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Palermo is Sicily’s old royal city and remains the regional capital with the island’s parliament. The old neighborhoods with cozy streets and squares are ideal for lovely southern Italian city walks and activities, and you can enjoy an abundance of churches, palaces and of course the old Norman residence castle.
Among the highlights of the castle and the city is Cappella Palatina, with stunning Byzantine 12th century mosaics. They originate from Roger II’s Norman buildings, which still are preserved in this neighborhood of Palermo.
As you walk through the streets of Palermo, you can nothing but enjoy the quaint city center with its magnificent buildings, such as impressive churches and palaces. And of course the always present Sicilian atmosphere. If you want to get a bit away from the big city, mountains and beaches are not far away. Many locals choose trendy Mondello to the north with a lovely beach.
Palermo and Sicily have been governed by many different countries and rulers over time, and there are interesting traces from all of them. From indigenous people to Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Aragonians to Italians and Sicilians.
The many cultures of the island mean that there are many well-preserved Greek temples, Roman theaters, Arabic decoration, Norman constructions and distinguished Baroque churches with Monreale and Segesta as some of the major sights. Much of it is quite close to Palermo.
Cattedrale di Palermo is the city’s cathedral and thus Palermo’s most important church building. It was built from 1185 by Walter Ophamil, who was the bishop of the Normans, and who also presided over King William II with religious ceremonies. There was already an old church on the site, which is believed to have been founded by Pope Gregor around the year 600. In the 8th century, it was converted into a mosque and later became a church again.
Seen from the outside, several architectural eras are represented. You can see traces of the medieval church, while the main facade to the west (Via Bonello) dates from the 1300s-1500s. There is also an entrance in the noble portico of Domenico and Antonello Gagini, built in 1465 in the Catalan-Gothic style. One of the portico’s columns originates from the original church on the site. It was also part of the mosque, which can be seen from the fact that Quranic verses are quoted on it. The apse dates back to the 12th century, while later elements from, for example, the Baroque are also part of the cathedral’s beautiful visual whole.
The ground plan is a Latin cross, and between the main nave and the two side naves there are distinguished rows of columns. There are several chapels and also quite a few sarcophagi and tombs of famous regents to see. Walter Ophamil, who founded the church, is buried in the crypt, and the sarcophagi of the Holy Roman Emperors Heinrich VI and Frederick II can also be seen. The first Sicilian king, Roger II, and his daughter Constance are also buried here.
The primary impression from the large church room comes from Ferdinando Fuga’s remodeling, which started in 1781. The major work ended in the 19th century after Fuga’s time and left a classicist imprint. Fuga was also the one who designed and built the dome of the church. Under the dome and in the church room, in addition to chapels and sarcophagi, you can see various church art such as Antonio Filocamo’s mural from the 1690s of the Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus/Santa Vergine con il Bambino.
Chiesa Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio is a church founded in 1143 by Giorgio of Antioch and built 1143-1185. The current appearance stems from several renovations. In the Baroque era, some changes were made to the style of the church from the Norman era, but some of these were reversed in the 19th century. There are, for example, contrasts between facades and wall surfaces, just as you can also clearly trace the Norman church with the arches of the church room. The ground plan is like a Greek cross, and there are nicely built cross vaults.
The church is known for its beautiful church room with particularly distinguished and well-preserved Byzantine mosaics on a gold background. The primary motif adorns the dome and depicts Christ with the world at his feet with angels before him. At the foot of the dome is an interesting frieze that expresses a coexistence between different cultures. It contains a collection from the Byzantine liturgy and it has been translated into Arabic.
Another of the motifs is the regent Roger II being crowned by Christ, and here is also one by Giorgio of Antioch. The floor of the church is also adorned with mosaics, and there is also fine polychrome marble here. The church’s bell tower with its square base dates back to the 15th century and is also worth seeing with its colored decoration and fine columns.
In 1282, a historic event took place in the building. Here, a significant part of the kingdom’s nobles met, and they swore allegiance to Peter of Aragon as regent; he had supported the rebellion against Charles of Anjou.
The Chiesa di Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio bears the nickname La Martorana, which derives from a nearby Benedictine monastery established in 1193 by Goffredo and Aloisia Martorana. King Alfonso the Magnanimous gave the monastery to the church in 1435.
Piazza della Vittoria is one of Palermo’s most beautiful squares. On most of it is the Villa Bonanno palm garden, which was laid out in 1905. The square, the garden and the area belong to the oldest parts of Palermo, and it was here that the Phoenicians founded the city in the 7th century BC.
You can also see excavations of several Roman houses from Paleopolis of the time, which succeeded the Phoenicians’ settlement. They are located to the southeast and feature various floor mosaics, the finest finds of which have been brought to Palermo’s Regional Archaeological Museum.
To the southwest, you can see the square’s large Baroque monument from 1662, the Teatro Marmoreo, which was built in front of the Palazzo dei Normanni, which is also called the Royal Palace of Palermo. The monumental monument was erected as a tribute to Philip IV, who was king of Spain and Sicilin. On the monument, Europe, Asia, Africa and America are represented as places over which the King of Spain ruled.
