A typical dish made with small land snails that is prepared only in summer
The Kalsa district
The Kalsa district is an intricate maze of streets in the historic center of Palermo, offering an authentic glimpse into the city. Noise, motorbikes, street food, and unique churches bring this distinctive neighborhood to life: walking through it is like immersing yourself in the deepest spirit of the Sicilian capital. Palermo’s inextricable mix of decay and splendor reaches its undisputed peak here. Social housing and wealthy palaces stand side by side. A few meters separate the immaculate facades of ancient palaces from the laundry adorning those of the popular housing.
The Arabs “chosen one”
It was founded by the Arabs between 937 and 938, when a certain Halil-ibn Ishag settled here and named it al-Khālisa, the “chosen one.” It began as a fortified citadel that served the Muslims to establish the government of the emir and his troops, and the neighborhood was built around it. The Arabs were in Sicily for almost three centuries, from the early 800s to the late 1000s. This immense island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea also saw the ancestors (…of the ancestors of the ancestors) of today’s Arabs pass through. Yes, those who today trade oil, organize World Cups and Formula 1 Grand Prix races.
Many souls
Wonderful and enormous murals stand out on some of the tallest buildings a few steps away from centuries-old churches. The Chiesa dello Spasimo is one of these, a unique place to which Raphael dedicated his famous “Madonna dello Spasimo”. The painting, now housed in the Prado Museum in Madrid, was brought to the Spanish capital by Philip IV in 1661 during Spanish rule. Not far away, a huge mural bears one of the city’s symbolic phrases: suos devorat alienos nutrit—Palermo devours its own and feeds foreigners. A warning to its inhabitants and a pleasant reminder to those passing through.
Sitting comfortably at one of the outdoor tables of the seafood restaurants in Kalsa, you will soon realize this. Here, the rule is broken: both Palermitans and foreigners can eat their fill at very affordable prices. Pasta dishes with fish alternate with the city’s most typical dishes. If you choose to accompany your meal with a few glasses of cold white wine, you will soon be convinced that you have made the right choice.
“Viva Palermo e Santa Rosalia”
But in the summer, a very special dish takes center stage in the city’s culinary scene. On July 13 and 14, Palermo celebrates Santa Rosalia, the city’s patron saint, and the preparation of babbaluci is an integral part of the festival. And it is in the Kalsa district that the tradition remains intact every year. These are babbaluci, the local name for small land snails. Purged with flour and coarse salt for 24 hours, they are then boiled and seasoned with oil, garlic, pepper and plenty of parsley. French escargots are a distant memory for those who try Palermo-style babbaluci, which are smaller and simply seasoned. The flavor is delicate in itself, but the ingredients give it a considerable boost.
How to eat them is a different story. The locals eat them by piercing them with their canine teeth and sucking out the contents, the resulting noise a benefit to the ears of passersby. For those who are not from the area, or for younger people who have not been able to learn the canine technique from their grandparents, the alternative is to use small toothpicks. The way of eating, and the time involved, transform this food into a tasty accompaniment to the passing of time, whether in the square or on the terraces of houses.
Now, sitting on comfortable plastic chairs, we find ourselves eating a good portion of babbaluci and having a “unique experience”—as this kind of thing is now called–accompanied, in this case, by a cold beer. The sounds around us fade away and after eagerly and passionately struggling to extract yet another snail from its shell, we can take another look around. But looking down again, time has passed and the babbaluci are gone.