Palermo

By Roberto Alajmo

Palermo has emerged from its mafia days as a welcoming and enchanting Mediterranean city. Tourists flock there, but writer Roberto Alajmo is a native. Growing up in Palermo, its turbulent politics and mafia influence never dented the passion that Alajmo felt for his city. He shows us the famous sights, the scenes of murders, the illegal building trade, the sea, the cliches, the thoughts of the Sicilians in general and of the inhabitants of Palermo in particular. For Sicilians, Palermo is an Aladdin's cave; the deeper you delve, the more treasures you will find.

Roberto Alajmo is an award-winning journalist and author. In 1998 he won the Artuo Loria prize, and, most recently, was the winner of the Super Vittorini prize for E Stato il Figlio. He lives in Palermo.