The Norman Palace is also called the Royal Palace of Palermo, as it was the residence of the Sicilian kings throughout the Norman era. Subsequently, the palace maintained its status as the seat of the regents of the city and the territories subject to Palermo and Sicily. It remains the center of political power, with Sicily’s regional parliament based in the old castle.
The palace was built on the highest point in the city center and it was also here that the first Punic settlement was established; there are remains of this under the palace. The first actual government building is believed to have been built in the 8th century. It was al-Qasr who was the emir of Palermo’s residence. Parts of this building with Arab architectural features are still found at the foundations.
When the Normans overcame the Arabs and conquered Sicily in 1072, they established a kingdom with Palermo as their capital. They chose the Arab emir’s palace as the center of power, and they expanded the site into a larger complex with both administrative functions and an actual residence. The various buildings in the complex were connected to each other and gradually expanded. One of the most famous new buildings is the beautiful Cappella Palatina, which Roger II had built in 1132. The Norman Hall/Sala Normanna is also from his time.
After the Normans, the palace continued to be important, but a number of regents also chose other places as their residences. The next permanent power factor was in the second half of the 16th century, when the Spanish governors used the palace as their official residence. The Spaniards therefore expanded and rebuilt the complex so that it served both military and additional representative purposes. The Bourbons also rebuilt in their time; they reconstructed, for example, the Hall of Hercules/Sala d’Ercole, which is known for the frescoes of the mythological hero Hercules.
In modern Italy, the Norman Palace was made the seat of the Sicilian Parliament in 1947, and at the same time the west wing was set up as the headquarters of the Italian Army’s Southern Italian Region. The palace stands beautifully renovated today and is an impressive historical monument to the city’s history. On the outside, the Renaissance facade dominates, but there is also a clear and preserved part from the Norman era. The tower Torre Pisana (Piazza del Parlamento) also originates from here, the only preserved one of its kind from the Norman era.
The interior of the palace is located around a beautiful courtyard with Renaissance arcades on two floors. Inside, the parliament’s rooms and halls are only accessible on guided tours. The meeting hall for the parliament itself is the Sala d’Ercole from the 16th century. The Hercules frescoes were done by Giuseppe Velazquez in 1799. From the Normans there are the Hall of the Winds/Sala dei Venti with columns and pointed arches and Roger’s Room/Stanza di Ruggero from around 1160. There are fine mosaics here, which can be seen to an impressive degree not least in the Palatine Chapel/ Cappella Palatina, located between the inner courtyards of the palace.
Cappella Palatina is the church of the Norman royal palace, and it is located as an integral part of the palace complex, which today also houses the regional parliament of Sicily. The church is one of Palermo’s greatest sights.
The Cappella Palatina was initiated by Roger II in 1132, and the church was built on an earlier church from around 1080; this church today forms the crypt of the Cappella Palatina. The church itself was completed around 1140, but its amazing mosaic work continued thereafter.
Precisely the mosaics in the Cappella Palatina are elegant and beautiful and almost unparalleled in their style and contemporaneity. The earliest of the large works date from the 1140s, when Byzantine artists were responsible for the execution. They show various saints such as Saint John and five Greek church figures. The other mosaics are from the 1160s-1170s, and they bear Latin inscriptions rather than Greek, and they may therefore have been made by local artists.
The church room also offers different furnishings and details. The building is basically Norman, but there are also Arab arches and the Byzantine mosaics. A real stylistic mix-up can be seen in the decoration of the ceiling, where Christian crosses are graphically formed by eight-pointed Muslim stars. You can also see a throne and a balcony that made it possible for the king to watch the religious ceremonies from above.
Palermo’s archaeological museum naturally has large and rich collections of effects related to the history of Sicily. In particular, it has some of Italy’s largest collections of Punic and ancient Greek art, and that alone makes the place worth a visit. The effects can be viewed thematically or individually, and they stand in atmospheric settings.
The museum is housed in the Olivella building complex, built from the late 16th century by the architect Antonio Muttone. The clients were the Saint Philip Neri Oratory, which was founded as a Catholic congregation in 1575 in Rome. The complex was completed in the 17th century and included the church Chiesa di Sant Ignazio. In the 1866 showdown with many religious orders, the buildings were confiscated and set up as a museum.
In 1549 the Jesuits came to Palermo and their seat in the city was Casa Professa. At the end of the same century, they started the construction of the Gesu Church next to Casa Professa, and that building became one of the finest Baroque churches in the Sicilian metropolis. The Jesuit architect Giovanni Tristano was commissioned to design the church, and his version had a nave with a number of side chapels. However, Jesuit churches were usually impressive in both their size and decoration, and this one was to be as well. Therefore, Natale Masuccio changed the first plans and added two side naves.
The church was inaugurated in 1636 with an elegant decoration, which over the following centuries was supplemented with, among other things, marble reliefs in the 18th century. The facade is adorned with niches where you can see statues of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus and Saint Francisco de Xavier. Above other decoration you can see the symbol of the Jesuit order.
The ground plan of the church is shaped like a Latin cross. The dimensions are an impressive 72×42 metres, and here you will find a beautifully equipped church room. Polychrome marble, rich stucco and frescoes dominate in an elegant combination that almost brings the church to life. Among the many fine details are the marble decoration of the church’s columns and the ceiling frescoes. At the church you can still see the Jesuit house Casa Professa. Today it is set up as a public library.
