Palermo
Palermo is the capital città and was the first stop on our Sicilian ancestral adventure. It was from the port of Palermo in the spring of 1910 that my maternal grandparents, Rosario Mannone and Antoninia Sarcone, emigrated from Italy to the United States. Now, 115 years later, Paul and I arrive in a different Palermo, a different Sicily than the one they left -- more prosperous, more modern, and definitely more full of tourists. From Naples, we arrived by train which crossed the Strait of Messina on a ferry! You can watch the video I made of them loading the train on the ferry at this link. We are staying in a cute apartment I found on Booking.com, Aurora House, for about $64 USD per night. It's close to our language school, about a block from the Capo market, and about a 5 minute walk from Teatro Massimo. For us, it was a perfect location. The Teatro Massimo is the largest opera house in all of Italy and can seat 1,387. It is quite spectacular. We loved shopping and eating...