Bada Bing

I think my sense of Palermo has been irreparably influenced by years of watching “The Sopranos.”

All the older men I see remind of Tony—stomachs bulging over their belts, thin gold chains around their necks and wrists. All the young men seem to be shorter versions of Christopher with tight pants and dark, dark hair; the young women look like Adriana in boots and low cut tight jeans with fluffed out hair and big glasses and, of course, I catch several glimpses of Carmela look-alikes with their French manicures and trendy track suits.

Today while wandering through the old section we came across a wedding or some kind of celebration at a church. It was hard not to think that the whole crowd came right from some movie featuring Joe Pesci. Every man was in a black suit of some slick and shiny material. The women, all with long black hair and lots of dramatic eye make-up, had on tight, tight dresses with spike heels and everyone was kissing each other profusely.

Like true tourists, Steve and I stayed away from the main shopping area which our concierge assured us was "safe" and instead plunged immediately into the old historic area where he told us to "be careful." Having braved the back streets of Naples, we weren’t about to be intimidated by Palermo. We spent the entire afternoon wandering through the food market, walking up and down the streets past by a million churches and palazzos, many of which look they have never recovered from World War II and ended up the Cappella Palatina, a medieval jewel box of a church decorated with amazingly beautiful golden mosaics.

Palermo seems a very Catholic city. Every taxi driver has a cross or a religious medallion hanging from his windshield. He needs some protection given how bad the traffic is! Riding back in our taxi to the hotel, we were hit gently but firmly by another car. This caused a great deal of what I assume to be vigorous and colorful cursing by our taxi driver and the driver of the other car and his passenger, an elderly woman. The screaming match ended in a stand off as far as I could tell.