This theater is officially called Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele and is dedicated to the Italian King Vittorio Emanuele II. It is Italy’s largest opera house and among the largest in the world. The style is inspired by ancient and classical Sicily, and thus the exterior is neoclassical with the incorporation of elements from the island’s old Greek temples in, among other places, the city of Agrigento.
The history of the theater goes back to 1864, when the city government of Palermo announced an international competition for the construction. After Naples, Palermo was the largest city in southern Italy, and it wanted to manifest itself nationally and internationally after the unification of Italy in 1861. The architect Giovanni Battista Filippo Basile was chosen for the design, and he started the major construction in 1874. Basile died in 1891, and the work for the opening in 1897 was supervised by Ernesto Basile, who was Giovanni’s son.
At the opening, Verdi’s opera Falstaff was performed under the direction of conductor Leopoldo Mugnone. Outside the theater is a bust of Verdi, who has also had the square in front of the large theater named after him. The theater room was designed to accommodate 3,000 spectators, but this figure is significantly lower today.
Palazzo Asmundo is a mansion that was built from 1615. However, it was not completed until 1767, at a time when the house was owned by Giuseppe Asmundo. The mansion is one of the finest Baroque houses in Palermo, and it is now set up as a museum.
Here you can see and experience both the house’s own decoration with, for example, impressive frescoes by Gioacchino Martorana and a large collection of fixtures and furniture, Sicilian ceramics, Neapolitan and French porcelain, majolica, weapons, coins and more.
Chiesa di San Domenico is a beautiful Dominican church in central Palermo. The Dominicans’ first church on the site was a 13th-century Gothic church that was replaced by a Renaissance building from 1458-1480. The current church dates from the years 1637-1640; however, the elegant and two-towered baroque facade is from 1726. In the facade you can see statues of prominent Dominicans such as Saint Dominic, who founded the order, Thomas Aquinas and a number of popes.
The church space has the shape of a Latin cross, and with a length of 89 meters and a width of 35 meters, it is one of the largest churches in Sicily. The room is dominated by the church’s impressive rows of columns, and at the end the altar contains relics of the Dominican Pietro Geremia, who came from Palermo and lived 1399-1452. There are also several historically important Sicilians buried in the church. One can also experience several monuments, sculptures and paintings in the large building, which was built together with the Oratorio del Rosario di San Domenico behind it, where further fine paintings can be seen.
Piazza Pretoria is a central square that was laid out in the 16th century to make room for the city’s purchase of the Fontana Pretoria fountain. The fountain was originally commissioned by the Spanish Viceroy of Naples, Don Pedro Álvarez de Toledo, as a fixture for his Florentine villa. It was the sculptor Francesco Camilliani who led the design work, and several artists from Florence worked on the production itself.
Don Pedro died before the fountain’s completion in 1554, and his son Luigi Álvarez de Toledo sold the work of art to the city of Palermo in 1573. Fontana Pretoria has a circumference of 133 meters and a height of 12 meters. It has three concentric pools and a fountain in the middle of them. Standing and reclining statues of river gods and nymphs adorn the fountain.
Today, you can experience the beautiful fountain as the square’s central and completely dominant element, and around it there are a number of Palermo’s beautiful and well-known buildings, such as the city’s town hall in Palazzo Pretorio and the church Chiesa de San Giuseppe dei Teatini.
Mercato Ballarò is one of Palermo’s best-known markets, and it is particularly famous for its abundant fruit stalls, where the goods come from the local area when in season. Here are also other types of good food that you can explore.
At Mercato Ballarò there is also a very nice market atmosphere, which in several ways goes back to inspiration from North Africa. This can be seen, among other things, in the many colorful tents and the way the market goods are displayed.
The botanical garden of Palermo is attached to the city’s university, and it is one of the city’s beautiful green spaces that you can enjoy a walk in. The history of the garden started in 1779 with the founding of the Accademia dei Regi Studi, which offered botany and medicine as subjects. For that purpose, a garden was established for research.
In 1786, the botanical garden was laid out on the current site, and a few years later construction began on the administration building Gymnasium, which stands in neoclassicism close to the garden’s main entrance. In the garden, you can simply enjoy a walk in the greenery or explore the more than 10,000 species that are represented here.
Palazzo Arcivescovile is the seat of the archbishops in Palermo, and the palace is also located directly opposite the city’s cathedral. The two buildings are even structurally connected. In the Middle Ages, the bishops’ residence was located at the apse of the church, and the current mansion was built in the 15th century. From this time, the main portal has been preserved to this day, while the majority of the building otherwise originates from renovations during the 16th and 18th centuries.
In the mansion is the museum Museo Diocesano di Palermo, where you can see sacred art from the 12th-18th centuries. The museum was founded in 1927, and here you can see, for example, paintings and sculptures.
Palazzo Ajutamicristo is a mansion that takes its name from Guglielmo Ajutamicristo, Baron of Misilmeri and Calatafimi, who built it for his family in the years 1495-1501. He was from Pisa and had made a fortune trading in Sicilian goods, and he wanted to manifest himself in Palermo with a large and impressive building.
