Palermo

Palermo is loud, golden and a little battered, and that is exactly its charm. Arabs, Normans and Spaniards all left their walls behind: Palermo Cathedral carries battlements, domes and bell towers on a single façade, and the royal chapel inside the Norman Palace glows with Byzantine gold from floor to ceiling. Higher up the hill, Monreale Cathedral covers thousands of square metres of wall in mosaic. The Quattro Canti crossroads marks the centre, between baroque façades and markets shouted at full volume. Food is eaten standing here: chickpea fritters, golden rice balls, cannoli filled to order. The sea is never far, with the clear coves of the Capo Gallo Nature Reserve and the pale sand of San Vito Lo Capo Beach. Behind the city, the mountains of the Madonie Natural Park rise close to two thousand metres, in beech woods and ash trees still tapped for manna.