Antica Focacceria San Francesco
1834 After 25 years spent as a cooking master in the service of the Princes of Cattolica, Salvatore Alaimo receives as a gift the deconsecrated chapel of an ancient palace in the heart of Palermo. On the front door he hangs a wooden board with an engraving that reads “Focacceria” and decides to cook for the people. 1848 In honor of Sicily, which celebrates independence from the Bourbons, the first governor of the new Kingdom organizes a banquet at the Focacceria based on sfincioni, focaccia and marsala. 1851 The “married focaccia” was born, created by Alaimo to allow poor people to eat meat: an economical cut, but cooked in a refined way, is added to the traditional “sincere focaccia” (single). 1860 Before going up to Italy to unify it, Giuseppe Garibaldi stops in Palermo, camping in the Focacceria square, which for about ten days becomes his daily canteen. 1861The Palermitan nobility lashes out against the Focacceria S. Francesco, which reveals and disseminates to the public the excellent “pasta ch’i sardi”, up to that moment, a preparation reserved for royal tables. The recipe is the same still used today. 1890 From Pirandello to Sciascia to Guttuso, there are dozens of illustrious writers and artists who usually meet at the Focacceria, which thus becomes a literary café, a sort of cultural circle. 1901 the architect Ernesto Basile, while sitting together with the well-known Vincenzo Florio at a table in the Focacceria, draws the current logo, the façade of the restaurant, the cast iron tables and the wrought iron chairs on a tablecloth. 1902 60 years after its birth, the place was definitively baptized “Antica Focacceria San Francesco” and new delicious dishes enter the menu, still present today: arancine, panelle and sardines a beccafico, to name a few.
- Listing ID: 13957