Palazzo Ajutamicristo became so impressive that many prominent guests used the place to stay in the city. This applied, for example, to Emperor Charles V, who in 1535 found the mansion finer than the city’s ordinary residence. In 1588, Margherita Ajutamicristo rented the mansion to Francesco Moncada, who was Prince of Paternò. It ended soon after with a sale to the prince.
In its exterior, the mansion is prominent in the streetscape. The main entrance leads to an inner courtyard with a fine two-storey loggia, where part of the arcades have features of the contemporary Catalan-Gothic style that came from Aragon. At the mansion there is also a magnificent garden with a fountain by the sculptor Ignazio Marabitti. Inside, much of the interior comes from renovations in the latter half of the 18th century, from which you can see, among other things, fine paintings.
Castello a Mare is a fortification located on the port of Palermo. It was built in the 8th century and expanded several times during the area’s Arab and Norman times. In addition to being a defense structure, Castello a Mare also became a residence when the viceroy moved in here in the 16th century. Later, the place also became the seat of the Inquisition in Sicily.
During the 19th century, the fortress was first partially destroyed in connection with several battles, but the place was also restored and modernized under the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and Francesco II. The military role of the old fort had gradually played out, and during a port expansion in 1923, parts of the fort were blown away. The remains are preserved today and lie as ruins, of which a round fortress tower and several solid masonry structures give an impression of the historical strength and importance of the place.
The cathedral in Monreale is the seat of the archbishop and one of Sicily’s most impressive church buildings. It was built under Guglielmo II of Sicily in the years 1172-1176 in a style that spans both Byzantine, Arabic and Norman architecture. The Norman style is seen not least in the church’s impressive dimensions, while the Arabic style has left traces in the details of the decoration. The Byzantine influence counts, for example, the famous mosaics in the church.
The facade of the cathedral was equipped with a classicist portico in the 18th century. It removes the view of the original entrance, whose Arabic decorations are partially visible above the entrance arches on the old top of the facade. At the entrance you can see the bronze doors produced by Bonannus of Pisa in 1186. They are decorated with 42 images from biblical scenes.
Inside the church, you find a large room dominated by the monumental rows of columns with Corinthian capitals. The floor and parts of the walls are covered with marble, while the partly golden Byzantine mosaics are seen on the upper parts of the walls. The mosaics were made by artists from Constantinople in the years 1179-1182 and they cover an area of 6,340 m². They represent scenes from the lives of the forefathers Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Noah in the lower row, while the upper row for example shows depictions of the road to Paradise.
At the end of the church space, a mosaic of the world ruler Christ Pantocrates dominates the apse. There are also mosaic images of, among others, the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus and the archangels Gabriel and Michael. In the choir and transept you can see mosaics of Jesus’ life with highlights such as the Ascension of Christ and the Holy Spirit. The side aisles depict the miracles of Jesus.
In the cathedral’s southern transept are sarcophagi for the Sicilian kings Guglielmo I and Guglielmo II, and in the northern transept you can see, among others, the sarcophagus of Margaret of Navarre and the empty sarcophagus of French King Louis IX. Louis IX died of dysentery in Carthage in 1270, and his bones and other parts were sent towards Europe from Muslim Tunis. Sicily was then ruled by the brother of Louis IX, and the heart and other entrails of the late French king came to Monreale, where they remain. His skeleton was buried in Saint-Denis in France.
In connection with the cathedral, there was a large Benedictine monastery, and from it you can today enjoy the beautiful monastery yard of 47×47 meters with elegant archways around a green area. On all four sides, the 26 pointed arched arcades from the monastery period have been preserved to this day. In one of the corners you can see a fine area where there is a well in the small courtyard between the arches.
Mondello is a suburb of Palermo, and it is known for its beautiful and long beach, which, together with the city, stretches between the mountains Monte Gallo and Monte Pellegrino. Mondello was originally a fishing village, which from the end of the 19th century began to profit from increasing tourism.
Mondello’s beach is about 1,500 meters long and consists of fine sand, lovely water and some colors and surroundings that are like taken from the tropics. In the city itself, you can explore and see a large number of beautiful art nouveau mansions, designed by the architect Ernesto Basile, among others. The city belongs to the Art Nouveau pearls of both Italy and Europe. Another landmark of the city is located on the beach. It is the Antico Stabilimento Balneare bath, which was almost built like a small castle.
Segesta was one of the main cities of the Sicilian Elymerians who inhabited the northwestern part of the island before colonists from Greece and Carthage arrived. After the coming of the Greeks, the Elymans largely took over the Greek way of life, and they sought first in Athens and later in Carthage against other peoples in Sicily. The city also became Roman and ultimately destroyed by Vandals in the fourth century.
What remains is a beautiful ruined city, located on top of the mountain Monte Barbaro at a height of 305 meters above sea level. From here there is partly a fine view of the area and partly some particularly beautiful and quite well-preserved ruins. The most impressive is an exceptionally well-preserved Doric temple that was built in the 4th century BC. The base of the temple measures 56×21 meters and the number of outer pillars is 14 lengthwise and 6 across.
Several indications suggest that the temple was never completed. For example, a roof was never added, and the columns have not been given the finish they would normally have on Doric temples. However, it stands very beautifully as a large Greek temple in a city that did not have a majority of Greek inhabitants.
