Showing posts with label palermo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label palermo. Show all posts

Friday, October 6, 2023

teste di moro siciliane

teste di moro siciliane

Teste di Moro Siciliane wall vase - souvenir from Palermo, which Henk bought during the father & son trip with Minne to Palermo & Napoli.

The legend of the Moor’s head goes back in the XI century, during the Moors domination in Sicily.
In the district of the Kalsa, the Arabic district of Palermo, lived a beautiful girl, who used to look out on the balcony while taking care of her plants. A Moor, one day, saw her and was so fascinated by this girl that he wanted to show her all his love with sweet talks. The beautiful girl returned the love, but that young man hid a secret: soon he would return to the East and, moreover, there would have been a family waiting for him, composed of his wife and children.
The young Sicilian, wounded in pride and pierced by what she had believed could be the great love of her life, planned an act of cruel revenge. One night, while the Moor was asleep, she killed him and cut off his head so that he could never return to his family, staying with her forever.
The head became a vase, where basil was planted, a plant linked to the divine symbolism and always associated with sacredness. From here, then, the name Moor’s Head was given to the vase. Inside that vase the basil grew luxuriant, thanks also to the bitter tears shed by the girl. The beauty of the plant aroused envy in the inhabitants of the neighborhood, which started to ask the local artisans to craft some pots of clay with the same shape.

The legend of the Testa di Moro: the alternative version!
There is also another version of the legend, that we find more plausible but definitely less folkloristic! The Sicilian girl protagonist of the story, in this case, was of noble origins and had undertaken a clandestine relationship with a young Arab. Love was soon discovered and the two were beheaded. The heads of both were turned into vases and placed on a balcony so that everyone could know the shame of that love. And that’s also why the Testa di Moro are made in pairs!

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Friday, August 10, 2018

bright light

toucan desk lamp toucan desk lamp toucan desk lamp toucan desk lamp toucan desk lamp

After weeks and weeks of long 'backyard' summer evenings, we moved to the living room because of the summer storm yesterday. For the first time since a long time, we spent the evening indoors. Cooler days ahead of us...

The August days are slowly getting shorter, so we also need to turn on the lights. Well that has its charm too.

The 1980s toucan desk lamp designed by H.T. Huang, our vintage find from Palermo, ushered in the first indoor-evening. Bright, cheerful and funny light.

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Palermo, 19th of June 2018 - our toucan in the vintage shop, a practical souvenir because of the folding beak.

Have a cool weekend you all, wherever you are!

Friday, July 6, 2018

il manifesto

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On the second day of our stay in Palermo, we came across a bright billboard, on the way to the botanical garden.

We tried to find out the artist of this striking drawing of the woman with lilac & yellow headscarf. So we looked it up and initially thought the number 863 on the sign, would lead us to the artist. Not...

On our way back, we even tried loosen the poster from the billboard (I have to admit), but it was stuck on dozens of layers of posters. In the end we decided to photograph the poster and make a poster of it later.

After a few days when we past this place again on our way to the station, we came to the conclusion that 'our' beautiful poster was covered by a supermarket advertising. What a shame! (for an unknown cola brand, how irreverent...)

Luckily we still had the photo! And luckily now there is a new version at our home, a splendid souvenir of Sicily.

Just in case there's someone who knows the name of the artist, I would really like to know.

Thursday, June 21, 2018

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

palermo - il giorno più lungo

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Palermo - Sicily - Wednesday 20th of June

Il giorno più lungo - the longest day.

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I woke up very early today and watched the sunrise on the balcony (and went back to sleep afterwards)