Piazza Bologni is one of those “decadent” places in Palermo that makes the city very rich and unique in its kind. It is, in fact, one of those examples I have taken up several times in the course of my writing, which the more unkempt the more beautiful it is, a place where the adjective "old" can never be used in a derogatory sense and where, indeed, it takes on its fullest meaning of ancient.

The ancient that is made alive and with a rapidly beating heart thanks to the bustle of different colour people walking around the space.

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Let me explain: we are in the heart of Palermo historical centre, where the two well-known streets of Corso Vittorio Emanuele and Via Maqueda meet, giving life to a single branch of buildings and ancient streets in which you get lost willingly.

Piazza Bologni, precisely, constitutes a widening of Corso Vittorio Emanuele, just before the intersection with the Quattro Canti Square. Its construction is decidedly recent if we think of the age of the neighbourhood where it is located: the square was in fact built only at the end of the 16th century, while the street core of the Cassaro or Corso Vittorio Emanuele which gives hospitality to it, was designed in the Phoenician era and it is, in fact, the oldest street in Palermo.

We are talking about a square that if we consider its "young age" only, it might appear to be out of tune with the resolutely older environment in which it is located; but in reality, its beauty of the noble era blends perfectly with the Arab-Norman colours and shapes that slide on the large tiles and white stucco of the buildings.

In fact, these are palaces inhabited by noble families, in particular Alliata and Filangeri ones.

The first bought the palace in the 17th century from another noble family from Bologna (that gives the name to the square) and hosted the Alliata Princes of Villafranca for some time. To date, the same name palace, located to the right of the square, has been given to the archbishop's seminary. Its timeless beauty is enriched by the family crests stuccoed by Giacomo Serpotta, a famous Palermo plasterer of the late 1600s.

The other family, Filangeri, instead kept the building located on the central side of the square, now known as Palazzo di Ugo delle Favare, named after the well-known eighteenth-century jurist who lived there.

The stories of these palaces, which have seen different dynasties and families within them, which have welcomed generations of many origins, confirm the richness of Sicilian history, a story made up of passages that have always left a strong mark.

Another example is represented by another essential element of Piazza Bologni, this time not a building, but a statue that stands in the centre of the quadrilateral, the one of Charles V of Habsburg triumphantly returning to Sicily after winning the battle of Tunis in 1500.

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It is said that Sicily is so rich because it has had so many different dominations, but I wonder, thinking about the Renaissance-era buildings of the city, if this is truly the reality.

I certainly do not speak of the ancient dominations that have left us an important inheritance characterizing both our city structure - just think about the Arab-Norman Palermo buildings - and the personal traits of many Sicilians (I think, again, of the light colours of the Men of the North or to the fierceness and odours of the Arab populations). But if I look at these more "modern" buildings I wonder if we Sicilians have ever been truly dominated or if, instead, it was us to enchant the passers-by who set their feet on our land and who, in fact, were never too fast, but they wanted to build, they wanted to lay a stone to create a more lasting connection with this land of a thousand resources.

And there are many manuscripts that report the emotions of architects, sculptors, historical figures, who have stopped in front of the boundless beauty of Sicily and who have let themselves be seduced by what the Sicilians can offer. The Sicilians who are of a thousand colours, like the thousand peoples who inhabited their land, but who in the end are so unique that they have created only one that contains them all and for which we are now so proud to tell everyone we come from the most beautiful island in the whole world.

And I want to close this short text with a quote that, in my opinion, perfectly reflects the emotion of the Sicilian returning home and it is precisely the description that Francesco Alliata di Villafranca makes of his palace located in Piazza Bologni:

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<<You could have gone to Timbuktu or Patagonia, have seen wonderful things and spent unique moments. But when, back in Palermo, you climbed up the street and the goose-breasted balconies of our Palace, Palazzo Villafranca, began to appear, then the emotion that had become more intense as we approached Piazza Bologni, it turned into pure happiness. Only in that moment the journey you have just made and the house that awaited you have sense>>.