Things to do in Palermo

Palermo carries Arab, Norman and Spanish layers on top of one another. None of them got demolished for the next. Norman kings built in an Arab style with Byzantine mosaics, and the mix earned the old centre UNESCO status.

The old centre

The Palatine Chapel, inside the Norman Palace, covers its walls in twelfth-century gold mosaic. It took decades to complete. Palermo Cathedral mixes so many styles across its history that no single word describes it.

• Teatro Massimo. Italy's largest opera house and the third largest in Europe, opened in 1897 on Piazza Verdi.
• Quattro Canti. The baroque crossroads at the old town's centre, four curved facades meeting at one point.
• Vucciria, Ballaro and Capo. The historic markets, loud and Arab in layout, where the street food is actually cooked.

What people book from here

Food and market walks are the backbone. Panelle and sfincione stalls sit alongside sit-down cooking classes. Palermo's mafia history draws its own trade too, tours built around Corleone and the city's more recent past.

Monreale has its own gold-mosaic cathedral on the hill above town. It suits a half-day, not a full one. Longer days reach west to Erice, Trapani and San Vito lo Capo.

Practical

• Weather. Summer runs hot and dry, often above 30C; winter stays mild, near 15C by day, wetter from November.
• Markets. Vucciria wakes up in the evening; Ballaro and Capo are morning markets, done by early afternoon.
• Getting around. The historic centre is walkable; Monreale and the coast need a bus, taxi or tour.
• Traffic. Palermo drivers do not treat lane markings as instructions; crossing on foot takes local nerve.
• Dress. The cathedral and Palatine Chapel expect covered shoulders and knees, no exceptions at the door.