In addition to the temple, you can see a Greek-style theater from the 100s-200s BC. It was built on the north side of Monte Barbaro and extended by the Romans around 100 BC. There are 20 rows of spectators in the theatre, which are still used for various performances. There are also ruins from other buildings and these are seen along the road between the temple and the theatre.
The town of Erice sits on top of the mountain of the same name, and at an altitude of around 750 meters above sea level, it offers a prime location overlooking the area and the town of Trapani on the west coast of Sicily. The city was founded by Phoenicians, but the Greeks left their distinct mark on the city, which in Greek was called Eryx/Έρυξ. Eryx was destroyed during the First Punic War in the 2nd century BC. In 1167 the Normans conquered the town, which they called Monte San Giuliano; a name it was known by until 1934.
The biggest architectural attraction in Erice is the city’s fortifications, consisting of walls, the Mura di Erica, the gates Porta Trapani (Piazza Porta Trapani), Porta Carmine (Viale Nunzio Nasi) and Porta Spada (Viale Porta Spada) and the Castle of Venus/Castello di Venere ( Viale Conte Pepoli). The fortifications date from the Norman era. Access here and to Erice in general can be done by the cable car that connects Trapani (Via Capua) with the hilltop town and Erice’s Piazza Porta Trapani.
The city of Corleone in itself is not one of Sicily’s great sights, but due to literature and film, the city’s name is known all over the world. In Mario Puzo’s book and Francis Ford Coppola’s film “The Godfather”, Vido Andolini emigrates from the village of Corleone. Vito is later assigned the name Corleone at Ellis Island upon entering the United States. Throughout the Godfather films, several of Vito’s family members visit Corleone. However, these scenes were shot in the towns of Savoca and Forza d’Agrò and not in Corleone.
Valle dei Tempio is a large and interesting archaeological site that was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997. Covering an impressive area, it stands as one of the best examples of ancient Greek architecture in Italian Greece. The primary excavation took place in the years 1809-1812, and there are many things to see today, with several Doric temples at the forefront. Some of the most important sights in the area are mentioned here.
Temple of Concordia/Tempio della Concordia is, due to its well-preserved condition, one of the best examples of Greek temples in the world. The foundation measures 39×17 metres, and there are 13 outer columns lengthwise and 6 across. The columns are almost 7 meters high and finely carved. At the top is a beautifully preserved epistyle, which is the horizontal main beam that rests on the column capitals of this classical architecture. With approximately the same size and structure as the Tempio della Concordia, you can see the not as well-preserved Temple of Juno/Tempio di Giunone, which, like the Temple of Concordia, was built in the 4th century BC. The Temple of Juno was burned by invaders from Carthage in 406 BC.
The Temple of Heracles/Tempio di Eracle is the earliest built of the local temples. It dates from the end of the 5th century BC, and it stands today as an atmospheric ruin with a preserved row of columns. The temple was built in the Doric style with outer rows of columns with 15 lengthways and 6 across, and with a foundation of 67×25 meters it was quite large.
Another large temple was the Temple of Olympian Zeus/Tempio di Zeus Olimpio. Measuring 113×56 meters, it was the largest Doric temple built anywhere in the Greek world. With up to 20 meters in height and on a platform with five steps, it was impressive thought. It is believed to have begun around 480 BC, possibly to commemorate the Greek victory over Carthage at the Battle of Himera. The temple was not completed, and today it lies as a major ruin.
Selinunte was a city in ancient Greek Sicily, and it was among the most important on the island. The city is believed to have been established by settlers from the then Sicilian city of Megara in the 6th century BC. Selinunte was the westernmost of the island’s Greek colonies, and thereby it was exposed; both to Carthage and to the local population in the northwestern area of Sicily. After the greatness of the city, its fall was approaching.
In 409 BC Carthage sent a large army against Selinunte and its estimated 16,000 inhabitants. Carthage won and destroyed the city walls, but the surviving population could return as subjects of Carthage. There was the First Punic War, and this was finally Selinunte’s. Carthage moved the inhabitants and destroyed Selinunte, which is believed never to have been rebuilt.
Today, Selinunte is an archaeological park, where excavations have uncovered part of the old town. Among other things, there are five temples around an acropolis. The largest and best known is the so-called Temple E, which was a temple dedicated to Hera. Temple E dates from the middle of the fourth century BC, and it stands today as a result of a reconstruction from the years 1956-1959.
The peristyle measures 68×25 metres, and the outer row of columns consists of 15 columns lengthwise and 6 across. In addition to Temple E, you can see remains of many things on a tour around the area. In addition to temples, there are roads, waterworks and foundations. Selinunte is also atmospherically located by the sea, and this gives a nice view from, for example, the local acropolis.
Catania is a Sicilian metropolis with a location at the foot of the great volcano Etna. The geography and geology has characterized parts of the history of the city and region, as it has changed the cityscape. Many buildings in Catania has been constructed in the volcanic black lava from Etna over time.
Geological events have repeatedly left its physical and devastating imprint on Catania, which has had to be rebuilt several times. Today’s Catania is thus the result of a tremendous amount of new construction after the earthquake that laid the city and area on gravel on January 11, 1693.
