Palermo

Cappella Palatina gold, Ballarò lunch and a Monreale morning

Two days in Palermo covers the Cappella Palatina, the cathedral, the Martorana mosaics and lunch at Ballarò market on day one. On day two take the bus up to Monreale for its cathedral mosaics, then see the Capo market and Teatro Massimo, or swap the afternoon for a swim at Mondello on bus 806.

On the first morning, go to Palazzo dei Normanni for the Cappella Palatina, then walk to the red domes of San Giovanni degli Eremiti and on down Corso Vittorio Emanuele to the cathedral and Frederick II's tomb. Have lunch at Ballarò market. In the afternoon cross Quattro Canti to the Fontana Pretoria and look into the Martorana, with its 12th-century mosaics. In the evening, eat along Via Maqueda or in the Kalsa.

On day two, take the bus up to Monreale for the cathedral mosaics and the cloister, then climb to the roof for the view back over the Conca d'Oro. Be back in town by mid-afternoon for the Capo market and a tour of Teatro Massimo. In summer, swap the afternoon for Mondello instead: catch bus 806, swim, and stay on for a seafood dinner by the beach.

Panelle, sfincione and the stalls of Ballarò and the Capo

Palermo is a street-food city, and its working markets, Ballarò south of Quattro Canti and the Capo behind Teatro Massimo, fry snacks to order. Start with panelle and arancine, try sfincione, and order pasta con le sarde for a sit-down meal. Finish with a cannolo or a granita.

Palermo eats on the street, and the markets are where to do it. Ballarò, south of Quattro Canti, and the Capo, behind Teatro Massimo, are working food markets where stalls fry snacks to order. Start with panelle, chickpea fritters often stuffed into a bun, and arancine, fried rice balls that locals insist are feminine. The brave try pane con la milza, a soft roll of spleen and lung, and sfincione, a thick, spongy pizza topped with onion and breadcrumbs.

For a sit-down meal, order pasta con le sarde, with sardines, wild fennel, raisins and pine nuts. Via Maqueda and the streets around it are lined with places to eat at every level. Finish with a cannolo or a granita. Sicilian wine is worth exploring too: several of the island's big producers are based around Palermo, and wine bars in the centre pour them by the glass.

Cefalù by train and the Santa Rosalia Festino

Monreale, a short bus ride into the hills, is the essential trip from Palermo, and Cefalù is an easy train ride east for its Norman cathedral and sandy beach. The biggest event is the Festino of Santa Rosalia, when a decorated cart is hauled through the old centre on the evening of 14 July.

Monreale is the essential trip, a short bus ride into the hills for the cathedral and its gold mosaics. Cefalù, along the coast to the east and easy by train, pairs a Norman cathedral that is part of the same UNESCO listing with a sandy town beach. Closer still, Mondello sits below Monte Pellegrino and is where the city goes to swim from late spring.

The big date in the calendar is the Festino of Santa Rosalia, the city's patron saint, in mid-July. A huge decorated cart is hauled through the old centre on the evening of 14 July and the night ends with fireworks over the sea; book rooms well ahead. Summer evenings are lively everywhere, while winter is quieter and some streets of the old centre feel empty after dark, so stay central if you visit then.

The Arab-Norman monuments on Palermo's UNESCO listing

Palermo's headline sights share one UNESCO listing. Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale, inscribed in 2015, covers Palazzo dei Normanni with the Cappella Palatina, San Giovanni degli Eremiti, the Martorana, San Cataldo, the cathedral, the Zisa palace and the Ponte dell'Ammiraglio bridge.

The Cappella Palatina, inside the Palazzo dei Normanni, mixes Byzantine, Arabic and Norman decoration in one room, and it shows the style the listing honours more clearly than any other single stop. Palermo averages about 18°C across the year.

The Zisa, a summer palace from 1160, now holds a museum of Islamic art and sits west of the old centre, so take a bus or taxi. San Cataldo stands beside the Martorana, which makes those two red-domed and mosaic churches an easy pair.

Walter Ophamil, archbishop of Palermo, built the cathedral in 1185 on the site of an earlier basilica, and its royal tombs include Roger II and Frederick II. At Monreale, begun in 1174 by William II, the glass mosaics cover about 6,500 square metres and the cloister has 216 paired marble columns.

Teatro Massimo opened on 16 May 1897 with Verdi's Falstaff. It is the largest theatre in Italy, and at its opening only the Palais Garnier in Paris and the Vienna court opera were bigger in Europe. Its front steps appear in the final scenes of The Godfather Part III.

The Festino on 14 July marks the end of the plague of 1624, credited to Santa Rosalia, whose feast day follows on 15 July. Pilgrims also climb Monte Pellegrino to her sanctuary; Goethe called the headland the most beautiful promontory in the world.

In the Kalsa, Palazzo Abatellis, a late 15th-century building, holds Antonello da Messina's Annunziata. The city gets about 2,530 hours of sunshine a year, and the sea warms from around 14°C in February to 26°C in August. With about 626,000 residents in 2026, Palermo is Italy's fifth-largest municipality.