Mondello
Friday 21 April – up and out this morning and it’s goodbye to Palermo. We had been told that before we departed for Catania, we should double back and visit Mondello, a short distance from the centre of Palermo between the rocky promontories of Monte Pellegrino and Monte Gallo. Once a small village of tuna fishermen centred around a 15th Century square tower, in the last 100 years it has become a residential area. At the turn of the century well to do Palermitans had lovely Art Nouveau villas built here and some are still beautifully maintained along the sea front today. It’s a vibrant place and being only about 20 minutes’ drive from Palermo, a favourite for city dwellers to escape for the weekend.
The jewel in the crown is the Stabilimento Balneare, a magnificent Art Nouveau gem, built on stilts above the aquamarine waters. Rudolf Stualker, the architect, originally built it for Ostend in Belgium but thought it would look much better in the Mediterranean climate of Mondello. How right he was! Accessed by a wooden, pier-like bridge, it is a yellow and white ode to the Liberty Style.
We began our visit with a coffee stop at Scimone, a fabulous gelato and pastry café and judging by the amount of happy customers, a well frequented establishment. There was a huge amount of teenagers in town, not quite sure why they weren’t at school but perhaps it was their equivalent of the US Spring break? In any case, the café and beach was packed with plenty of them having boisterous fun together and all very civilised, (apparently alcohol doesn’t play much part in beach society here) – the innocence of youth (although an appropriate vending machine was there just in case!).
We had a lovely stroll along the beach, past the Stabilimento Balneare and right around to the ancient “tonnara” (tuna fishery) whose 15 century round tower still stands. Very pretty scenery, lovely quaint restaurants, and beautifully painted, colourful fishing boats. We were very happy to have been given the heads up on this and so pleased we didn’t miss out on such a pretty little village. Back in the car, and a 3 hour drive to Catania, our next stop.
