To properly introduce Palermo, CB’s newest location, we turned to our local experts: correspondent and photographer Francesco Cipriano and walk leader Maria Luisa. In celebration of the launch, we spoke with them about Palermo’s gastronomic scene, the special Sicilian relationship with food, and their favorite places in the city. Francesco is a writer and photographer born in New York to a family of Sicilian immigrants who then moved to Switzerland before finally returning to Sicily – the place, he says, that feels the most like home. Maria Luisa is a native Sicilian and a professional culinary guide. She got her culinary start from her grandmother, who taught her how to knead dough to make bread, how to forage for wild plants and how to appreciate a good glass of wine.

It’s hard to choose among all of Sicily’s justifiably famous foods, but if we had to pick one as the most the most iconic and beloved it would have to be arancine. These small rice balls, filled with enticing ingredients, coated in a crispy breading and deep fried, are a true culinary masterpiece that embodies the passion and creativity of Sicilian cuisine. Traditionally, arancine were prepared in two flavors: meat and “butter.” Meat arancine are stuffed with meat sauce and peas. Butter arancine, despite the name, are actually filled with mozzarella cheese, cooked ham and béchamel sauce. Over the years, however, local rosticceria – fry shops selling the treat – have added different variations: today, you can find spots offering arancine stuffed with everything from sausage to swordfish, spinach, “alla norma” (with fried eggplant and tomato sauce) and even Nutella – a far cry from the historic roots of this famous dish.

The Borgo Vecchio neighborhood in Palermo is sandwiched between the affluent Politeama-Via Libertà district and the historic fishing community of Castellammare, also known as la Loggia. On one side you have the Via Libertà, an arterial road peppered with theaters and gardens that the legendary composer Richard Wagner once described as the Champs-Élysées of Sicily. On the other, you have the scent of the foamy sea. In 1556, the neighborhood stretched from the San Giorgio gate to the Santa Lucia church. As a result, it adopted the name of this physical boundary and became known as Borgo di Santa Lucia. Lured by the promise of development of a nearby port, the street quickly attracted artisans and merchants from other regions and the district grew in stature.