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of Cefalu 'Sicily today

The elegant shot of the old port of Cefalu Photographer Josip Ciganonic published by 'Sicilia', volume I, Tuttitalia series in 1962. The city of Palermo has now lost that incomparable charm until a few years ago that combines natural beauty and man's work, represented by Norman cathedral and an area not yet affected the tourist industry

The best way to discover the beauty of Cefalù is to review the initial scenes of the movie 'To each his own,' novel by Leonardo Sciascia and directed by Elio Petri: discover the first images from the bleak majesty of rock, beneath which stand the perfect volume of the Norman cathedral and, like gems to its perimeter, squares and alleys and rooftops palaces and buildings of the historic center: a mosaic of old tiles facing the blue of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Sopra, i tetti delle abitazioni di Cefalù dalla rocca che sovrasta il paese; la foto è tratta dal mensile 'Sicilia' dell' aprile del 1971, edito dal Banco di Sicilia. Sotto, la locandina del film  'A ciascuno il suo' del regista Elio Petri, tratto dal romanzo di Leonardo Sciascia: interamente girato a Cefalù nel 1968, è oggi un documento prezioso sulla bellezza perduta del territorio cefaludese

C’è da sottolineare che il film - which stars were Gian Maria Volonte and Irene Papas - was shot in 1968, and that the landscapes of Cefalù then used to tell the tragic death of Professor Laurana have long disappeared, smothered by the force and the concrete road and port facility have shaken hectares of olive groves and the scenery of the ocean Presidiana.

motorway junctions, roundabouts and roads that connect the old country to new urban center have now ruined the beauty of the land, townhouses and pretentious - very close to each other, as if from a kitchen can be accessed the other to the bathroom - have erased forever the lands of the Mediterranean a green time, as Ferla and Saint Lucia.

what about the beach, on the waterfront of the old country? Until about thirty years ago, the erosion had not yet reduced drastically and there could freely observe hermit crabs and shells brought from the big surf. Today, that same beach - which you can access only after you have been looking for a parking fee - is under attack by swimmers, as if they were to the establishment 'Aloha Beach' in Riccione, lying on sheets or on the deck, the view toward land reserve a monotonous sequence of tourist restaurants flavors amorphous.

Two pictures that show the one hand the lack of urbanization of the area of \u200b\u200bCefalu in the years after World War II and, second, the erosion of the beach of its waterfront, now a myriad ugly restaurants and local attractions. The first shot was published in 'The Streets of Italy' TCI in February 1953, signed photos Incom, the second - run by the megalithic structures of the fortress - is taken from the essay 'Sicilia pagan', Eugene Manni, published in 1963 by Publisher Flaccovio

Over the years, in fact, even Cefalù has become a "tourist town", where the enjoyment of the landscape and the work of man - the medieval Norman cathedral or the wash, of course, but also some glimpses of old alleys or doorways eighteenth century - has been replaced by the standard repertoire of "goods and services offered to secure the lucrative holiday of day visitors and groups of foreigners.

course, no one would dream of denying the importance of this development for economic development Cefalù, but it is undeniable that the price was the most authentic of the irreparable loss of identity the country, so naturally charming atmosphere that just yet perceived in the film based on the tale of Petri Sciascia.

Cefalù, in short, continues to be a place worth visiting, but more for those who do not have ever known her remaining attractions - the Norman cathedral and mosaics in the first place - for those who have visited and loved in the past decades, German and French in the first place.

Two more shots cefaludese Josip Ciganovic: a view of the country by road highway 113 coming from Palermo - the Norman cathedral stand out on the crown of homes in the historic center - and one of the many streets leading to the foot of the fortress

Two views of the cathedral, one of Palermo's main monuments testifying to the presence and culture in Norman Sicily in the twelfth century. For Cefalu, the presence of this architecture, together with the appeal of its natural beauty - the sea, in the first place - was once an attraction for tourists real colonies foreign, particularly French. The first shot is published in the paper of healed 'Arab-Norman architecture in Sicily and the Renaissance', published in the early years of last century, the second is the work of photographer Joseph Ragusa Leone, and is drawn from the essay 'Cefalu', edited by Bruno Leopardi Publisher

Still the old port of Cefalù, in a color image to be published in Volume 'Sicilia', Editions Fotorapidacolor 1973. For years, the country's main port is the Presidiana, where dozens of tourist docks have distorted the paesaggio marino ad Est del centro storico 

Cinquant’anni fa, Corrado Sofia poteva scrivere che “la città è frequentata da un buon numero di forestieri, molti dei quali, sentendosi i discendenti diretti dei Normanni, cugini o nipoti, girano per le strade e si siedono nei bar con assoluta padronanza e si muovono con l’aria di essere i protettori di questi luoghi; e sono proprio gli abitanti a dare loro questa sensazione di sicurezza”.

Il lavatoio medievale, in uno scatto, ancora una volta, di Ciganovic: la sua peculiarità architettonica ha salvato quest'opera di edilizia urbana dallo scempio edilizio che ha invece interessato altre zone del territorio cefaludese

Sopra e sotto, due immagini del territorio circostante Cefalù, entrambe realizzate agli inizi degli anni Cinquanta dello scorso secolo da B.Stefani e pubblicate su 'Le Vie d'Italia' del TCI del febbraio del 1953; la prima ritrae la baia della Calura, la seconda mostra la rocca di Cefalù dalla strada stale 113, in direzione Messina, nei pressi di Torre Finale

A notation on tourism in Cefalu, finally, can not refer to the history of his 'Magic Village', founded a few years after the Second World War by a group of French people in the district of Saint Lucia, along the fate of similar villages in Greece, Austria and the Balearics.

The 'Magic Village' district of Saint Lucia, Cefalu, in three photographs published in August 1953 by the magazine 'Italy World': in the summer, you come around 3000 tourists, in groups of 500 a week.
Thus wrote in the report Gina Scaduto: "la sera si accendono i lumi di Termini e Cefalù e le barche da pesca disseminano di fulgide luci tutto il mare: la notte siciliana avrà inizio, una notte calma, tiepida, piena di profumi di mirti e di salsedine marina" 

Nell’agosto del 1953, un reportage della rivista ‘Italia Mondo’, a firma di Gina Scaduto, lo descriveva come una tendopoli frequentata da “una grande famiglia, dove gente di tutti i Paesi si incontra, fa amicizia, vive in perfetta armonia e dove, sovente, ritorna per un richiamo irresistibile”: un richiamo che Cefalù ha perso da tempo, e che allontana da lei chi l’ha amata per il suo fascino oggi perduto.