It's a Wonderful Palermo Life
The holidays are finally over and I'm back! You are probably wondering why I haven't told you about Christmastime in Sicily. I'm really sorry. I looked for some truly special and genuine out-of-this-world happenings, but the truth is, I didnt find any.
During the holiday season, many cultural activities spring up in Sicily. Actuallly, way too many to fully appreciate: living cribs (crèches), extravagant Christmas trees, concerts, exhibitions and installations. So you're probably wondering why Barbara hadn't found any interesting enough to write about. Naturally, I haven't seen them all, but the few events I took part in this year were very boring, or, because of insufficient public funding, not well done.
I don't know what you did, but I spent my holidays eating too much, meeting people I haven't seen in decades, and of course, watching traditional holiday-themed movies on TV. So now, close your eyes and try to picture me on a typical holiday day: lying in my bed with my daughters in the morning, watching Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life for the 36th time, crying after George Bailey's misery while eating some delicious Sicilian pastry.
For dinner, I visited one of my relatives, gorging myself on more delicious food, making small talk with my great uncle's son. He is someone that I only normally see for weddings, funerals and other big events that require the entire family to get together, commenting of course, on the evergreen values of Capra's movies.
The next day, I decided to take a long stroll in the city center, as I needed to observe my city coming back to normalcy. It was time to forget about the holiday excesses by enjoying a normal Palermo Sunday promenade. All that was left from the annual festivities were the Christmas light decorations.
My walk was magical. I walked and walked for hours, taking photos of my wonderful, flat, provincial, and beloved hometown. I wanted to share some of these snapshots with you, so I hope you enjoy them.
By the way, in January, Palermo is giving birth to a new 'baby,' its first International Biennial! I look forward to telling you all about it in the next article.