Friday, March 15 - Rain & Palermo Puppet Theater

Well, if it's going to rain where else to go but to Il Ballarò!!

 

Today we made Stuffed Squid in a white wine sauce.



Yes, the vegetables are the Fritedda leftovers.

 

In the afternoon the rain broke, so we went to the "old" quarter of Palermo, "the Kalsa" located at the waterfront.  Here we visited Opera dei Pupi, a traditional Sicilian puppet theatre featuring honorable knights battling the invaders!! 

 Puppetry was a very famous entertainment medium centuries ago, and the Museum has over 2,000 puppets from around the world.

 

 

 

This is one of the background scenes for the puppets.

 This is the stage on which the puppets perform.

  The puppets, some as tall as 4 feet.

The cavalry!

  Ahh the fight! 




Inventory

 Do you recognize these figures?

 

 

The Kalsa Quarter was the heart of old Palermo until WWII when it was bombed heavily.  It is here that Giuseppe Tomasi Lampedusa wrote the famous book called Il Gattopardo.  It is a recount of how Sicilian life changed when Garibaldi and his "red shirts" invaded the island and forever changed the culture and lives of the nobility and the people.   Lampedusa resided at Via Butera 28 and it is there where his family reside today, a Palazzo converted into a bed and breakfast.

 

 

While at the waterfront, we followed-up on Ignazio's tip and found a seaman who sold one of my favorite seafoods, Ricci di Mare (Sea Urchin or Uni in Japanese) which just happened to be in season along with artichokes!!!  (Now Tony knows why we came in March!!)

 

 Knowing my love for Ricci di Mare, Ignazio and Maria served it for us at a family dinner held later in the week.  What a SPECIAL event, both the dinner and the Ricci di Mare.

 

 

I may look hesitant, BUT they tasted REALLY GOOD!!