Dua Lipa and Callum Turner were spotted in Palermo on Wednesday ahead of their three-day wedding celebration in the historic mafia hub. — Paul Grover for The Telegraph.
It was once a place people feared to visit, the stronghold of Sicily's bloodthirsty Cosa Nostra.
Bagheria, on the island's glittering northern coast, was part of the "Triangle of Death" - a cluster of towns where mafiosi tortured and murdered their rivals in an abandoned nail factory, then dissolved the bodies in acid.
Now, after decades of bloodshed and revenge, the city has become a must-see destination this summer as it hosts a three-day extravaganza of events to celebrate the wedding of Dua Lipa and her new husband, Callum Turner, which took place in London on Sunday.
Newlyweds Dua Lipa and Callum Turner married on Sunday at Marylebone's Old Town Hall - Ray Collins
The 30-year-old pop diva, who has 87 million Instagram followers and an estimated fortune of £90 million, and Turner, 36, who is considered by bookmakers to be the favourite to play the next James Bond, will host more than 200 friends and family at Villa Valguarnera, one of many historic villas built by Sicilian nobility in Bagheria in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Guest list rumors include Sir Elton John, Donatella Versace, Mark Ronson, Harry Styles, and Charli XCX. There are even rumors of Madonna, Adele, and Kylie Minogue appearing.
It will be a far cry from the days when Bagheria was synonymous with mafia brutality.
Not far from the venue where celebrities are expected to gather for the wedding is an abandoned factory that was used for years as a "mafia extermination camp" run by fugitive Cosa Nostra don Bernardo Provenzano. According to former rank-and-file mafia members who confessed to investigators, dozens of victims were strangled there.
Prosecutors were told that expressing an opinion that "even in the slightest degree" contradicted Provenzano's was enough to sign one's own death warrant.
Wanted posters for Bernardo Provenzano in Bagheria in 2005. In recent years, the city has moved away from its mafia past. — FABRIZIO VILLA/AFP/Getty Images
Since then, authorities have taken tough measures against organized crime.
«"This used to be mafia territory, the fiefdom of Cosa Nostra," Bagheria Mayor Filippo Tripoli told The Telegraph in his office in an 18th-century palazzo. Now, he says, "All the big mafiosi are either serving life sentences in prison or dead.".
Far from its associations with torture, murder, and mafia showdowns, Bagheria has become known as a venue for lavish weddings and film shoots. Tourism is also thriving here: in 2007, there were only two mini-hotels, but now there are over 200.
Bagheria Mayor Filippo Tripoli has claimed the town was once a "fiefdom" of the Cosa Nostra mafia clan - Paul Grover, The Telegraph.
Lipa and Turner will discover that Bagheria is a place of Baroque churches, trickling fountains, orange trees and family-run businesses, from fishmongers to butchers.
«"It's great that they chose us. The whole world is talking about Bagheria," said 40-year-old Ivano Molinaro, a bar owner in the city center. "Years ago, mafia clans were strong here. But then ordinary people started standing up to them.".
The villa the couple chose as one of the venues for their celebration belongs to an Italian princess with a rich history. 76-year-old Princess Vittoria Alliata di Villafranca translated The Lord of the Rings into Italian and bred camels in the Middle East.
Villa Valguarnera in Bagheria will host more than 200 friends and relatives of the couple.
They reportedly chose Alessandra Grillo, a leading Italian wedding planner, to organize the event. In Italy, she is best known for planning the wedding of the country's most famous blogger, Chiara Ferragni, and rapper Fedez.
Lipa and her new husband arrived in Palermo on a private jet late Wednesday evening. They stayed at Villa Igiea, a luxury hotel on the waterfront overlooking Palermo and its vast bay.
Lipa and Turner fell in love with Sicily while on holiday last summer.
The Telegraph journalists took a tour of the hotel, which once belonged to a British admiral.
The terrace overlooks the sea and features a swimming pool and tennis court. Guests sipped Dirty Negronis while the pianist, fittingly, played Elton John's "Your Song.".
Lipa booked two entire floors of the hotel that featured in the Sicilian part of the White Lotus series.
Lipa booked two floors of the hotel featured in the White Lotus book series, according to Paul Grover for The Telegraph. Callum Turner was also spotted on the balcony of the hotel, which once belonged to a British admiral, according to Paul Grover for The Telegraph.
The festivities will begin on Friday, when Lipa and her fiancé will host a reception at Palazzo Ganghi in Palermo.
They will then walk a few steps through the charming Piazza Croce dei Vespri to the Gallery of Contemporary Art, housed in a 15th-century Catalan merchant's house and the adjacent Franciscan monastery.
Elton John is reported to be performing at the gallery, which features exquisite bronze statues, marble cherubs, jaw-dropping portraits of Garibaldi and dreamy landscapes by leading Sicilian artists.
On Saturday, attention will shift to Villa Valguarnera in Bagheria. The wedding planners have been tight-lipped, and when The Telegraph reporters approached the villa's gates, we were asked to leave by security guards in black T-shirts and combat trousers.
Last summer, while on vacation, the couple fell in love with Sicily. They were photographed sitting on a curb outside a tiny bar called Dal Barone in the maze of winding streets that make up Palermo's ramshackle historic center.
Salvo Morello, the bar's manager, said Lipa and her then-boyfriend were happily squatting on the sidewalk like all the other tourists.
«"They stayed here for about three hours. They drank wine and smoked cigarettes. She behaved completely naturally, very calmly. We are very glad that she decided to return to Palermo.".
Last summer, while the couple was vacationing in Sicily, Dua Lipa was photographed smoking outside a bar in Palermo.
Some cities may be overcome with resentment at the thought of being overrun by A-list celebrities, along with an entourage of designers, caterers, security personnel and guests.
But not Palermo. After all, this is a place that has been conquered and occupied by the Romans, the Arabs, the Normans, the Bourbons, the Nazis, and the Allies—not to mention the Mafia's reign before the authorities took control.
When asked if she was worried about the event being disrupted, Enrica Medico laughed. She owns a small bar just a few meters from Piazza Croce dei Vespri, where the wedding celebrations will take place on Friday.
«"You're kidding, right? This won't be a problem compared to all the usual problems we have to deal with – traffic jams, uncollected trash, pollution, 14-year-olds riding mopeds and robbing people," Ms. Medico said.
«"We can organize a celebrity wedding. Dua Lipa is a welcome guest; she'll bring attention to Sicily. And a lot of money.".
The crackdown on the Mafia began in earnest in the 1990s after the Mafia killed Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, two leading Sicilian prosecutors.
The aftermath of the car bombing that killed anti-mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone, his wife and three police officers in Palermo in May 1992.
The killings sparked outrage across Italy and provoked a harsh state response, leading to the arrests of high-ranking mafia bosses and massive trials in which dozens of defendants were sent to trial simultaneously.
«"It was a turning point. It was the spark that led to the realization that the mafia was destroying Sicily," the mayor of Tripoli told The Telegraph.
Cosa Nostra was weakened throughout Sicily, and Bagheria benefited from this, allowing it to become the tourist centre it is today.
«"Ever since then, whenever the mafiosi tried to re-establish their activities, they were immediately arrested," he added.
But although the Bagheria mafia's heyday was in the 1980s and 1990s, violence continued afterward. In 2013, police discovered the charred bodies of two drug dealers in a landfill outside the city.
They were shot to death with 30 pistol shots during an internal feud.
Mr. Tripoli acknowledges that even now, the mafia threat remains. "The mafia is constantly trying to rebuild itself—we must always be on guard.".
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