An itinerary in places that tell the story of memory, commitment and the fight against
mafia
Palermo is not only the backdrop to Giovanni Falcone’s story. It is the city where he was formed and
an investigative method capable of dealing with Cosa Nostra as an organization matured
structured, following its relationships, economic interests and criminal responsibilities. From Palermo
in Capaci, Italian Traditions offers an itinerary among the places that tell the story of his life, the
work of the anti-mafia team and the civil legacy left after the massacre of May 23, 1992.
The route can start from Kalsa, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Palermo. In the area of
Piazza Magione, a plaque commemorates the place where the magistrate was born on May 18, 1939, in
Castrofilippo Street. The house, overlooking the square and then demolished in 1959, no longer exists;
however, the reference to the place of origin remains, in the heart of the area where he spent his first years.
The journey can continue towards the Ucciardone bunker hall, built in a few months
next to the prison and destined to become one of the symbolic spaces of the judicial conflict
to the mafia. Here, on February 10, 1986, the Palermo Maxi Trial opened, with 475 defendants and
an accusation destined to change the way the State approached Cosa Nostra in the
judicial. It wasn’t just a structure built for safety reasons. The bunker classroom
responded to the need to try the mafia as a system, not as a sum of individuals
crimes. The work of the anti-mafia pool, of which Falcone was a protagonist together with Paolo Borsellino and
to other magistrates, transformed investigations, testimonies, money flows and reconstructions
assets in a procedural system capable of reaching final sentences.
In the center of Palermo, near the Botanical Garden, Palazzo Jung houses the Museum of the Present
“Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino”. Conceived by the Falcone Foundation, the museum
tells the story of the anti-mafia pool season, the Maxi Trial and the massacres of 1992 through
photographs, documents, works and digital technologies. In 2026, the headquarters will also host the initiatives
linked to the “Sign of Rebirth”: an institutional meeting in the Blue Library on May 22nd
and, from May 23 to July 19, the exhibition “The Sign of Rebirth – The Uffizi and the works
recovered from the Georgofili massacre”.
The best-known stop remains Via Notarbartolo, in front of the building where the judge lived. Here the
large ficus, known as Falcone Tree, has become over the years a spontaneous place of
memory: citizens, students and visitors leave you cards, drawings, photographs and flowers. Also the
May 23, 2026 the area returns to the center of the commemoration, with the procession “As long as we have
voice” leaving from the Palace of Justice and the tribute to the victims scheduled around 5.58pm,
the time of the attack.
The itinerary then leads to the church of San Domenico, in the square of the same name, one of the places
most important religious and civil in Palermo. Known as the Pantheon of the Illustrious of Sicily,
It houses the burials of central figures in the island’s history and culture. Here you
the public funerals of the victims of the Capaci massacre were celebrated: Giovanni Falcone, the
wife Francesca Morvillo and the escort agents Antonio Montinaro, Vito Schifani and
Rocco Dicillo. Since 2015, the magistrate has also rested in the same church, whose body was
moved from the Sant’Orsola cemetery.
From Palermo you reach Capaci ideally following the trajectory of May 23, 1992. The
magistrate was returning from Punta Raisi airport when Cosa Nostra blew up a
charge along the A29 motorway, in the stretch between Capaci and Isola delle Femmine. The
stelae visible along the highway indicate the point where the attack hit the state and a season
judicial that had put mafia power in crisis.
In Capaci, the Garden of Memory “Quarto Savona Quindici” closes the itinerary. The name
recalls the radio acronym of the escort team and the armored Fiat Croma that followed the car
of the magistrate at the time of the attack. Over the years the Garden has become a space of
education in legality and meeting with schools. In 2026, on the occasion of the 34°
anniversary of the massacre, the institutional recognition ceremony of the site is scheduled as
Regional Park of Memory.
What gives unity to this path is the meaning of the figure of Giovanni Falcone. He knew how to see
before others what many did not want to recognize: the mafia as organized power,
capable of moving in the economy, social relations and institutions. But his strength
it’s not just that he understood it. It lies in having transformed that awareness into work
judicial, in investigative cooperation, in instruments destined to remain. For this,
even today, its name does not belong only to the history of the Republic: it indicates a way
concrete to defend her.
