In the United States, you'll see our flags flying everywhere. On every building. On every grave in a military graveyard. At car dealerships (the ones selling American cars, at least). Some folks even have flagpoles and flags in the back of their pickup trucks. It's an American thing. It is apparently NOT an Italian thing. From the terrace of Teatro Massimo with a view over much of the city of Palermo, I did not see many flags. In fact, I saw only one Italian tricolor. Just one in the whole city. So after the theater tour, I made my way to the flag and found it on top of the city's firehouse. I'm not sure if this is the main office or the headquarters as I did not want to raise suspicion of a strange man taking pictures so I snapped and moved along. The building itself is very impressive. From the https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/vigili-del-fuoco entry, "[Palermo's Vigili del Fuoco structure} dates back to the mid-19th century. This building was commissioned and completed during the height of the Fascist Era in the 1930's. It is an example of the Art Deco aesthetic that dominated the designs of Mussolini's team of architects." "The monolithic tower and various rectilinear and curvilinear adornments are typical of the style. Il Duce tended to favor Art Deco draftsmen in building his New Rome. Similar architecture from the Fascist era can be found scattered throughout both Italy as well as her many colonial holdings in Africa." It's not far out of the way, located close to the Teatro Massimo and the historic district of Palermo. Stop by and if you're a fireman, I'm sure they'd love to trade patches with you if you can figure out how to do that in Italian. [Review 12844 overall, 159 of 2020.] read more

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