Leyte (CV 32) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 49 text:

PALERMO-DECEMBER 3-7 THE LEYTE steamed into Palermo on December 3rd, a week ' s operations with the entire task licet still warm and weary in OUT memories. Sicily ' s capital and largest city didn ' t prove a liberty hound ' s delight, hut the sunny disposition and atmosphere made it interesting. Fringed around the edge of a semicircular bav in the northern part of the island, Palermo is guarded by a towering, beautiful rock similar to Gibraltar. And. like the Hock, it boasts a history as up and down as a pendulum. Italy relieved English and Spanish elements of Sunny Sicily in 1860, and has been rewarded by such nice groups as the Mafia (Black Hand Society) and Giuliano and his merry men, a gang of bandits who presently have die police chiefs behind the well-known eight ball. Palermo is also the home town of Lucky Luciano. — £ Monte Pellegrino gazes down across . . . Palermo, the capital of all Sicily. ! ' ' The Cathedral of Palermo. Unchanged in a 1000 Years. Well in an old Moorish Mosque of the Sixth Century. St. John of the Hermit ' s Church

Page 48 text:

FLORENCE (FIRENZE) FLORENCE will always hold an outstanding place in world history as a center of culture and the cradle of the Renaissance. Florence is situated some fifty miles from the mouth of the Amo River. Many of us took the CIT Tours to this beautiful town. After a three-hour bus ride, with a brief stop at Pisa, we reached Firenze, which means flower in Italian. We spent two afternoons seeing the magnificent sights of Florence. Florence grew from an old Roman town of Fiesole at a bridge across the Arno. Between the 13th and 16th century Florence reached its zenith as a banking, trade and art center. During the Renaissance the city was covered with monuments, palaces, and marvelous churches. Great artists such as Michelangelo, Raphael, and Cellini; great writers such as Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio; and great scientists such as Galileo and Leonardo da Vinci spread her fame throughout Europe. We saw Florence ' s beautiful churches, her fort- ress-like palaces and marvelous art galleries. With regret we left this beautiful city at the end of two davs. Chapel of the Princes Cathedral of St. Mary of the Flower • ti ' . ±% Palazzo Veechio Ponte Veoehio with its shops

Page 50 text:

BIG AS A BARN, BARREN AS A BOULDER THOUGH not to be considered third-rate, Pa- lermo failed to live up to its advance notices. The night life was tepid, along with liberty in gen- eral. The ratio of shore patrol to liberty-goers had just about evened out, one shore patrolman to a liberty hound, when at last we upped and left, not too regretfully. One cigarette, Joe? ' The center of boredom— oops, we mean town Sunday drivers The Dome. Another youngster a mere eight centuries old Which way to the nearest bar? Take two turns left for four, then right for two, I think