Chapter 259: There are low-quality people everywhere

Palermo, the capital of the autonomous region of Sicily and the largest city in Sicily, is much smaller than one might imagine. Including its suburbs, it's only a quarter the size of the capital.

But the city here is really not small, and the main attractions are also concentrated. There are two main streets extending north from the train station, one is Roma Street and the other is Maqueda Street.

There are two main attractions here, one is the Norman Palace of Palermo and the other is the Palermo Cathedral.

When tourists travel in Europe, they basically go to the church first. Although Xiao Peng is not a Christian, he also visited the Palermo Cathedral in a cliché way.

After all, in Europe, the most magnificent buildings in almost every tourist city are usually churches. If you don't visit the church, there's nothing else to see, right?

But these churches are also worth a visit.

Most churches in Europe were designed by famous artists, and they contain a variety of works by famous artists or the remains of famous people. Furthermore, these churches have different architectural styles, including Gothic, Baroque, Romanesque, Romanesque, and so on. Even Gothic churches are divided into pre-Gothic and post-Gothic styles.

Generally speaking, churches usually have images of major donors, so you can understand the general development process of a city by appreciating the sculptures and paintings in the church and understanding the sarcophagi in the church. You can basically understand the history of a country from a church.

For example, the construction of the Palermo Cathedral began in 1184 and was not completed until the 18th century, which took five or six hundred years.

Many cathedrals took a long time to repair, with construction periods intermittent. This was due to various factors, such as insufficient funds, war, low productivity, etc. For example, the Milan Cathedral in Italy began construction in 1386 and was not officially completed until 1965. The same was true for the Cologne Cathedral in Germany, which took a total of 632 years from the start of construction to completion. The Sagrada Familia in Barcelona began construction in 1882 and has not been completed to this day. . . .

In the past, the main reason why churches took so long to build was because of regime change, such as the Palermo Cathedral.

It is a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture, with semicircular arches as its characteristic feature. Later, it was occupied by various peoples, and has now evolved into a complex of various buildings. The west side is Gothic, the south is Catalan-Gothic, and the back is typical Norman architecture. The top of the church is also decorated with many Islamic architectural elements, and once you enter the church, you will see the neoclassical style.

Let's just say that anyone who studies architecture would go crazy looking at the Palermo Cathedral. It's a complete mish-mash.

Just like the ancient Chinese temples had treasure rooms underground, Western churches also had treasure rooms underground, including the jewels of the Queen of Aragon, the remains of the Norman royal family, and a "holy tooth" of Rosalia, the patron saint of Palermo.

Xiao Peng had actually planned to livestream the entire afternoon from the church, but once there, he was told not to speak loudly or wear sunglasses or hats. He could take photos and livestream, but if he wasn't allowed to wear sunglasses or hats, he certainly wasn't allowed to wear a mask! So, Xiao Peng gave up on the idea.

Coming out of the church, he found an interesting place behind it called the Pretoria Fountain.

It’s actually just a small fountain, not a musical fountain. It’s surrounded by a circle of statues and is tightly surrounded by iron railings.

"Why is such a fountain so tightly enclosed? Do you know why?" Xiao Peng asked, "Is this a valuable cultural relic? It shouldn't be exposed to the wind and sun like this. It should at least be maintained."

Moro said, "Boss, I know what's going on."

"Why?" Xiao Peng asked puzzledly.

Moro explained, "Look at these statues here. Most of them are of beautiful women, right? They're nymphs and river gods from Roman mythology. These statues were looted from other places...ah, bah, they were transported here. Ever since the church was built, people at the time thought these statues were immoral. Look at these statues, both men and women are naked. So they called this fountain the 'Fountain of Shame' and it almost destroyed the place. So they protected it. Don't underestimate it, it's a very famous tourist attraction in Palermo, and many people come to see it."

Xiao Peng laughed: "It seems that not everyone in your West is open to you."

Moro spread his hands: "This is normal, isn't it?"

Xiao Peng took Walter and the other three on a stroll in the city of Palermo. To put it nicely, this city has "maintained its original appearance", but to put it bluntly, it is dilapidated. Especially when they arrived at the "Piazza dei Quattro Canto", Xiao Peng's impression was further deepened.

The 'Piazza degli Quattro Canto' is also a famous attraction in Palermo. It consists of four identical buildings built in four directions, which look like a cross when viewed from the sky. These four buildings and the circular square in the middle are collectively called the 'Piazza degli Quattro Canto'.

These four buildings were once the residences of nobles. The southeastern one belonged to the Marquis of Paterno, the northeastern one to the Duke of Paterno, the northwest to the Massa family, and the small Monastery of Santa Nira in the southwest. These four buildings represent the changing seasons, and each one features two figures: the men represent the four kings of the Spanish era, and the women represent the four patron goddesses of Sicily.

No matter the statue of the king or the statue of the goddess, they are all covered with a thick layer of dust and look very dirty.

And there was another scene that made Xiao Peng speechless.

In the middle of Piazza Quattro Canto there is a bronze lamppost, and below the lamppost are carved four guardian goddesses in the four directions, indicating that they are guarding Sicily.

These four goddesses have different appearances, some hold ears of wheat, some hold bouquets of flowers, but they have one thing in common, that is, they are all standard Western goddess statues: "bare breasts, head held high and looking forward", this is an old thing, the whole copper lamppost looks full of the vicissitudes of time.

But! But! But!

The breasts of the four goddesses are so polished and radiant that many tourists place their hands on them for photos. There's a line of tourists waiting to touch their breasts and take photos. They're almost all Westerners!

Whoever says that domestic tourists have low quality, come out and see for yourself. The concept of "quality" is the same all over the world, some have high quality and some have low quality!

Moro blinked and said, "Boss, how about you do me a favor? I'm going to take a picture too! Come on, let's take a picture together!"

Xiao Peng raised his middle finger and said, "If you dare take photos like this, I'll make you swim back to Marseille! How could you do such a shameful thing? Let's go!"

"Boss, where are we going?" Walter asked.

"Find a place to rest and have fun for a few days. You've all been working hard studying with the Mediterranean Exploration II. Now's the time to relax!"

"Long live the boss!"