Piazza San Domenico
Via Beati Paoli, Via Porta Carini
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Via Filippo Pecoraino
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Via Lanza di Scalea
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Via Roma, Via Ruggero Settimo, Via Liberta, Via Maqueda, Via Principe di Belmonte
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Museo Internazionale delle Marionette
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Palermo is today in a place that has been the subject of settlements since prehistoric times. It is one of the oldest inhabited places in Sicily, as is known from early cave paintings found in the area.
The known story began with settlers from Phenicia. They settled in the vicinity of today’s Palermo in the year 734 BC, and they established a thriving trading colony. The Phoenicians were active, and they came to establish three settlements which, besides the one at Palermo, were Soluntum to the east and Motya to the west.
In the 600-700s, Sicily was colonized by the Greeks, and they called their settlement in the area of Panormus, and the Greeks and Phoenicians lived side by side on the large Mediterranean island. The Greeks in Panormus also traded with the Phoenician city state of Carthage in North Africa.
In the Italian peninsula, the Romans expanded their power and territory, which played a role in both Sicily, the Palermo area and the Phoenicians. Carthage expanded its kingdom in Sicily, and it saw the Romans as a threat to their conduct.
The First Punic War took place between 264 BC and 146 BC, the result of which was that the Roman Empire won the dominion over several islands in the Mediterranean and including Sicily, thereby ending Palermo’s Phoenician and Greek times.
After the First Punic War, Panormus developed into a beautiful and growing Roman city. Both during the Republic and the Empire, fine facilities were established in the city; this included, among others, mansions around today’s Piazza della Vittoria. From this time, mosaics and building remains, whose details have revealed a developed urban community, have been found.
The Romans also built a theater, as it is known from many places in the Roman Empire, and this theater was preserved to the Norman time in the city. With Roman stagnation and later decline, Panormus’ flowering stopped as well.
In fact, development had already begun at about 100, but the first major negative event occurred in the year 445, when the vandals and Alans King Geiserik were in charge of plundering the city, which, moreover, repeated in Rome ten years later.
In 455, Sicily and thereby Panormus became part of the Vandals’ kingdom. Throughout the following century, the Byzantine Austro-Roman Empire’s interest in the recapture of the Italian Mediterranean increased. Under Emperor Justinian I, the restoration of the greatness of the first Roman Empire became almost a reality.
For Sicily, this meant that the Byzantine General Belisar came to introduce Byzantine rule. The general victoriously led the campaign against the Vandal Empire in North Africa in 532-533, after which the gaze turned to the Italian territory. In 535, Belisar’s army stormed the city gates of Panormus, and the Byzantine rule lasted almost 300 years.
In 831, Arab forces landed in Mazara del Vallo on the west coast of Sicily. The Arabs besieged Panormus, who had to give up after a long struggle, and the Arabs then made the city the capital of their Sicilian kingdom.
The Arab and thus Muslim era came to last until 1072, and it was a time when Palermo and Sicily experienced prosperity and growth thanks to good administration of the island. With the seat of the Arabs in Palermo, which they called Balharm, the city became the island’s main city instead of Syracuse. By the middle of the 11th century, Palermo was one of Europe’s largest with an estimated 350,000 inhabitants.
The Muslim advance in the Iberian Peninsula and Sicily was something that Christian Europe wanted to slow down, and it became the Normans who succeeded in reintroducing a Christian regime in Palermo.
The Normans descended from the Vikings of Scandinavia, and one of their knights was Robert Guiscard, who came to play a vital role in the Norman victory over the Arabs in Sicily. Robert and the Normans easily conquered Messina to the east in 1061, and in 1071 they initiated a siege of Palermo. An Arab rescue fleet was overcome, after which Guiscard was able to launch his fleet into the port of Palermo. In January 1072, the Normans conquered one of Palermo’s fortified neighborhoods, and then the rest of the city surrendered.
The Normans introduced Christianity as an official religion, and Palermo became the capital of Sicily. In 1130, Roger II was crowned the city as king, and Sicily was then a kingdom. There remained an active Jewish community and a large Muslim population, and they lived in peaceful and evolving coexistence.
The Normans established prestigious buildings as one of their fingerprints on Palermo; They spoke, among other things, of the Church of Martorana and the distinguished Palatine Chapel, which Roger II initiated the construction of in 1132. During this time, the Kingdom of Sicily became one of Europe’s most prosperous states, and with some 150,000 inhabitants, Palermo remained one of Europe’s largest cities.
The Norman Palace was the seat of the Sicilian Norman kings’ court. It was a status that lasted until 1194, when Sicily became part of the German-Roman Empire. Henry VI was German-Roman emperor 1191-1197 and king of Sicily 1194-1197. With Queen Constanza, Henry VI got the heir Frederik II. During this time Palermo remained an important city, and it was Emperor Frederick II’s preferred city in the kingdom; he was even buried in the cathedral of Palermo after his death in 1250.
The imperial rule did not last long, however, as Sicily came under the crown of Aragon at the end of the 13th century. It happened after the reign of Karl Is from 1266-1282; Karl was from the house of Anjou, who, as a dynasty, acted in the transition from the German-Roman Empire to the house of Aragon’s takeover of power.
The era of Aragon’s rule became powerfully turbulent, with several clans within the family fighting for power over western Sicily and thus also Palermo. The population of the city was down to around 50,000 in the 1300s, but through the following time the city again developed positively. This was achieved, among other things, through increased trade with Genoa and Spain.
