Palermo was the capital of the Mediterranean thanks to the wealth of water that the Arabs dug with the Qanat. Mafia and corruption have erased some of the memories of these riches.
We are off in search of the remaining traces of this cultural heritage.
Through the use of history, science and legend, this documentary celebrates water and reveals the secret waterways that flow under the city; an incredible cultural and social heritage that shows the complexity and extent of the influence of Arab culture.
Palermo, the gateway to the Mediterranean, experienced a period of economic and cultural prosperity under the Arabs. Traces of this are visible in architecture, urban layout and urban organization, as well as in the distribution and management of the most precious resource of all: water.
This incredible cultural heritage that had produced the gardens of the Conca d'Oro was subverted and destroyed in the 60s and 70s when the mafia and the corrupt builders plundered Palermo, with a massive building that destroyed the Conca, thus creating a degrading urban expansion that was also a social disaster.
We seek to investigate what remains of this important cultural dialog that has been damaged by corruption and organized crime; we will track it through the flowing water, artfully canalized both above and below ground in intricate nets and through the fascinating Qanat system that distributes water from a multitude of springs.. The Qanat were also used over the centuries as escape routes, giving rise to legends such as the Blessed Paulines . Thanks to the experts who have studied the waters of Palermo from different points of view, we propose a journey through the culture, history and legends that flow through its secret waters.