Black & White Wednesday - Week # 10

A nice hot day last week in Palermo, Sicily,

walking along Via Maqueda,

up to Piazza Verdi,

to admire and visit Teatro Massimo,

the biggest opera house in Italy,

the third in Europe.

 

There, in front of the theatre, a colorful kiosk

offers traditional refreshing grattatelle (granite),

the way they used to make it,

scratching the big block of ice with a small iron paddle,

topping with the favorite syrup.

A quiet and patient job,

the big ice stored under a white cloth,

taking care of it like a baby to lull.

A newspaper article shown on the kiosk informs that Vincenzo Tirenna, the old owner named il Re della Grattatella (the Scratching King) passed away last May, when he was 80. But people can still enjoy his famous grattatelle because his son-in-law Piero Caccamo is now carrying on the kiosk, for the happiness of hundreds/thousand of tourists who cannot resist to  it!

Vincenza Tirenna left 11 sons and about 50 nephews.

This picture goes to Susan for BWW,

the weekly culinary photo event she recently launched.

See you next week!