The Aragonese rule lasted until the death of King Martin in 1410. After that, Sicily was annexed by Spain, who inaugurated a Viceroy of Palermo. With Spain also came the Spanish Inquisition, which gained considerable power, and increased taxes to finance several significant buildings in the city.
Spanish rule was prolonged, and by the beginning of the 18th century Palermo and Sicily belonged to the Spanish kingdom. It was changed with the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, which transferred Sicily to the Duchy of Savoy around Turin. The peace consisted of a number of agreements and was the end of the Spanish War of Succession.
In 1735, the Bourbon House came to power with Charles III of Spain’s ascension. He reigned as king of both Sicilies until 1759. Karl III was crowned in Palermo, which was also developed with new trade and several prominent buildings during this time. However, the Kingdom of both Sicilies also consisted of the southern part of the Italian peninsula, and with Naples as a residential town, the role of Palermo had been reduced to merely a larger provincial city in the kingdom.
The name Both Sicilians went back to the Norman Empire from the end of the 1000s. They had power over Sicily and expanded their empire to include the southernmost part of Italy’s peninsula. The kings of the mainland maintained the use of the name Sicily despite a century-long separation, thereby indicating that they would continue to rule over the old kingdom.
From the 1820s to the 1840s, there were riots of various sizes and impact in Palermo. Since 1816, the Kingdom of Both Sicilies had been operating in a new state formation with the capital of Naples.
On January 12, 1848, the riots culminated with the establishment of a parliament and a new constitution in Palermo. The first president was Ruggero Settimo, and this happened in opposition to the reigning Bourbon kings who captured Palermo in May 1849.
Both Sicilies were conquered by the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1861, which happened in the process against the Italian assembly, which had Giuseppe Garibaldi at the head. A vote was taken on Sicily’s affiliation with the new Italy and the result was that Palermo and Sicily became part of the new United States from 1861.
As part of Italy, Palermo continued to be the capital of Sicily, and some economic development occurred in the decades around 1900. The area of Palermo expanded significantly and outside the old city walls. The Via della Libertà Boulevard was built, and around it were erected many mansions and villas of the art nouveau of the time. The Florio family’s Villa Igeia was a magnificent example and designed by renowned architect Ernesto Basile.
Palermo went unmoved throughout the first years of World War II. That changed with the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943. In July this year, Allied forces bombed Palermo’s port and surrounding areas into obscurity. The extent of these devastations could be clearly seen over the following many decades.
After the end of the world war, Palermo became the seat of Sicily’s regional parliament, and the city became the capital of the region, which had a special status in Italy.
In many ways, development in Palermo stagnated through the latter half of the 20th century. However, the number of inhabitants increased significantly, with many newcomers coming due to the decline in Sicilian agriculture. The growth of the city’s population led to a colossal expansion of Palermo to the north from the historic center, and many new neighborhoods emerged rapidly.
Today, more than 700,000 in Palermo have great potential for tourism development with its many historic buildings, mild climate, rich culture and breathtaking surroundings.
Palermo, Italy
Overview of Palermo
Palermo is Sicily’s old royal city and remains the regional capital with the island’s parliament. The old neighborhoods with cozy streets and squares are ideal for lovely southern Italian city walks and activities, and you can enjoy an abundance of churches, palaces and of course the old Norman residence castle.
Among the highlights of the castle and the city is Cappella Palatina, with stunning Byzantine 12th century mosaics. They originate from Roger II’s Norman buildings, which still are preserved in this neighborhood of Palermo.
As you walk through the streets of Palermo, you can nothing but enjoy the quaint city center with its magnificent buildings, such as impressive churches and palaces. And of course the always present Sicilian atmosphere. If you want to get a bit away from the big city, mountains and beaches are not far away. Many locals choose trendy Mondello to the north with a lovely beach.
About the Whitehorse travel guide
Contents: Tours in the city + tours in the surrounding area
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This theater is officially called Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele and is dedicated to the Italian King Vittorio Emanuele II. It is Italy’s largest opera house and among the largest in the world. The style is inspired by ancient and classical Sicily, and thus the exterior is neoclassical with the incorporation of elements from the island’s old Greek temples in, among other places, the city of Agrigento.
The history of the theater goes back to 1864, when the city government of Palermo announced an international competition for the construction. After Naples, Palermo was the largest city in southern Italy, and it wanted to manifest itself nationally and internationally after the unification of Italy in 1861. The architect Giovanni Battista Filippo Basile was chosen for the design, and he started the major construction in 1874. Basile died in 1891, and the work for the opening in 1897 was supervised by Ernesto Basile, who was Giovanni’s son.
At the opening, Verdi’s opera Falstaff was performed under the direction of conductor Leopoldo Mugnone. Outside the theater is a bust of Verdi, who has also had the square in front of the large theater named after him. The theater room was designed to accommodate 3,000 spectators, but this figure is significantly lower today.
Palazzo Asmundo is a mansion that was built from 1615. However, it was not completed until 1767, at a time when the house was owned by Giuseppe Asmundo. The mansion is one of the finest Baroque houses in Palermo, and it is now set up as a museum.
