We left Palermo for Castelbuono which is a beautiful town in the hills overlooking the aeolian islands where I have sailed several years ago. We walked up to the castle in Castelbuono at the hilltop. As we walked the street, a man was in front of his house collecting things to take out for garbage. Andrea, our guide, stopped to talk with him translating for us and asking about how long he has lived there. It is very typical on these trips that the group leader has a spontaneous conversation with someone along the way. It is fascinating that people are friendly and open to responding.
We continued our walk up to the castle. It is an ancient structure built by a wealthy family. Apparently they claimed to be carrying the skull of the mother of the Virgin Mary. Of course this gave tremendous prestige to the family and in fact the pope has declared that this is the authentic relic.
We visited the church seeing the private family chapel first. The wall figures are all made of plaster with a special treatment that makes appear like marble. In addition to the usual angels, there were panels showing mean and unhappy people being tortured as a warning to behave. The chapel held the skull of Mary’s mother behind the altar in a locked cage which is paraded around town once yearly. Other rooms held silver and gold items that were part of the religious items of the church. My personal favorite is the ones that supposedly contain bones of saints or pieces of the cross.
We walked into the town center to find a fantastic shops that makes pannetonne. The bread was light and delicious. They are touted as a national treasure. I learned that they do a pop up shop in SoHo NYC around the Christmas holidays. That will be fun.
We had a really nice lunch with great food and local musicians. The food was local specialties with lots of mushrooms. It was raining so we had no rush to leave.
We returned to Palermo in the pouring rain. Patricia and I went to a nearby museum that had a strange mix of old and new pieces. It was an inside event that kept us dry.
I went to the 4th floor to join a few folks for drinks and light food. It was a fun evening. Time to pack and move on.
The Adventures of Anne 