Among the many Sicilian street foods, u pani ca meusa, or in Italian “pane con la milza” (namely “bread with a spleen”), finds its origins in Palermo. The word "meusa" should be pronounced "mievusa", and one of the most renowned locations where to taste it is the Antica Focacceria San Francesco. A paladin of the island’s culinary tradition for the past 180 years, this ancient Sicilian bakery – opened by the great-great grandparents of the current owners belonging to the Conticello family – reinvigorated men the likes of Wagner and Garibaldi, and more recently high-profile artists including Pirandello, Sciascia, and Guttuso. From 1970 to 1990, politicians and pubic personalities such as La Malfa, La Torre, and the judges Falcone and Borsellino (assassinated by the mafia they contested), also dined here, as a witness of a fertile environment of legality ideas giving origin to the fight brought forward by the Conticellos against the blackmail racket.
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