Palermo
About
Discover the history of 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.
Travel score
The travel score throughout the year.
January
BadFebruary
Very badMarch
BadApril
PoorMay
ModerateJune
ExcellentJuly
Very goodAugust
Very goodSeptember
ExcellentOctober
Very goodNovember
ModerateDecember
PoorThings to do
Discover the best attractions in Palermo and its surroundings
Valley of the Temples
On a ridge below the town of Agrigento, Doric temples of the fifth century BC stand in line along nearly two kilometres, among them the Temple of Concordia, almost intact because it was turned into a church. The site is two hours from Palermo by road and adds evening openings in summer.
Teatro Massimo
Opened in 1897 with a performance of Falstaff, this is the largest opera house in Italy, fronted by a Corinthian portico and capped with a dome. Guided tours leave every half hour in several languages, and booking online saves queueing at the box office.
Palermo Cathedral
Begun in 1185 on the site of a mosque that had itself been a basilica, it mixes pointed arches, Arab-Norman battlements and a late-eighteenth-century dome, on the World Heritage list since 2015. The nave is free to enter; royal tombs, treasury and rooftop walkways are ticketed separately.
Monreale Cathedral
Raised from 1174 under William II, the church carries some 6,500 square metres of gold-ground mosaic, with a Christ Pantocrator filling the whole apse. The town is about ten kilometres from Palermo, served by bus 389 from Piazza Indipendenza; the cloister needs a separate ticket.
Quattro Canti
An octagonal crossing cut between 1608 and 1620 where the old town's two main streets meet, its four Baroque fronts stacking fountains, seasons, Spanish kings and patron saints. Each face lights up in turn as the day moves round; both streets go pedestrian in the evening.
Archaeological Park of Selinunte
A Greek city founded in the seventh century BC and destroyed by Carthage in 409, its ruins cover some 270 hectares above the sea, between the acropolis and the eastern temples. An electric shuttle links the two groups, an hour and a half from Palermo.
Other destinations you might like
Nearby picks in the same theme
Some of the text on this page is generated using AI and may contain inaccuracies. Please check important details.Photos and ratings provided by Google Maps