There are streets in Palermo whose names still have no clear explanation. Other names, on the other hand, originate from strange and perhaps merely legendary events.
I walk around the historic centre of Palermo, and my favourite name, at once mysterious and romantic, is that of Via delle Sedie Volanti (Street of the Flying Chairs). No chairs appeared suspended in mid-air, as in the best stories of paranormal phenomena, nor did anyone throw chairs out of windows during an argument.
This long narrow street is part of a series of streets named after the trades of the artisans who had workshops on the street: Via dei Candelai, dei Chiavettieri, dei Biscottari.
Here in the workshops ‘flying chairs’, or sedan chairs, the favourite means of transport of the nobility, were made. These were small wooden boxes with curtained windows and long front and back poles, used to move easily through the winding and crowded city streets from the 17th century onwards.
These sedan chairs were carried on the shoulders of two strong men who stood in front of and behind the chair and lifted it with the help of leather straps. This particular structure made the sedan chair move by floating a few centimetres above the ground, hence the name flying chair.
Earthenware wheelthrown vase, decorated with cobalt blue engobe through the sgraffito technique.
Usually there were two carriers, one at the front and one at the back, but the flying chairs of important people could be surrounded by a host of uniformed servants who held torches and accompanied the sedan chair on foot.
The rich aristocratic families had very elegant sedan chairs, covered in pure gold and embellished with carvings and friezes and, inside, covered with fabrics and velvets, brocades and pillows.
