During our short visit to Sicily, Hubs & I learned so much about his family heritage/roots. So the…read moreday before we were leaving, he thought what better way to commemorate our trip than with a tattoo. I thought it was a great idea for a personal souvenir, & so he began his search. Yelp not being too big a thing here in Italy, we relied on other sites & such. Goodfellas came up as the #1 place to go in Palermo where we were staying. With a name like that (one of my favorite gangsta movies!), how could we not go here? Knowing they closed at 8p, we showed up on a Wed around 4p maybe. The receptionist Lara(?) greeted us with a warm, friendly smile & let us know they were all booked the rest of the day. Because we were leaving the next afternoon, we asked what time they opened, she said noon, & so we asked if there was an opening first thing at opening. She asked a few questions to get a general idea of what Hubs wanted, then had to walk to the back to check on availability. Thankfully she said yes, we could come back, yay!!! So after giving us an estimated quote of €200, we gave the obligatory €50 deposit, was told Ciro would be the artist & was on our way.
We arrived the next day at noon & only waited about 5-10min for someone to open up. Once inside, we sat in the lobby area for a few more minutes before Ciro arrived & prepped his studio for us. He again asked what Hubs was wanting to get & gave his suggestions on how to make it the best looking possible. I could tell from his inquiries & such he knew what he was doing. Hubs had also said the other site reviews mentioned Ciro having excellent work. So after finalizing the template, he took us back to his work room (this shop is actually quite big which you can't tell by the looks of the front street view), put on some awesome jams (not that rock/heavy-metal shit that I find typical in these shops...sorry, don't mean to offend, it's just not my type of music), then got to work. We only had a couple hours before we needed to head back to our hotel for pickup to the airport, so we were hoping he'd be able to get it all done. He tells us that once he starts he doesn't stop so if Hubs needed him to take a break to let him know.
All the while of inking up Hubs' calf, Ciro was such a delight & quite the character. What surprised me most was his insane connection to a fellow artist (forget the name) who actually had been part of a shop in our own hometown of Sacramento, CA.....ever heard of American Graffiti??? What a wild coincidence as I'm pretty sure I got my first tat there!!! He said his friend, who's apparently originally from Michigan, said it was a cool place & great working atmosphere...friendly. I agreed & said that's how I remember it, but A.G. has definitely got a name for itself where we live.
Well, after about 2hrs, Ciro indeed completed the work with Hubs & I absolutely loving the outcome!! Ciro did an amazing job & we felt like the work was well worth the price. He instructed us on proper care & wished us well on our continued travels. He also didn't charge any more than the quoted price even though we asked for a slightly larger size than he originally thought Hubs wanted. What a great guy & Hubs made sure to give a good (& well-deserved) tip!! If ever we were back in Palermo, I'd have NO hesitation to go back to Ciro for some more color.....so you shouldn't either!
