who built the Duomo in Monreale we'd just admired. Note the bejeweled Byzantine stole Roger wore as it reflected the Norman court's fondness for all things Byzantine.

Archangels along the ceiling were also depicted wearing the same stole wrapped around their arms and shoulders. 

We were relieved not to have missed the mosaics and Baroque elements in the church. 

Lina: I remember calling you from this piazza while Steven finished lunch!

Palazzo Abatellis was designed in 1490-95 for Admiral Francesco Abatellis after returning from military service in Spain. After the family died out, the noble residence became a Dominican monastery with a church added in 1535. After the palazzo was severely damaged in WW2, it was restored and became a museum and then the National Gallery of Sicily in 1954,

The Holy Franciscan Nun was created by a Sicilian wood carver in the early 17th century. She wore the Franciscan habit and a white veil which symbolized charity. 

The two reliefs by a Sicilian wood carver in the 16th century were likely fragments of an altarpiece that narrated episodes of the Virgin Mary's life. They followed the pattern of the most famous marble reliefs made by the Gagini artists who introduced the technique of tiles representing episodes from the bible.

Unfortunately, my photo of The Triumph of Death does not do justice to the gigantic fresco by painters of the 15th-century French and Flemish School of Painting scenically placed on the back wall of the former church and illuminated by the light coming from the dome. The fresco was a macabre depiction of the plague years.

When                                                                             was replanned in 1954, The Triumph of Death was made the focal point so its significant details could be viewed and appreciated from the main floor as well as the upper floor. The central, ghastly figure of Death riding a skeletal horse had a dramatic impact.

The carved wood panel by a Fatimid Islamic wood carver working in Sicily in the 12th century consisted of eight-point stars. The geometric shapes symbolized Arab beliefs where animals and plants recalled the Garden of Eden, a theme also present in the decorations at the Palazzo Reale under the Normans.

The late 15th-century bust by Croatian Francesco Laurana is very likely of gentlewoman Eleonora d'Aragona, wife of William Peralta, the Master of Sciacca, the Count of Caltabellotta, and the Vicar of the Aragonese Kingdom. When she died in 1405, the bust was placed on her funerary monument. The posthumous portrait of the Aragonese noblewoman created almost a century after her death reproduced her features as an abstract, female beauty based on spiritual balance.

The 15th-century Madonna of the Milk statue by Swiss-Italian sculptor Domenico Gagini was made of marble and colored and gilt elements. According to the museum tag, "The statue exemplifies the interpretation of Renaissance that Gagini brought to Sicily: a quest after expressive naturalness of faces and postures, dynamic forms, rich drapings, gold decorations, and hair features made softer by coloring."

Antonello Gagini's Madonna with a Sleeping Christ in a Niche was one of the artist's most significant later works. The delicate features, the effect of light and shading obtained by the supple folds of the mantle, and Christ's chubby limbs recall the influence of Raphael and Gagini's study of architecture.

The delightful Madonna with Child Surrounded by Cherubs was executed in Antonello Gagini's workshop in the third and fourth decade of the 16th century from marble and traces of color and gilding. It's considered a form of mannerism.

The museum was expanded in 2009 with the opening of the 18th-century wing of the old monastery to include 16th and 17th-century paintings from local churches and private collections. 

One room was dedicated to the Italian Renaissance artist Antonello da Messina and his masterpiece L'Annunciata. Probably painted in Sicily in 1476, it shows Mary interrupted at her reading by the Angel of the Annunciation. According to Wikipedia, Mary is shown looking out of the picture, “not at the viewer but an unseen archangel Gabriel out of frame to the left, thus allowing the painter to dispense with also painting Gabriel. The unusually simple depiction of Mary dispenses with the lush brocade folds in Antonello's later works and the gold background used by earlier artists, showing her simply as a young Jewish woman surprised by the archangel's words.”

In the center of a room dedicated to Flemish painting was one of the most precious items in the Prince's home. As the oil painting by Jan Gossaert was a gift in 1866 from Alessandro Migliaccio Galletti, Prince of Malvagna, it was always referred to as the Malvagna Triptych. Late in the 17th century, the painting was sent to the Art Galleries of the Grand Duke Cosimo dei Medici in Florence where it stayed for some time. After it ran the risk of being bought by Queen Christina of Sweden, there was a long dispute before it was restored to its owners. Gossaert's fame among his contemporaries was linked to his introduction of Italian figure painting among his fellow Flemish painters. 

Glancing toward a small alley, I happened to notice this amusing street art.

Though the Palazzo Butera was described as having one of Sicily's and Italy's most imaginative museum collections, Steven and I gave it a pass after visiting the Palazzo Abatellis. The former's focus on experimental modern artists wasn't our cup of tea.

Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian nationalist leader and anti-Catholic who sought to overthrow the pope through military action. As a key figure in the unification of Italy, he led a volunteer army to capture Lombardy for Piedmont, and later conquered Sicily and Naples. He gave southern Italy to King Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont, who established the Kingdom of Italy. He stayed at the Palazzo while in Palermo.

Porta Felice is another monumental city gate in Palermo.

