and now for an education on palermo

I'm a teacher now, you know. So I'd better get practicing. Lesson 1: Palermo.

1. Although you may not have heard of it, Palermo is pretty large.

For a bit of context, the population of Palermo is roughly 663,000. It's the fifth-largest city in Italy, after Rome, Milan, Naples, and Turin. For comparison, San Francisco has about 800,000. Boston has closer to 600,000. Baltimore, at 636,000 people, is roughly the size of Palermo. So it's a good-sized city.

2. The automatic association between Sicily and the Mafia is no longer valid.

I think most Americans associate Palermo, and Sicily in general, with the Mafia. La Cosa Nostra. The Godfather movies. It's okay... I think my interest in Italy was probably initially sparked by The Godfather, though I'd never admit that to an Italian. But even they should acknowledge that Sicily as depicted in those films was so beautiful and exotic. Anyway, the truth is, there was a major crackdown on the Mafia in Sicily during the 1990s, and hundreds of people, including major bosses, were sent to prison. La Cosa Nostra, by the way, is the specific term for the Sicilian version of organized crime.

Anyway, nowadays, organized crime is much less powerful in Sicily than it is in Naples/Campania, where the Camorra is a huge, violent problem, or in Calabria, where the 'Ndrangheta essentially controls that entire (large) region. All politicians, all businesses, all of the local economy, everything. And since the 'Ndrangheta is basically this huge, tight-knit family, nobody ever rats anybody out, and nobody spills any secrets. Thus, scholars and authorities know next to nothing about this major criminal organization -- how they operate, who's involved, where they're based. Nothing. It's pretty scary.

The point is, if you want to worry about organized crime, Sicily is no longer the place to worry about it. Don't get me wrong, the Cosa Nostra does still have a presence here. Just two days ago, there was a mafia-related shooting in Catania, on the street, middle of the day. But you can all relax... I have a feeling that the mafia isn't that interested in coming after me. And in any case, I was in much more danger last summer in Naples than I will be here.

3. Palermo and Me

To be honest, my first reaction to Palermo was nostalgia for Bologna and for Naples. It's nothing like Bologna... cute little Bologna, with all its medieval buildings and cobblestone streets. Bologna's small and wealthy and clean and totally walkable. And the buses, while they don't exactly run on time, are numerous and convenient and do at least arrive. Bologna's full of fancy boutiques and Prada-clad women walking around with little dogs. In retrospect, I realize what a perfect place Bologna was for studying abroad. A cozy, livable, student-friendly little city.

In comparison, Palermo is big and messy and dirty and loud. A lot of the older buildings haven't been well maintained and a lot of the architecture is from the Mafia-run construction boom of the 60's and 70's, and much of it is downright ugly. The scenery is beautiful: there's the ocean, with a gorgeous beach. There's that huge mountain, Monte Pellegrino, looming over it. But somehow it doesn't have the powerfully striking, almost violent beauty of Naples. Naples is basically a city on a hillside next to the ocean, so that from almost everywhere in the city there are spectacular ocean views. And a major volcano, Mount Vesuvius.

And somehow, also, it doesn't seem to have the intensity and the liveliness of Naples. In Naples, there are always people yelling in the streets. People standing in doorways and on sidewalks chatting and arguing and watching people go by, and often, if those people are women, whistling and cat-calling. I suppose it's because Naples has a much greater population density than Palermo. But also, I don't know, there's an intensity and passion to the people of Naples that seeps into the streets.

In Naples, every time I interacted with someone in an exchange of more than a sentence or two, they would notice my accent and ask me where I was from. And upon hearing my response, they would always get extremely excited and ask if I knew their cousin Frankie in Springfield or tell me the two words of English they knew or make my cappuccino with cream instead of milk. Damn, those were good. And they would always, always ask what I thought of their city. And when I responded that it was beautiful, they would beam with pride and say something like, it is, isn't it? Poor Naples is much maligned both within Italy and by tourists.

But here, so far, I haven't seen that level of friendliness, openness, and curiosity. I haven't felt that life-force that electrifies Naples. (If you haven't been there, it's hard to explain what it's like. You should go, with an open mind, and feel it for yourself.) Of course, I'm extremely new to this city, and I'm in no position to make judgments about it yet. I'll stay open-minded. And I'll let you know how it goes.