La Bella Palermo Palazzo: Sleeping like a Principessa in Palermo

By Leslie Westbrook | September 24, 2024

Sleeping like a principessa at La Bella Palermo Palazzo (courtesy photo)

I love Sicily— and not just because I am half-Sicilian! The food markets, the array of amazing architecture, the people, the scenery…

Palermo is a vibrant port city, from its underground catacombs to the heights of Santa Rosalia, and from amazing fine art collections and museums to eye-popping churches and restaurants of the highest caliber with scenic views. In May, I spent ten days on the island of my maternal ancestors: this, and my next column, skim the surface of many reasons to visit.

Francesco Cazzaniga, host of LaBella Palermo, enjoys rooftop dining at DOBA in Palermo (photo by Leslie A. Westbrook)

Andiamo!

I traveled to the island with longtime friend and colleague Nigel Summerley, a London-based travel writer, editor, jazz drummer and lover of ancient sites. Nigel decided to tag along with me after discovering we could attend a contemporary production of Phaedra/Fedra at the ancient Teatro Greco in Siracusa. International driver’s licenses in hand, we got along rather well (except for when we had to navigate roundabouts in our rental car), trading off driving vs. navigator positions during his week-long, and my 10-day tour.

Sicily is a wonderful island of contrasts: palazzos and ruins, beautiful beaches and an active-at-times volcano; festivals and fireworks, people watching galore, amazing food, and markets filled with gorgeous fruits, vegetables and fresh fish that make grocery shopping in the USA look anemic.

Our brilliant journey began in Palermo where we spent two nights at fabulous La Bella Palermo in Palazzo Pantelleria. We arrived from London late – around 9 pm – and hungry. Our delightful host, Francesco Cazzaniga, helped us with our bags up the stairs and into our rooms before guiding us to a nearby restaurant where we were seated in the atmospheric heart of the first of many, delicious and memorable meals.

Our first, at Fúnnaco PizzaLab, was a great kick off – Nigel devoured his pizza although I could only finish half of mine, but we did finish off the bottle of delicious Sicilian wine as we happily dined al fresco on a narrow street softly lit by the glow of streetlamps, thrilled to have arrived in this fascinating city.

I didn’t fully realize the magic and magnificence of our lodging until the next morning. I awoke happier than I had been in months, feeling like a principessa in the palazzo on this island I love so much and yearn to learn more about. Who knew that I would be sleeping in the same room once occupied by the American contemporary artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel or other notables (including another famous artist, Peter Doig) who have discovered this hidden gem, as well as the excitement of Palermo which has been experiencing a renaissance?

The five-bedroom, five-bathroom palazzo can be rented for $2,000 a night and is a sight for the eyes (courtesy photo)

La Bella Palermo is the creation of Massimo Cazzaniga, a Milanese who watched his grandfather curse the newspaper every morning when reading the weather report for southern Sicily. His childhood dream rooted in this memory, he purchased a rundown palazzo in the heart of Palermo in 2001, then lovingly restored it, finding artisans to paint incredible ceiling frescoes and details inspired by a historical tome on the palazzi of Sicily. The walls are filled with paintings. The tabletops overflow with books. Sculptures, objets d’art, carved shell pieces, brass weights, opera glasses… all decorate the five-bedroom, five-bathroom palazzo which can be rented for $2,000 a night.

Francesco Cazzaniga (beloved godson and nephew of Massimo) could not have been warmer, or more welcoming and charming. Also originally from Milan, the congenial 50-year-old divides his time between Northern Italy and Catania in Sicily, and has many friends and connections on the Mediterranean island and beyond. He was also most generous in introducing me to a lawyer in Palermo to assist with my long and winding Italian citizenship-by-birthright journey (but that’s another story!).

A mural depicting the two anti-Mafia judges, Falcone and Borsellino, who were murdered (photo by Leslie A. Westbrook)

Next morning, after fresh orange juice and pastries fetched by Francesco from Lucchese gelateria and bakery around the corner, he gave us a walking tour of the neighborhood. First stop, the Basilica di San Domenico where on the front steps we met its priest, Father Fabio, and gained entry into the interior courtyard. We also visited the local market then went off on our own after a tour of the medieval prison, where we viewed drawings on the walls made by prisoners during the Spanish Inquisition, as well as the famous painting of the La Vucciria market by Renato Guttuso. We also found the seaside mural memorializing murdered judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino; the two heroes are revered for their brave war against the mafia.

Nigel went off to tour the creepy yet astonishing catacombs at the 16th-century Cappuccini church (I’d been in the past), while I ventured into the incredible Palazzo Butera. The latter boasts a collection that includes a cornucopia of ancient and contemporary painting – from Gilbert and George to Arts and Crafts architect/furniture designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh – amassed by uber collectors Francesca and Massimo Valsecchi.

Contemporary art is the driving force, but there are also Hellenistic and Roman antiquities, old master paintings, African sculpture, furniture, porcelain, and glass; some 15 collections from every period, especially focused on peak moments when there was transformation or change. The space, which hosts visiting artists and writers, is “a laboratory for contextualizing the past through a dialogue with the contemporary.”

We met up with Francesco again for a fantastic rooftop dinner at DOBA, where we were welcomed by Paola Basile and her husband/chef/owner, Domenico Basile (from whose name DOBA is derived). Domenico’s father, Benito, gracefully poured a fine bottle of Sicilian wine, Mozia Grillo 2023 (from Mozia, on the island of San Pantaleo in the Stagnone Nature Reserve a few kilometers from the coast of Marsala, Sicily). Everyone loved their meal and vino, but I admit I wished I’d ordered what Nigel had: spaghetti with truffles.

We dined on the rooftop with a view of Teatro Massimo, small light-up toys dancing in the air propelled by a street vendor below, and shared a rich conversation with author Tessa Rosenfeld – in Palermo for a two-month-long artist residency at Palazzo Butera, and celebrating the publication of her latest novel, Anime Slave (published in Italian by LINEA edizioni). The four of us took a long stroll after dinner, stopping to buy a perfume from a street vendor before unexpectedly happening upon a group of people dancing to Arabic music in Piazza Bellini, near the Fountain of Shame – a magical ending to a delightful evening, topped off with Cappadonia gelato.

Again, I slept like a principessa, with visions of dried tomatoes and capers and gelato dancing in my head, before our morning departure and car rental as we bade arrivederci e grazie mille to our lovely new amico Francesco.