Sicily trip: Palermo, Jan 2 afternoon

We browsed around the the old town a bit, the ghetto, which seemed like a mixed neighborhood:



(The Jews were expelled, of course, under the Spanish rule, in 1492.)

A long stop at GAM -- Civica Galleria d'Arte Moderna located, since 2005, in the restored convent and church of S. Anna alla Misericordia. "Modern" is relative: the gallery presents the paintings and sculpture mostly of the 19-th and early 20-th centuries. The exhibit is arranged according to the accepted theory of evolution of artistic styles; it clearly shows little originality in Sicilian art of that time. I found it disappointing, given the rich history. M liked neoclassical mannerism: she found the white bull cute:



(I didn't care for the bull, thought he was... well, a bully, and Europa was not my type.) I generally like sappy art, so I thought Young Dante was cute.



After GAM, I had a beer and a snack in a bar and read a local paper while M was shopping. Don't ask. It was around 8 when we finally headed for the Royal Palace and recently cleaned up Capella Palatina (two stars), to see the 12-th century Byzantine mosaics (two stars).

Unfortunately this visit turned out to be most disappointing. I'd say it was organized in the "old Europe" style, with much regard for bureaucracy and little regard for the customer. First, it turned out, they took reservations. There was room for all but they made us wait until all the people with reservations were let in. Then they put together large guided groups that kept clashing into each other. Our guide was a young woman who happened to be the fastest talker in Italy, possibly in the universe. I've never met anyone who can talk so fast -- only in TV ads. She led us to the Capella. There were rows of chairs set up and she invited us to sit down and lectured for about 15 minutes, speaking too fast for me to catch a single word, except "normanni" and "mosaici." Then we got up and she led us out. M took a couple of pictures...





I'm not sure why -- there are better pictures on the web. We thought we would be able to go back and see the capella in peace, but they turned us away and dumped us instead into a hall that held a Picasso exhibit from the private collection of a German nuts and bolts manufacturer, who, apparently, gave money for the cleaning of the capella. Somehow, I felt cheated of the 12th century mosaics -- the hell with Picasso. We returned home very late -- Io molto stanco e un po' infelice, M non stanca e abbastanza felice. (But we saw very similar mosaics in Martorana, a 12th-century Norman church -- two stars -- the next day.)