We tried several other restaurants in Palermo, and found two which offer possibilities. The RISTORANTE CASTELNUOVO, on the other side of the piazza of the same name, is another of those high-ceiling, white places, devoid of atmosphere but dedicated to an honest standard of cooking. Anglo-Saxons like the Castelnuovo, and don't seem to mind the ambulant salesmen who How by their tables without pause. Everyone but the shivering little match girl takes a try at it-the newspaper boy, the fat lady with flowers, the lottery-ticket man, the bangle vendor and, of course, the violin-and-guitar duo with the silver tenor.
SPANO, probably the best of the “typical” restaurants in Palermo, is on the Via Messina Marina. It is likely to be gay, crowded and noisy; reminiscent of a Genoese trattoria. It's not the place to wear a mink or a monocle, but the cooking is good and a few local specialties appear, including that delectable risotto alla Sicilian. The atmosphere is salty, authentic and friendly.
MONDELLO
This seaside village, wedged in between two granite promontories some nine miles west of the metropolis, is Palermo's Lido. Its beach is broad and inviting, but its hotel facilities were negligible until last October, when a startling ultramodern newcomer Opened its doors. The MONDELLO PALACE HOTEL is the most luxurious place in Sicily. judged by contemporary standards, and well deserves its standing as the island's third lusso hotel. The Palace is something out of Rio, Holly wood and Le Corbusier all thrown together. The architect, the decorators, and especially the unfettered artist who conceived the super-Picasso tilework, were given a free hand it would seem. The plumber, however, held strictly to reality. Each room has its own beautiful bath, and its own wide private balcony overlooking the sea. The array of lights, fans, gadgets and buttons to push is bewildering, and care must be taken in turning out the lights: Chances are two to one that on your first try you'll land the head waiter at your door with an order pad. This hotel is quieter than anything in Palermo, and it should be a joy to travelers who arrive in the warm months. Everything is spanking new and spotless, and the service is alert and polite. It is a bit expensive, perhaps, but much less than the same category of resort hotel in America. The transportation problem for the earless is nor too complex, for electric buses from the heart of Palermo, twenty minutes away, stop at the front door. Somebody has sunk millions of lire into this modernistic hotel by the sea. He will recoup his millions faster if he installs a top-notch kitchen staff. Three uninspired prix fixe dinners convinced us of that.
SEGESTA
Sicily's great Greek adventure begins as your path heads westward from Palermo, through lemon groves and fishing villages, to the mysterious mountain site of Segesta. Here, in total solitude, is an unfinished Greek temple; its columns all standing, but unfluced. its entablature ready to receive carved metopes which were never achieved. There it stands today in forlorn majesty, just as it was twenty-five centuries ago when war with the Carthaginians interrupted its consiruction. Crows hover noisily about, and a few goats rustle through the surrounding cactus. Otherwise, all is silence. It is one of the most moving sights in Sicily.
TRAPANI
Most travelers turn southward at this point, but we had seen Trapani from the air during a wartime flight from Tunis to Naples, and had always wanted to take a close look at the picturesque windmills which dominate its salt beds. Trapani has been in the business of extracting salt from sea water for centuries, and once carried on a thriving commerce with the Scandinavian countries. The old port and salt beds were rewarding, but the city offered little else. If it hadn't started to rain, a trip to the nearby mountain fortress of Ericc would hove been in order. Instead we turned toward Marsala, passing miles of well-tended vineyards.
SELINUNTE
Another extraordinary glimpse of ancient Greece lies along the southern road which leads to Agrigento and a good night's rest. This is the remains of Sclinuntc, founded seven centuries before Christ, and now an incredible chaos. Especially dramatic arc three ruined temples on a lonely slope above the sea. This has none of the solemn majesty of Segesta rather the fury and violence of an unrecorded earthquake which must have caused most of the grotesque damage. A colossal, cataclysmic stone-pile is the result. In one place the massive drums of Doric columns have been thrown to earth in even rows and lie like fallen stacks of dominoes. It is an archaeologist's heaven. if a turbulent one. The sculptured metopes from Sclinuntc were rescued long ago and moved to the museum in Palermo. There are seven ruined temples in all, one of which has been partially restored, bur these three are enough to stagger the layman.
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