Palermo trip planner

A guide to the chaotic and colorful capital city of Sicily

Sicily's capital is a tough place to love.

The dustiest gem of a city in Europe, it contains some of Sicily's greatest sights and museums, yet it still hasn’t rebuilt entire bombed-out neighborhoods that were destroyed during World War II.

Despite the efforts of a crusading anti-Mafia mayor, Cosa Nostra still strangles the city.

But daily existence is not relegated to the dank interiors of those crumbling baroque palazzi or the padlocked churches rotting behind their weedy facades. Palermitani live out their lives—selling, buying, arguing, playing, yelling, fighting, and loving—in broad daylight and with theatrical flair in the crowded streets and vibrant markets.

Amid the rubble and trash-filled alleys you’ll find gloriously stuccoed oratories, glittering 12th-century mosaics, puppet theaters, art museums, and busy fish markets bursting with life and color.

» A brief history of PalermoIt would be difficult to give the cityless than two or three days, but Palermo is far from the most welcoming of towns, making it tough to convince yourself stay longer

Still, it is worth it to truly get under Palermo's skin to see what makes this city so resoundingly not tick.

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