Jeremy Dummett, Palermo, City of Kings
Church of San Cataldo
Capo Market
Palermo, with a population of 674,000, is the largest city in Sicily and the fifth largest in Italy. The Province of Palermo contains 1.2 million of Sicily’s total population of 5 million. The modern city spreads far beyond the historic centre, extending up the valleys towards the mountains and along the coastline in both directions.
Church of San Domenico
The Cathedral
For the visitor, the interest lies in the historic centre, where most of the monuments are located. It is a well-defined area divided into four quarters by two roads, Corso Vittorio Emanuele, and Via Maqueda which crosses the Corso at right angles at the centre. It is a compact area measuring about 1.8 kilometres along the Corso by 1.3 kilometres along Via Maqueda. In terms of orientation, the Corso runs north-east towards the sea.
Piazza Pretoria
The Politeama
Palermo’s monuments are striking and unusual, from the Byzantine mosaic of Christ Pantocrator in the Palatine chapel located in the Norman palace, to the sculptures by Giacomo Serpotta in the oratories, the decorative piazzas Pretoria and Quattro Canti, the Arab-Norman style cathedral and the Norman complex of buildings at Monreale. There is a strong North African feel to the busy street markets, the Islamic-style churches with their red domes and the squares filled with palm trees.
Castelbuono, a small town 20 kilometres inland from Cefalù, is one of Sicily’s forgotten treasures. Developed around a medieval castle and located in a quiet, rural setting, the town contains
Ancient sites are an exceptional feature of Sicily forming a direct link to the people who once inhabited the island. Some of them, located in unspoilt countryside and abandoned for
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