Discovering Palermo: The Devils of the Zisa Palace
By: Lia Contesso
Submitted: 2011-07-21 10:42:56 | Word Count: 594
In the neighborhood of Olivuzza, outside the walls that once surrounded completely the city of Palermo, there is a splendid palace called La Zisa or al-'Azīz,as the Arabian architects that built the structure in the gardens of Genoaro called it. The construction of the palace was ordered by the last Norman king of Sicily, William II in these gardens known as "the paradise on Earth".
However, the symbols and mysteries around La Zisa could not be farther from the idea of paradise the vast majority of people have. Built by the pagans, the palace is supposed to be a haunted place hiding an enormous treasure consisting in gold coins that "if found, could end with the misery and poverty of the city of Palermo". The problem is that according to the legend, the treasure is guarded by devils that fight to protect it from the Christians.
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La Zisa is one of the most representative touristic attractions of Palermo because of its architecture. Inside the palace, in the first floor, there is a spectacular fountain made of marble right in the middle of an area known as the Sala della Fontana, which is covered in rich golden mosaics.
The most singular part of La Zisa is, however, the entrance. It is coated in gold and decorated by beautiful fresh paintings that have been restored several times. Next to these works of art on the vault of the entrance, there are the images of de devils that guard the treasure. Actually, the so-called devils are nothing but a handful of gods and goddesses from Olympus among which one can identify Jupiter, Mercury, Vulcan, Venus and Mars. On March 25th, the day of the Annunciation, people from Palermo and tourists from all over the world visit the Zisa to see the Devils move their tails and making faces, and running around the vault so fast that it is impossible to count how many of them are they although the most popular number among visitors and children is thirteen. According to the legend, if someone managed to correctly count them, the spell would break and the treasure would be found immediately.
The difficulty of knowing the exact number of devils in the vault has created through the years some popular sayings, like the one used when someone isn't sure a fact actually happened or doesn't know the particularities of an event. In that case, "E chi su, li diavoli di la Zisa", meaning "no one knows but the devils in the Zisa" takes away the responsibility of inaccurate information.
The saying "Oggi si sono liberati i diavoli della Zisa" which means "today the devils of the Zisa have been freed" is used in windy days, since inside the palace there are constant air currents. However those are not the work of "elves of the wind" as the local children call them" but is an intended ventilation system the architects of the palace came up with to ensure the king did not experience too much heat during the summer months.
La Zisa is one of the most beautiful examples of Muslim architecture in the Sicilian territory, a palace that is worth a visit and why not, worth a try counting the devils on the vault, just in case it is our destiny to come back home with some golden coins in the pockets.
Author Resource:-
This article was written by Alba Lorente, with support from holiday palermo.
