Palermo is like no other Italian city. On a single block you can go from a Norman church with red domes to a market where vendors shout out their prices, and from there to a Baroque palace with a peeling façade. It's chaotic and doesn't try to hide it, but behind that disorder lie more than 2,500 years of stacked-up history: Phoenicians, Arabs, Normans and Spaniards left their mark on stones, mosaics and recipes.
For travellers on a tight budget, Palermo goes a long way. Several of its churches can be visited for a few euros, the Ballarò, Capo and Vucciria markets cost nothing to walk around, and eating on the street (an arancina, a panelle sandwich, a cannolo) costs quite a bit less than sitting down in a restaurant. On the first Sunday of every month several regional museums and monuments open free of charge, and Mondello beach is just a bus ride away.
The hardest part is choosing. The Palatine Chapel and Monreale Cathedral, with their 12th-century golden mosaics, are worth the trip on their own. Add the cathedral, the catacombs with their thousands of mummies, the Teatro Massimo, Serpotta's stucco oratories and sunset from Monte Pellegrino. Three or four days cover the essentials, and if you stay longer, Palermo is the perfect base for trips to Cefalù, Erice or the Zingaro.
The Phoenicians founded the settlement in the 8th century BC under the name Ziz; the Greeks called it Panormos, 'all harbour', for its sheltered bay. It was a Carthaginian stronghold until Rome conquered it in 254 BC, during the First Punic War. After centuries under Rome and Byzantium, the Arabs took it in 831 after a long siege and made it the capital of the Emirate of Sicily: citrus fruit, sugar and irrigation systems arrived, along with a city that grew with mosques and gardens. In 1072 it surrendered to the Normans, who instead of erasing what came before absorbed it. Palermo was the capital of the Kingdom of Sicily from 1130, and Roger II had the Palatine Chapel built (commissioned in 1132) with Byzantine mosaics and a wooden ceiling in the Islamic tradition. His grandson William II built Monreale. Under Frederick II, King of Sicily from 1198 and Emperor from 1220, the Palermo court was a centre of poetry and science. In 1282 the Sicilian Vespers revolt drove out the French and opened the way for the Aragonese. Spain ruled from 1479 to 1713: the Quattro Canti, the Fontana Pretoria and much of the Baroque date from that period. The Bourbons joined Sicily to Naples in 1734. In May 1860 Garibaldi entered with the Expedition of the Thousand, and in 1861 the city became part of the Kingdom of Italy. Allied bombing in 1943 wrecked the port and entire neighbourhoods, and the 'Sacco di Palermo' of the following decades demolished palaces and gardens. Today the historic centre is undergoing a slow recovery, driven by tourism and by the 2015 UNESCO listing.
Some places make no sense on your own; with someone explaining them, they change completely. We look ours up on Civitatis: guided in Spanish and booked online with no fuss. They have over 20 activities in Palermo. And there are free tours here: you book without paying and tip the guide whatever you think at the end, so trying one costs you nothing. Three are below so you get the idea: tap any of them and they all open.
If you book from here we earn a commission and you pay no more. Prices and availability come from Civitatis.
No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
