Month: November 2014

Qanat: the cathedral under the city

Qanat in Palermo

Back in the Middle Ages, when Palermo was the capital of the Muslim Emirate of Sicily, the Arabs adorned the city with their elegant palaces and castles, but they also built one of the most impressive works of engineering ever accomplished at the time: the Qanat.
Have you ever heard the word qanat? It’s Arab and it’s the name of the majestic underground structures used as aqueduct in the ancient emirates or in the Persian cities, where they were called kaniz.

The blue chamber of secrets hidden in the heart of Palermo

The blue chamber of secrets in Palermo

The capital of Sicily, Palermo, hides many secrets, a whole life wouldn’t be enough to uncover them all. Hidden rooms inside churches and palaces, catacombs, secret passages once used by secret societies, and underground tunnels: they’re the marks left on the city by a turbulent history made of conquers, wars and revolutions, that have seen the city passing under the dominion of several civilizations.

The gifts of the dead, or what they do in Sicily for Halloween

A fair of the dead in Catania

Every country has its own traditions associated with the last days of October and the first of November, the most famous is surely Halloween, the American festivity largely adopted in the Western world. In Italy though, especially in Sicily, there are some ancient traditions related to this time of the year, they are deeply rooted and probably even more fascinating than the night of witches.

Runaways for love: ‘a fuitina

Getting married can be truly hard in Sicily, especially when the marriage is hindered by the spouses’ families. Ancient hostility between relatives or the protectiveness of fathers towards their daughters, can make it almost impossible. Moreover, most of the times, the girl’s family is concerned about what people will think if she has a relationship with a young man. That’s why it’s not uncommon for young couples to run away from their homes together.

Slaughterhouse waste turned into street food: they call it “‘A frittula”

‘A Frittula is a typical preparation part of the culinary tradition of Palermo, a particular kind of street food: not the most popular for sure and quite mysterious. The raw ingredients used to cook the frittola are the result of the butchery of the calf: pieces of meat and small cartilages considered waste products of the cut of meat.