Travel Date: October 2017
Given our hectic schedule, as seen in this post, and given that we had just one full day in Palermo, we wanted to pick accommodation as close to transportation hubs as possible.
Just 2 blocks away from the Palermo Centrale station was a small apartment 'Bedroom La Stazione', a modest B&B, which, for reasons unknown, that week only provided the first 'B'. I would say more, but it appears they have since permanently closed and therefore, I don't see the point.
Still, it was exceedingly central and walking distance from the hop-on, hop-off bus tour that we planned to take to make use of the one day that we had.
In general, we tend to avoid the bus tours and chalk out our own itinerary but given this was the first day of the tour, this was our way of easing ourselves in.
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| City sightseeing Palermo's hop-on hop-off bus tour |
Here are Palermo's Top 7 sights to see and things to do...
1. The Piazza and Fontana Pretorio
We started our expedition with a 15 min walk from our accommodation to the Piazza Pretoria which had at its center the Fontana Pretoria.
Bought from the city of Florence in the 16th Century, Palermo supposedly demolished several buildings and houses in order to accommodation this fountain. Overlooking the Church of Santa Caterina, the fountain hosts nude statues of nymphs, mermaids, satyrs and Olympians (residents of heavenly Mount Olympus) including Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo and Ares.
The fountain is enclosed by buildings on 3 sides - the Palazzo Pretoria and the Church of St. Catherine (Chiesa di Santa Caterina) among them.
2. The Palatine Chapel
A further Km away was our next stop, the Palatine Chapel - the royal chapel of the Norman palace (Pallazzo dei Normanni). Constructed in the 11th and 12th Centuries, it is dedicated to St. Peter and is said to be one of the best examples of Byzantine art and architecture in Europe. It is covered with stunning intricate mosaics, with walls and ceiling packed with religious and historical iconography.
3. The Palermo Cathedral
After the chapel, we walked over to the Palermo Cathedral, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and took a break for lunch and our first gelato of the day.
With many empires having had their presence in Palermo, the Cathedral visibly has various architectural styles - including visibly a Moorish external appearance - that come from a history of additions and restorations done by various rulers.
We also got to take in a wedding.
4. Teatro Massimo
Post-lunch and a hop-off bus-ride later, we arrived at the Teatro Massimo - the largest opera house in Italy and one of the largest in Europe, inaugurated in the late 19th Century and using elements taken from the Greek temples at Agrigento (more on that later).
Those into movie trivia might recognize this as the setting for the last scenes of 'The Godfather - Part III'. The stairs in front of the theater is where Sofia Coppola's Mary Corleone has her decidedly awful last scene (you can find it on YouTube).
5. The Quattro Canti
A short walk through busy streets brought us back to the center of historical Palermo, the Quattro Canti, an octagonal piazza with its 8 sides formed by 4 baroque buildings with near-identical fountain-base facades and 4 streets.
A short hop off the Quattro Canti was the Piazza Pretoria, where we started our day, and the churches we'd specifically left to the very end - Chiesa Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio (Church of St. Mary of the Admiral), Church of San Cataldo and Chiesa di Santa Caterina (Church of St. Catherine), whose dome we'd seen just behind the Pretoria fountain at the start of our day.
6. The churches of La Martorana and San Cataldo
The Church of St. Mary (also called La Martorana) is sublime, with its spectacular interior with gold mosaics of Christ and the coronation of King Roger II of Sicily and arches and ceilings filled with frescoes dating back to the 12th century. It has been part of the UNESCO heritage list since 2015 and we could clearly see why.
The Church of San Cataldo was built in the 12th century and has been on the UNESCO list since 2015 as an example of Arab-Norman architecture.
7. The underrated church of St. Catherine
Chiesa di Santa Caterina was completed in the 16th century and while it isn't on UNESCO's lists like the previous 2 churches, it has terrific interiors with a mix of baroque and renaissance styles.
Bonus Tip: Indulge your sweet tooth
After all the sightseeing was done, the day ended, as all perfect days must, with Sicilian dessert - Cannoli and Cassata. We found that despite having been out the whole day and having had our fill of churches and culture, we'd only walked a little over 3 Km with just an additional period spent on a hop-on-off bus. However, there would be plenty of walking yet to be done on this vacation... but that's a story for another post.
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