Pepita Misuraca was a free-spirited, unconventional woman — remarkably modern in her outlook. Born in Genoa and Sicilian by adoption, through her diaries — now collected in the volume Gli occhiali rosa, curated by Giorgio Belli dell’Isca, published by Il Palindromo — she recounts nearly twenty years of her life, from 1960 to 1977, observing reality with an ironic, lucid, and deeply human gaze. Her “pink glasses” thus become a personal and courageous way of interpreting society, relationships, the role of women, and the cultural transformations of a complex era.
Palermo, together with Cefalù, was both her landing place and her human laboratory. Her base was the former Hotel Metropol, the historic name of what is now the Hotel Principe di Villafranca between the 1950s and 1980s: a place of encounter, exchange, and cultural vitality. Within its rooms and lounges, artists and writers, musicians and travelers crossed paths in a cosmopolitan atmosphere that marked an era. To evoke Pepita also means to reclaim the memory of those years, when travel was guided by curious, nonjudgmental discovery, and hotels became crossroads of stories, visions, and new possibilities.
On March 7, 2026, on the eve of International Women’s Day, at 11:00 a.m., Hotel Principe di Villafranca will host the book presentation in an event that will quite literally be “a coffee with Pepita”: the unhurried pleasure of breakfast at the hotel, an intimate moment of dialogue and discovery.
The discussion will be moderated by Giulia Briguglia, Director of Hotel Principe di Villafranca, and will feature contributions from Giorgio Belli dell’Isca, Maria Carla Martino Pagano, and Il Palindromo’s publishers, Nicola Leo and Francesco Armato.
An opportunity to rediscover a figure who still offers a meaningful lens through which to explore disruptive and relevant themes: how to peacefully break free from the yoke of a patriarchal culture, and what the deeper value of storytelling—both oral and documentary—can be as a tool for learning and liberation.
