A day trip to Cefalù from Palermo by train

Cefalù is one hour from Palermo Centrale by train and costs about the price of a coffee and a croissant. That's the whole logistics section, so there is no reason not to go.

I did it as a half day at the end of my four days in Palermo, leaving in the late afternoon and coming back on the last train. Same camera as the rest of the trip, the Fujifilm X-E5 with the XF 23mm f/2.8.

Getting there

Trains run from Palermo Centrale along the north coast, regional service, roughly one an hour depending on the day. Buy the ticket at the machine or the counter, validate it, sit on the right side going out if you want the sea.

The station in Cefalù is a ten minute walk from the old town, downhill, and you can see where you're going the whole way. There's no transfer and nothing to plan. It's a very easy day trip.

Most people go in the morning and make a full day of it. I went at the end of the afternoon on purpose, to be there for the good light instead of the flat midday sun, and I don't regret the choice.

The old town

The alleys of Cefalù are picturesque in the way small coastal Italian towns are contractually obliged to be. Narrow lanes, stone stairs, shutters, bougainvillea, the cathedral towers showing up at the end of a street when you weren't expecting them.

In July it's crowded. Really crowded. This is one of the most touristic spots in Sicily and by six in the evening the main streets are full. That's just the deal you accept for going in high summer. Two streets off the main axis it thins out quickly, and the side lanes going down toward the water were where I got most of my frames.

The stone here holds the day's heat and the low sun turns it orange, same as Palermo but tighter, more compressed, because the streets are shorter and the sea keeps showing up at the end of them.

The jetty

The best part of this short trip. There's a jetty by the old town where kids, teenagers and a decent number of adults spend the entire evening jumping into the water. Backflips, front flips, running dives, cannonballs, and then straight back up the steps to do it again. It does not stop.

For street photography this is a gift. You get the same action repeating every thirty seconds, so you can set your exposure, find your frame, wait, and shoot until you get the one where the body is at the right point against the sky. The low sun coming across the water backlights everything and puts a rim on the spray.

I shot there until the light went. It's the most summer thing I photographed all year.

Golden hour

Arriving in Cefalù in the late afternoon felt like walking straight into the middle of an Italian summer. The town sits between a rock and the sea, the light comes in almost horizontally at that hour, and everything gets the same warm cast: the buildings, the sand, the people on it.

The beach curves away from the old town, so from the far end you get the whole line of houses standing directly on the water with the Rocca behind them. That's the postcard shot and everyone takes it, myself included. Turn around and the beach itself is better: people packing up, kids still in the water, long shadows across the sand.

The recipe

Same as the rest of Sicily, Last Summer Roll by Emanuele De Luca, SOOC JPEG, nothing done afterwards. Classic Negative with a warm white balance and a strong Color Chrome Effect, which on a backlit beach at seven in the evening gives you exactly the kind of warm, slightly faded summer frame the name promises.

For the jetty shots I played with the shutter speed. Fast to freeze the divers, then slower on a few frames for a more nostalgic look.

The video

Cefalù is also where I shot most of the video of the trip. The jetty gives you the same thing over and over, someone running, jumping, landing, and that repetition is easier to film than to photograph. I kept the camera rolling and let the sequence build itself.

For video I switch the X-E5 to Classic Cinema, my Classic Negative recipe with a flat tone curve and reduced digital sharpness. It fits these conditions almost too well. The deep blues of the sea come out dense instead of electric, and the bright colours of the swimmers' shorts stay saturated without tipping over, which is usually the first thing to break when you point a camera at hard summer light. The flatter curve also keeps the highlights on the water under control while the low sun is coming straight at you.

Nothing graded afterwards, same as the photos. Straight out of camera and into the edit.

The last train back

I stayed until the light was properly gone, ate something, and took the last train back to Palermo. One hour, arrival in the middle of the evening, enough time to walk back to the hotel through streets that finally weren't hot anymore.

That's the whole point of Cefalù being an hour away. You don't have to decide anything in advance. You look at the sky around four, decide it's going to be a good evening, and go.