Page 111 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

The waterfront

From the Quattro Canti, Corso Vittorio Emanuele stretches east towards the
waterfront, where the old city harbour of La Cala is on the left. This thumb-shaped
inlet was once the main port of Palermo, stretching as far inland as Via Roma, but the

harbour was in decline from the sixteenth century, when silting caused the water to
recede to its current position. With all the heavy work transferred to new docks to the
northwest, La Cala’s surviving small fishing fleet now plays second fiddle to the
yachts of Palermo’s well-heeled. The little harbour is overlooked on one side by the
church of Santa Maria della Catena, named after the chain that used to close the

harbour in the late fifteenth century. The Corso, meanwhile, ends at the Baroque Porta
Felice gate, begun in 1582 as a counterbalance to the Porta Nuova, visible way to the
southwest. From here, you can judge the extent of the late medieval city, which lay
between the two gates.

The whole area beyond the Porta Felice was flattened in 1943, and has since been

rebuilt as the Foro Italico promenade (also known as Foro Umberto I), complete with
small amusement park, from where you can look back over the harbour to Monte
Pellegrino. This is one of the liveliest places in the city on summer evenings, when the
locals take to the street armed to the teeth with cellphones and ice creams. A street
back, on Via Butera, the seventeenth-century facade of the Palazzo Butera faces out
over the Foro Italico. Once the home of the Branciforte family, at one time the
wealthiest family in Sicily, it was gradually partitioned and sold off, and is now only

open for conferences or groups of visitors, but numerous films have been shot here,
including The Talented Mr Ripley and The Godfather Part III.

SICILIAN PUPPET THEATRE

Sicily’s most vibrant traditional entertainment is its puppet theatre, and in the
engaging Museo delle Marionette (Mon–Sat 9am–1pm & 2.30–6.30pm, Sun 10am–
1pm, closed Sun June, July & Aug; €5; 091 328 060,
museomarionettepalermo.it) you’ll find the country’s definitive collection of
puppets and painted scenery; the museum is just down Via Butera at Piazzetta
Antonio Pasqualino. The fairly wide-ranging collection also encompasses puppet

figures from Rajasthan, glittering dragons from Rangoon and the British Punch and
Judy in their traditional booth, but it’s the Sicilian puppets that steal the show. Best
of all is to see one of the theatrical performances staged at the museum – enjoyably
rowdy affairs of battles, chivalry, betrayal and shouted dialect, based around French
and Sicilian history and specifically the exploits of the hero Orlando (Roland).

Other backstreet puppet theatres, run by the same families for generations, include
Figli d’Arte Cuticchio, at Via Bara all’Olivella 95, near Teatro Massimo ( 091