Take your time and read our “Tourist News” which contains our tips and info for your journey in Palermo.
You can found here an interesting glimpse on Palermo life; the Financial Times published here an interesting report on Palermo today, we suggest also you to read it, just to have a different point of view! If you need on-line informations on traditional Sicily and folklore, check InSicilia for e-commerce and La Trinacria.
In the city there are some Tourist Information Centers (CIT); the nearest is in Piazza Bellini, under San Cataldo Church. Here you can found all the opening hours, and fill up also a form where you can rate your holiday in the city.
To get real time information on traffic on the motorways A19 Palermo–Catania and A20 Palermo–Messina click here.
Here we give you some useful links for your trip to Palermo, to help you prepare your visits. Palermo is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List with its itinerary “Arab-Norman Palermo“.
If you like, first of all take a look around at the weather with the web cam. You can plan your evening at the Teatro Massimo or attend to a concert at Teatro Politeama; you should go also to the traditional Opera dei Pupi of the Maestro Argento, in Sicilian dialect, nearby in front of the Cathedral. There many sites that offers you guides and maps. There also companies who organizes for you personal shopping day or trips in helicopter or plane, or yacht. If you want to do a guided tour of the city by bus with the City Sightseeing which stops nearby us, you should go to Monreale to visit the marvellous Cathedral and cloister as well as Mondello which is Palermo beach. For a visit to the most beautiful monuments such as the Palazzo dei Normanni with the Cappella Palatina, you must first make sure they are open; if you have a little more time, we suggest you do not miss a visit to the Zisa Castle. The most interesting Museums in the city are Museo Diocesano, close to the Cathedral, the Palazzo Abatellis old paintings gallery, the Palazzo S. Elia, the Galleria d’Arte Moderna, the Museo Riso, and Museo Archeologico Salinas, which now is in restoration. You should check all the opening hours in the Official website of Regione Sicilia – Assessorato Beni Culturali. If you want to get an idea of the great ancient aristocratic homes, visit the splendid Palazzo Mirto and Palazzo Alliata di Villafranca near our home. You can participate in visits to particular places and neighbourhoods and sights of the city with PalermoCulTour. And if you are interested to places a little macabre, take a tour of the crypts beneath the historic churches, like San Matteo or Casa Professa but absolutely do not miss the famous Catacombe dei Cappuccini. On the institutional site Ufficio del Turismo you can find information on exhibitions and activities that take place in town, and if you want you can also call for information at the tourist office of the City: Comune di Palermo. Another web site with interesting tips and informations is Arte. And if you want just to know everything about what’s happening in Palermo, from sport competitions to exibitions and events day by day, you have only to consult Balarm!
While preparing your trip in Sicily, visit Palermo old city centre but don’t forget also surroundings. Far away from the Gulf of Mondello, you see sometimes the snowy peak of Mount Etna with its plume of smoke. Also in the city centre, in Porta Felice the sailing boats bob in the harbour of Cala, and walking by the sea you will be enchanted watching the boisterous waves. Monte Pellegrino dominates the city with its great size; further after, east side, you will spot Monte Catalfano with Capo Mongerbino which closes the gulf of Palermo and stands out with its powerful mass against the blue sky and sea; there it’s possible to visit the ruins of the old punic/ellenistic city of Solunto… Don’t forget Imera with it’s doric temple, going to the beautiful Cefalù. The the mass of the Madonie mountains is near the centre of the island but down in the valleys, gardens of lemons are fragrant and inviting, and the wheat fields dominates. Rent a car! Visit the centre of Sicily and stop in San Giorgio were you can relax and visit Piazza Armerina and Morgantina. The remains of ancient civilizations that have taken place in Sicily will amaze you: you can make beautiful trips to the West of Palermo, the island of Mozia in Stagnone of Marsala, which can be reached by boat, will welcome you with its beautiful Auriga, the salt pans of Trapani, the mythical city of Erice, the ruins of Segesta awaits you and will charm you with its wonderful simplicity from its verdant hillside; during July and August there are “Dionisiache” representation at the theatre and the temple of Segesta. Not far away, if you love the ruins, Selinunte Greek city from the large temples awaits you from the sea watching Africa.
Sicily welcomes you, with its strength and generosity!