    

From the sublime Palazzo Abatellis, Steven and I needed a change of scene, and the Museo Internazionale delle Marionette Antonio Pasqualino, a collection of more than 4,000 puppets from Sicily and elsewhere, was sure to delight us! The history of the museum is closely intertwined with the legacy of its namesake, a surgeon and anthropologist from Palermo. When faced with a declining interest in puppetry during the mid-20th century, Pasqualino worked tirelessly to preserve and revitalize the Opera dei Pupi, a traditional Sicilian puppet theater. Pasqualino and his wife, Janne Vibaek, collected stage texts, puppets, theaters, and furnishings, saving them from oblivion.

Shek thom was a Khmer shadow theater that was described in the UNESCO List of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. It originated thousands of years ago and is considered sacred. Its repertoire was inspired by the Khmer version of the Ramayana, the 24,000-stanza Indian epic, and often took place over several days and nights and included 10-12 operators and 160 puppets. After the puppets' hides were dyed with a solution made from the bark of the Kandaol tree, the artisan drew the figure on the tanned hide, cut it, and painted it. Two bamboo sticks were attached to enable the puppet's animation. Each puppet weighed from 5-10 kgs and was up to 2 meters high. 

Indian shadow puppets constructed by Ramana Murty and Andra Pradesh in 1978:

Yoke that thabin were string marionettes from the Burma Marionette Theater created long ago to spread ideological and religious messages. They declined after the end of the monarchy and the British occupation. Because the wooden marionettes were manipulated with up to 60 strings from above and behind the backdrop, they required the most complex movements.

The Neapolitan Puppets of Ciro Perna have been practiced since at least the 18th century. They were watched by an aristocratic and plebeian audience. Neapolitan puppet performances included several stories of bandits as well as stories of the underworld with events from the Napoleonic era and ending with Italy's unification.

Shadow puppets and marionettes from Java and Bali, Indonesia:

In the town of Ketu near the border of Nigeria and Benin, the Yoruba people use marionette masks called Gẹlẹdẹ for rituals celebrated at the beginning and end of the rainy season. Worn over the head, the figures appear over the crowd, moving from below with strings during a dance by the dancer wearing them. The result is the movement of the dancers and the marionettes blend into a single action.

African animated figures reflect puppet theaters with different sacred and playful aspects. African puppets aren't well known because of the repression of animist religions during the colonial period and the lack of ancient documents.

Bunraku puppets from Japan in 2007:

The Barber of Seville as performed at Milan's Teatro Alfa Berry in 1935:

We smiled when we saw the Italian-made Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy puppets from 1920!

These puppets were created to perform the show Roncisvalle put on by a theater in France and produced in collaboration with the Museo. The show was inspired by Sicilian traditional puppetry, the Opera dei Pupi, and its epic chivalry repertoire. The intricately crafted puppets were a true testament to the artistry and craftsmanship of Sicilian puppetry.

Wooden wine and liquor boxes decorated with curtain ropes, screwdrivers, paint brushes, and hemp were these puppets' multi-colored bodies and heads.

The Museo plays a vital role in safeguarding, conserving, enhancing, promoting, and disseminating heritage linked to puppetry. It's not only a repository of historical artifacts but also a center for research and education. Its Giuseppe Leggio Library houses approximately 7,000 books on puppetry and folk traditions, making it a valuable resource for scholars and enthusiasts alike. If you venture to Palermo, I highly recommend a stop at this hidden treasure after you've had your fill of Palermo's churches and palazzos!

Palermo's harbor:

After wandering through the harborfront, we strolled through adjacent streets en route to the Oratorio del Rosario di San Domenico located behind the church of the same name. 

Construction was begun in 1578 on the present Oratory, described as one of Palermo's great unsung treasures. In 1628, the Flemish Baroque painter Anthony van Dyck, 1599-1641, sent the large altarpiece The Madonna of the Rosary with Dominican Saints.

Monreales’ own Pietro Novelli, 1603-1647, nicknamed by contemporaries the Raphael of Sicily, painted the fresco on the vault, The Coronation of the Virgin, as well as two other paintings in the series of paintings of the Mysteries of the Rosary.

The private chapel was sumptuously adorned with luxurious, creamy white stuccos elegantly crafted by Giacomo Serpotta, 1656-1732, depicting figures representing Obedience, Patience, Liberty, Justice, Humility, and more. These allegorical figures in the form of elegant society ladies would never have graced a public place of worship like a church! 

There were numerous references incorporated into each sculpture. I couldn't help but chuckle seeing the gold-colored lizard on Fortune's column. It was a reference to the artist himself whose name was akin to the Sicilian dialect word for 'lizard.'

Believe me, after a long day that had begun in Monreale we slowly trudged our way back to our 861-square-foot apartment located in the central part of Palermo. Sarah: Here are some photos of where we stayed in case you and Chris decide to return to Palermo someday. It felt like an old palazzo that had seen better days but we had no complaints as the place oozed charm and was a very moderate $250 for three nights.

Next post: Exploring Termini Immerse, Caccamo, & Collesano with our rental car.

Posted on November 13th, 2024 from our home outside of Denver. Wishing you and your loved ones all the very best - please make sure you take care of each other.