Castelbuono

Today's tour was marked as optional, but our entire group signed up to go. We walked through the pedestrian streets of the Palermo historical district a few blocks until we reached a main thoroughfare where we met a van. The van ride was about 90 minutes, mostly on modern, interstate type highway.

Castelbuono was described as a village, but it has a population of around 10,000. It feels much more like a small town. However, the old center does have the architecture and feel of a Medieval village. It also happens to be the family home of our guide, Flaminia. Her mother was born here and she still has family here. 

The dominant feature is the castle, which has at least a portion dating to the 11th century. The castle has Arabic, Norman, and Spanish features. It was clearly built as a fortress, and seems to have been added onto in a very haphazard manner, with dead end hallways, very low doorways, and lots of steps between levels.

The most important room in the castle is the chapel, which was built by a noble family and redecorated in Baroque style by two plaster artists in 1600. The stucco figures remain in excellent condition, and they almost literally jump off the walls at the viewer.

The chapel is dedicated to Saint Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary, and supposedly her skull is kept in the treasury above the altar. Once a year, on her festival day, St. Anne's skull is taken out and displayed on a balcony overlooking the town, so that the town's folk can receive its blessing. However, it's unclear just how many skulls of St. Anne might be on display in various churches across Europe.

The rest of the castle is now a municipal art museum, with religious art, modern paintings and sculptures, and photography on display. There is also a room devoted to the history of the castle itself.

After touring the castle, we walked to the town's central piazza where we were introduced to our tour leader's mother, who is obviously proud of her daughter's new job with OAT. 

Mom spoke very little English, but Flaminia translated as we asked her questions about her daily life. She looked at the ages of our group members, and told us she was glad that her daughter would have so many mothers to watch over her the next couple of weeks.

With a bit of free time, Mary and I visited the main local church in the piazza. It was a pretty little church with a very old and somewhat damaged altarpiece, as well as some really nice frescoes that were badly damaged and in need of restoration. There was no indication of whether this was war damage or just deterioration, but it could have been quite a showplace with some repair.

We also took a peek at the city hall, but didn't pay the €1.50 each to climb up to the clock tower.

It was time to meet again for lunch, which involved a walk of about a block and a half. Quite surprising for such a small town, we discovered that we would be dining in a Michelin-rated restaurant. Live music greeted us -- a violin and a guitar. Sadly, the musicians had some intonation problems, but they continued to serenade us all the way through the appetizers.

The restaurant specializes in mushroom dishes -- not so much to my delight, but others loved it. I managed to eat most of it, and the pasta -- which was only seasoned and not filled with mushroom chunks -- was actually quite good. The restaurant also had their own label of local wine, which flowed liberally.

Back in the piazza after lunch, Flaminia had arranged for us to taste some sweets made from "manna," a sap derived from a particular species of local ash trees. Think maple syrup candies and cakes, all very tasty.

The ride back to Palermo was hot. The air conditioning on the van wasn't doing its job on this 85 degree afternoon. But we survived. We had time only for a quick bathroom break before heading out once again.

We rode the same van a short distance to another hotel, at the edge of the historical area. There we met with two men from Corleone, a town about an hour south of Palermo, who both had had fathers in the mafia. In fact, one of them was the son of the former head of the entire Sicilian cosa nostra.

We learned of the origins of the mafia in the early 19th century, born out of failed colonial government, poverty, and the remnants of feudalism. We also learned of the connection between American and Sicilian organized crime brought about by World War II. We learned how greed and infighting turned "the family" into "the mob," with indiscriminate violence and involvement in the drug trade. And we learned how law enforcement has broken the mafia from a far-reaching organization into disorganized local gangs.

Both men were kept out of the mafia by their fathers. In fact, the son of the number one Don did not learn the true nature of his father's involvement until the father was arrested when his son was age 16! Nevertheless, he has suffered repeated insults and discrimination due to his family connection. We even had to go to meet him at this location because he is banned from entering many hotels and other meeting places. It was a fascinating presentation, complete projected visuals.

We elected to walk back along the seaside, rather than take the van. It was a pleasant evening, and the historical district was packed with people, despite it being a Sunday night. We enjoyed a gelato and did some people watching.

Later, we returned to the piazza where we had talked to people about the festival light display they were setting up yesterday. The place was, indeed, lit up! 

The church was open, with many banners, flowers, and candles burning. But the Virgin Mary was doing a lot more to fuel the business of the surrounding outdoor bars than she was doing to pack in the faithful for prayers. It was a real carnival atmosphere that gave no indication of wrapping up early.