June 16, 2024, 07:25
5 min read
A late afternoon in June. The desire to go beyond the spaces we inhabit in everyday life. Enter the historic center of Palermo, into the soul of the city. In a world where the frenetic life of nearby areas seems to take a break.
The different dimension of time
The voices. The rusty railings. The cracks in the walls. The vases with flowers. The closed windows of abandoned houses. A small bicycle leaning against a wall, perhaps a child’s favorite pastime. Walking along these streets almost seems like accessing a dimension in which the flow of time appears slower.
People’s behaviors also seem to be in line with this different philosophy of life: the game of football in the squares, the clothes hanging on the external walls of the houses, the chairs in front of the doors of the houses to take some fresh air and chat with the neighbours.
Observe the human variety you encounter: a lively kaleidoscope between immigrants, residents of the neighborhood who have lived there for generations and those who have recently moved following a partial redevelopment process in the area. Tourists happy to indulge in distraction.
Go through the alleys
You wander through the alleys without knowing exactly which direction to take. Admire the courtyards that come to life in the spaces between the restored noble palaces and the ruins of old buildings, the spontaneous vegetation clinging to the walls. Who knows if it will still be like this in a hundred years.
As soon as you turn the corner you feel an indefinable emotion. Certain places have a close connection with feelings and that connection is revealed to us every time we return there.
Here it is: the Church of the Magione, the front garden and the baroque portal. Come in. Three women recite the Ave Maria. Without stopping for a moment, in a sweet litany. They are dressed in black, and life has probably taken away someone important from each of them.
You decide to go out, it almost feels like you’re violating their silence. You enter the cloister, with its arches and the well in the centre; it induces silence and meditation and you like the sense of secrecy it gives off.
Museums, palaces, churches: what magic
Your pilgrimage continues. Museums, palaces, churches: testimonies of the souls of the different peoples who lived there. The beauty that surrounds you always manages to surprise you.
In the Oratory of the Whites Serpotta’s angels almost seem to come to life. The Virgin of the Annunciation by Antonello da Messina is on display at Palazzo Abatellis. Imagine the widows walking along the walls of the Badlands.
Consider that the Genie, that middle-aged man with the beard, the crown and a snake biting his chest, you found it in Piazza Revolution, in the fountain in Piazza Pretoria, in the Vucciria and in Villa Giulia. You smile at the thought of the group of nuns who left the convent at night to cover the pudenda of the statues in the Fountain of Shame.
Then, another place of feelings: the Chapel of the Ladies. Not far away, the house of Count Cagliostro, that Giuseppe Balsamo esotericist, seer, miracle worker, alchemist, perhaps scammer.
Finally, beyond the bell towers of the Cathedral, you see the Palazzo dei Normanni standing out with the “divine masterpiece” of the Palatine Chapel inside, as Guy de Maupassant defined it.
So many stories to tell…
How many stories would there still be to tell, how many memories are preserved in the buildings, in the alleys, in the squares. You look at some buildings left at the mercy of the injustice of time and you glimpse traces of the magnificence of a bygone era.
Yet, reflect that those which appear as contemporary romantic ruins are in reality the manifestation of years of delays and inertia of public administrations.
Beauty attacked and lost
Historic center is beauty and charm. But it is also abandonment, degradation, marginalization. A place where the State sometimes seems unable to effectively exercise its authority; a place of ghettoization of ethnic groups, of drug dealing, of filth. You feel resentment for the beauty attacked, lost, abandoned.
A recovery process must be implemented of these places to allow the community to reclaim them and fully experience those spaces, giving meaning to living in that place and not another. It has been said and we have repeated it many times.
Of course, the responsibility of public administrations, but also of us citizens. Because we are the first custodians of beauty. Collaboration is essential because it allows you to integrate different perspectives and resources.
The shared administration of the city
There’s a lot of talk about “shared administration” as a way to help the administration carry out its institutional mission and bring the Constitution to life by implementing the principle of horizontal subsidiarity which has remained a dead letter for too long.
Participate together with public entities to the experience of caring for everyone’s goods as if they were one’s own is also implementing a quality democracy, a great exercise of collective responsibility.
Active citizens they can be those who, through collaboration agreements, organize themselves to revive an abandoned green area, thus also strengthening community bonds, social cohesion, the sense of belonging.
Or again, which they are committed to keeping clean the areas in front of the churches, monuments, public and private buildings in their neighborhood. Or who undertake to guide tourists through the wonders of the immense artistic and cultural heritage.
The common commitment towards redemption
We must commit ourselves to transforming places of marginalization, abandoned areas, in spaces of social redemption, in urban parks, in open-air theaters, in squares for meetings and cultural exchanges. In healthy and beautiful places, involving young artists, writers, poets, writers because culture strengthens the sense of belonging and identity among the inhabitants.
It’s now evening. You find yourself on the steps of the Church of Gesù, Professed House. You seem to see Father Pirrone climbing the steps waiting for Don Fabrizio to consummate his marital betrayal with the young Mariannina.
You hear voices. Next to a trailer two girls speak lovingly to a woman; he seems to be looking into a distant point, he is probably under the influence of drugs. They ask her if she would like to have her long hair that falls in her face shortened.
The reality that seems like a novel
This is not a novel, it’s reality. These are volunteers who with patience and dedication spend part of their time to bring comfort to the least fortunate, to those whom the world sometimes seems to forget. Another extraordinary example of how the third sector can contribute to building a more inclusive and supportive society.
Palermo is also this, Palermo is many things: missed opportunities, unresolved problems, inadequate infrastructure, crime; but also artistic and cultural heritage, solidarity, hospitality. And a lot of humanity.
The latter is the city we would like. For those who live there. But also for those who leave and decide to return.
Published on
June 16, 2024, 07:25
