Saying that Palermo is worse off is a gross understatement. Palermo’s palaces are, at best, beaten up, but in any other scenario they’re outright shattered. Yet their crumbling facades, which the North African sun and the sea breeze keep eroding daily, are what make Palermo so seductive.
Searching for authenticity in Florence can be quite a hard challenge: averring that the town is overcrowded with tourists would be an understatement and the fact that I had screenings to attend at fixed times in the city center made my off-the-beaten-path exploration of Florence trickier. Moreover, that weekend I spent at the Balkan Florence Express film festival was exceptionally rainy, and so now and then I was forced to stop and shelter in some nice café.