Palermo, to the south, is separated from the hinterland by an amphitheatre of mountains that make a sharp break between the agricultural district and the metropolitan area with its suburbs, hamlets and villages on the slopes. Thus, just a few kilometres from Palermo, one can immerse oneself in a mountainous atmosphere where elements of naturalistic and scenic charm mingle with anthropic traces regimented over the centuries. Thanks to its geographical position and its natural resources, Sicily has been a land coveted by all the peoples who have dreamed of dominating the Mediterranean: over the centuries, the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Germans, Spaniards and French have all followed one another. The result is a culture marked by syncretism, which welcomes and mixes creating new combinations.
In this scenery so dense with echoes of the past, so surprising for the play of shapes, the variety of plant essences and fauna, the scents, flavours and colours, the military operations of Garibaldi and the Thousand for the conquest of Palermo took place.
The events of the Expedition of the Thousand are reconstructed by Pietro Merenda in two guidebooks published in 1910 by the Palermitan section of the Alpine Club, the most important of which was the Vademecum of the visitor to the places where Giuseppe Garibaldi’s military operations took place from his arrival at Renda to the assault on Palermo (recently republished by the CRICD).
In 1910, the fiftieth anniversary of Unification was celebrated and for the drafting of his guides, Prof. Merenda did not limit himself to accurate historical-documentary research: he carried out an extraordinary fieldwork, collecting the memories of those who had participated in the fateful events of May 1860. Above all, he attempts to minutely reconstruct the manoeuvres, describes the locations and accompanies his research with photographic documentation.
With an unusual, in some ways contemporary approach, in Pietro Merenda’s pages the landscape is a place of memory and a theatre in which identities are constructed: he does not limit himself to historical reconstruction but also promotes ‘patriotic outings’ to keep the collective memory alive.
Pietro Merenda’s effort could not fail to excite those of us who are fascinated by this area, a fascination that does not wear out with repetition. For those of us who from time to time have the strength to detach ourselves from our daily routine and take slow steps into the silence open to new suggestions, the impulse immediately arose to walk these places and work so that others may share the enchantment.
This is how the “Cammino dei Mille alla conquista di Palermo” (The Way of the Thousand to the conquest of Palermo) was born, which we hope will inspire many other walkers. So let us set off, GOOD WAY!
Bel lavoro quello di Marco Giammona del Comitato promotore del Cammino di Misilmeri che ha estrapolato dal film “Viva l’Italia” del 1961 diretto da Roberto Rossellini la parte in cui i garibaldini passano da Gibilrrossa. Buona visone!