Here you can see and experience both the house’s own decoration with, for example, impressive frescoes by Gioacchino Martorana and a large collection of fixtures and furniture, Sicilian ceramics, Neapolitan and French porcelain, majolica, weapons, coins and more.
Chiesa di San Domenico is a beautiful Dominican church in central Palermo. The Dominicans’ first church on the site was a 13th-century Gothic church that was replaced by a Renaissance building from 1458-1480. The current church dates from the years 1637-1640; however, the elegant and two-towered baroque facade is from 1726. In the facade you can see statues of prominent Dominicans such as Saint Dominic, who founded the order, Thomas Aquinas and a number of popes.
The church space has the shape of a Latin cross, and with a length of 89 meters and a width of 35 meters, it is one of the largest churches in Sicily. The room is dominated by the church’s impressive rows of columns, and at the end the altar contains relics of the Dominican Pietro Geremia, who came from Palermo and lived 1399-1452. There are also several historically important Sicilians buried in the church. One can also experience several monuments, sculptures and paintings in the large building, which was built together with the Oratorio del Rosario di San Domenico behind it, where further fine paintings can be seen.
Piazza Pretoria is a central square that was laid out in the 16th century to make room for the city’s purchase of the Fontana Pretoria fountain. The fountain was originally commissioned by the Spanish Viceroy of Naples, Don Pedro Álvarez de Toledo, as a fixture for his Florentine villa. It was the sculptor Francesco Camilliani who led the design work, and several artists from Florence worked on the production itself.
Don Pedro died before the fountain’s completion in 1554, and his son Luigi Álvarez de Toledo sold the work of art to the city of Palermo in 1573. Fontana Pretoria has a circumference of 133 meters and a height of 12 meters. It has three concentric pools and a fountain in the middle of them. Standing and reclining statues of river gods and nymphs adorn the fountain.
Today, you can experience the beautiful fountain as the square’s central and completely dominant element, and around it there are a number of Palermo’s beautiful and well-known buildings, such as the city’s town hall in Palazzo Pretorio and the church Chiesa de San Giuseppe dei Teatini.
Mercato Ballarò is one of Palermo’s best-known markets, and it is particularly famous for its abundant fruit stalls, where the goods come from the local area when in season. Here are also other types of good food that you can explore.
At Mercato Ballarò there is also a very nice market atmosphere, which in several ways goes back to inspiration from North Africa. This can be seen, among other things, in the many colorful tents and the way the market goods are displayed.
The botanical garden of Palermo is attached to the city’s university, and it is one of the city’s beautiful green spaces that you can enjoy a walk in. The history of the garden started in 1779 with the founding of the Accademia dei Regi Studi, which offered botany and medicine as subjects. For that purpose, a garden was established for research.
In 1786, the botanical garden was laid out on the current site, and a few years later construction began on the administration building Gymnasium, which stands in neoclassicism close to the garden’s main entrance. In the garden, you can simply enjoy a walk in the greenery or explore the more than 10,000 species that are represented here.
Palazzo Arcivescovile is the seat of the archbishops in Palermo, and the palace is also located directly opposite the city’s cathedral. The two buildings are even structurally connected. In the Middle Ages, the bishops’ residence was located at the apse of the church, and the current mansion was built in the 15th century. From this time, the main portal has been preserved to this day, while the majority of the building otherwise originates from renovations during the 16th and 18th centuries.
In the mansion is the museum Museo Diocesano di Palermo, where you can see sacred art from the 12th-18th centuries. The museum was founded in 1927, and here you can see, for example, paintings and sculptures.
Palazzo Ajutamicristo is a mansion that takes its name from Guglielmo Ajutamicristo, Baron of Misilmeri and Calatafimi, who built it for his family in the years 1495-1501. He was from Pisa and had made a fortune trading in Sicilian goods, and he wanted to manifest himself in Palermo with a large and impressive building.
Palazzo Ajutamicristo became so impressive that many prominent guests used the place to stay in the city. This applied, for example, to Emperor Charles V, who in 1535 found the mansion finer than the city’s ordinary residence. In 1588, Margherita Ajutamicristo rented the mansion to Francesco Moncada, who was Prince of Paternò. It ended soon after with a sale to the prince.
In its exterior, the mansion is prominent in the streetscape. The main entrance leads to an inner courtyard with a fine two-storey loggia, where part of the arcades have features of the contemporary Catalan-Gothic style that came from Aragon. At the mansion there is also a magnificent garden with a fountain by the sculptor Ignazio Marabitti. Inside, much of the interior comes from renovations in the latter half of the 18th century, from which you can see, among other things, fine paintings.
Castello a Mare is a fortification located on the port of Palermo. It was built in the 8th century and expanded several times during the area’s Arab and Norman times. In addition to being a defense structure, Castello a Mare also became a residence when the viceroy moved in here in the 16th century. Later, the place also became the seat of the Inquisition in Sicily.
During the 19th century, the fortress was first partially destroyed in connection with several battles, but the place was also restored and modernized under the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and Francesco II. The military role of the old fort had gradually played out, and during a port expansion in 1923, parts of the fort were blown away. The remains are preserved today and lie as ruins, of which a round fortress tower and several solid masonry structures give an impression of the historical strength and importance of the place.
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