Page 106 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

Il Capo

Around the back of the Cattedrale lies the Capo quarter, one of the oldest areas of
Palermo and another labyrinthine web of run-down streets. The only touch of grace is
in the tree-planted Piazza del Monte, while former grandeur is indicated by a few

surviving sculpted portals in the decaying palaces. One alley, Via Porta Carini, climbs
past shambolic buildings and locked, battered churches to reach the decrepit Porta
Carini itself, one of the city’s medieval gates.

These days Via Porta Carini holds one of the city’s best markets, and the entire area
is reminiscent at times of an Arab souk, though with a decidedly Sicilian choice of

wares. The market extends on either side of Via Porta Carini, west to the edge of the
Capo district and east, along Via Sant’Agostino – the closer you get to Via Maqueda,
the more it’s devoted to clothes and shoes rather than food.

Sant’Agostino

Via Sant’Agostino • Mon–Sat 7am–noon & 4–6pm, Sun 7am–noon

Sant’Agostino was founded by the Chiaramonte and Sclafani families in the thirteenth
century. Above the main door (on Via Raimondo) there’s a gorgeous latticework rose
window and, inside through the adjacent side-door, some fine seventeenth-century
stuccoes by Giacomo Serpotta. Another door leads to a quadrangle of calm sixteenth-
century cloisters. Otherwise, turn the corner, and along Via Sant’Agostino, behind the
market stalls, the church sports a badly chipped, sculpted fifteenth-century doorway

attributed to Domenico Gagini.