Palermo and around

Palermo

Mondello

Monreale

Bagheria and around

Piana degli Albanesi

Ficuzza

Corleone

Ustica

Unmistakably the capital of Sicily, Palermo is fast, brash, loud and exciting. Hub of the island since the ninth century AD, it borrows heavily from the past for its present-day look, showing a typically Sicilian fusion of foreign art, architecture, culture and lifestyle. In the narrow streets of Palermo’s old town, elegant Baroque and Norman monuments exist cheek by jowl with Arabic cupolas, while Byzantine street markets swamp the medieval warrens, and the latest Milanese fashions sit in shops squeezed between Renaissance churches and Spanish palazzi. And, ricocheting off every wall, the endless roar of traffic and wail of police sirens add to the confusion. Palermo is probably the noisiest city in Italy, which – coupled with the oppressive summer climate and frenetic street scenes – conjures up visions of North Africa. Indeed, there’s little that’s strictly European about Palermo, and its geographical isolation has forced this vibrant city of 700,000 to forge its own distinct identity.

You’ll need at least three or four days to fully explore Palermo’s historic sights, fascinating medieval quarters and chaotic markets, as well as enjoy its great restaurants and street-food offerings; and you could easily stay here for a week if you plan to use the city as a base for day-trips. The most essential of these is to the medieval cathedral of Monreale and its celebrated mosaics, which is a hugely popular (ie, tourist-thronged) destination – spending the night allows you to beat the crowds and see Monreale at a more leisurely pace.

  Fewer visitors head east along the coast, which means you can spend an unhurried day at Bagheria and its Baroque palazzi, before taking in the fishing port of Porticello and the fascinating Roman site at nearby Solunto.

  West of the city, a series of small family resorts lines the Golfo di Carini, while south of Palermo an enticing route heads to Piana degli Albanesi, a surviving Albanian Orthodox enclave in a stridently Catholic island, and then further into the mountains to the royal hunting lodge at Ficuzza and the notorious Mafia town of Corleone. For a real change of air, though, jump on a ferry or hydrofoil to the island of Ustica, as little as an hour and a quarter from the city. With its good, clean swimming and lazy feel, you may end up staying longer than planned.

MUSEO DELLE MARIONETTE

Highlights

1 Cappella Palatina in the Palazzo dei Normanni The artistic gem of Palermo, this jewel-like chapel is entirely covered with outstanding Byzantine mosaics.

2 Museo delle Marionette Catch a performance and admire the swashbuckling wooden Sicilian puppets in all their finery.

3 Galleria Regionale della Sicilia If you only visit one Palermo museum, make it the island’s finest collection of medieval art.

4 The Duomo at Monreale The magnificently mosaiced cathedral is a stunning testament to Sicily’s eclectic Arab, Norman and Byzantine heritage.

5 Bagheria and Porticello Over-the-top Baroque villas, boutique lodgings and harbourside fish restaurants make for a great side-trip from the city.

6 A trip to Ustica Take the ferry or hydrofoil out to the relaxed island of Ustica for a spot of hiking, diving and snorkelling.

< Back to Palermo and around

Palermo

In its own wide bay underneath the limestone bulk of Monte Pellegrino, and fronting the broad and fertile Conca d’Oro (Golden Shell) valley, PALERMO is stupendously sited. Originally a Phoenician colony, it was taken by the Carthaginians in the fifth century BC and became an important Punic bulwark against the Greek influence elsewhere on the island. It was named Panormus (All Harbour) after its obvious mercantile attractions, and it remained in Carthaginian hands until 254 BC, when the city fell to the Romans. Yet Palermo’s most glorious days were still to come. In 831 AD the city was captured by the Arabs, under whose rule it thrived as an Islamic cultural and intellectual centre – the River Papineto that now flows beneath the city was said to speak with the Nile and abide by its tides. Two centuries later under the Normans, the settlement continued to flower as Europe’s greatest metropolis – famed for the wealth of its court, and unrivalled as a nexus of learning.

  Palermo’s later fortunes fluctuated with a succession of other foreign rulers, but the city always retained its pre-eminence on the island. However, Allied bombs during World War II destroyed much of the port area and turned large parts of the medieval town into a ramshackle demolition site – a state of affairs that is only now gradually being resolved. Regeneration has been aided by funds from the European Union – when not siphoned off by illicit means – (see The Mafia in Palermo), and nowadays although decay and deprivation are still apparent in Palermo, a more positive spirit animates the city, typified by a burgeoning number of boutique B&Bs sited in the old-town areas. Although there are notable relics from the ninth to the twelfth centuries – Palermo in its prime – it’s the rebuilding of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that shaped the city as it appears today. Traditionally, Palermo has been a city of rich palazzi and churches, endowed by the island’s ruling families and wealthy monastic orders, from the mighty Cattedrale to the nearby mosaic-decorated Cappella Palatina, tucked inside the Palazzo dei Normanni. Each old quarter features countless other fascinating churches and chapels, while enthusiasts can trace the city’s Norman and Baroque heritage in a series of landmark buildings and sights. But just to see Palermo in terms of an architectural tour would be to ignore much of what makes it unique, from its rollicking markets and traditional street food to the backstreet puppet theatres and creepy catacombs. There’s certainly never a dull moment in Sicily’s feistiest city.

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THE MAFIA IN PALERMO

The most glaring symptom of decay in Palermo, the Mafia problem, is intimately connected with the welfare of the city. For years it has been openly acknowledged that a large part of the funds pouring in from Rome and the EU, ostensibly to redevelop the city centre, are unaccounted for – channelled to dubious businessmen, or simply raked off by Mafia leaders. The subtle control exerted by the Mafia is traditionally referred to only obliquely, though it periodically erupts into the news.

  The problem is deeply rooted and unlikely to disappear completely any time soon, despite the courageous efforts of various individuals. Prominent among these is Leoluca Orlando, currently serving his fourth term as mayor of Palermo, who attempts to combat corruption at municipal level by removing companies suspected of links with organized crime from the tenders list for new contracts. Resistance to Mafia corruption has also emerged at street level, notably with many owners of shops and businesses in Palermo banding together and refusing to pay pizzo, the protection money traditionally demanded by local crime gangs. A thriving organization, Addiopizzo ( addiopizzo.org), coordinates the local resistance – their consumo critico (critical shopping) list publicizes the hundreds of enterprises now offering a pizzo-free Palermo experience (look for the stickers), including restaurants, bars and B&Bs.

FROM TOP CLOISTERS, MONREALE; PALERMO FROM ABOVE

The Quattro Canti

The Quattro Canti or “Four Corners” is the centre (if anywhere is) of the medieval town. Erected in 1611, this is not so much a piazza as a set of Baroque crossroads that divides central Palermo into quadrants. In each concave “corner” are tiers of statues – respectively a season, a king of Sicily and a patron of the city – where, in previous centuries, the heads of convicted rebels were hung from poles. Only a few steps from here lie some of Palermo’s most opulent piazzas and buildings, including several of the city’s most extraordinary churches.

QUATTRO CANTI

UNDERSTANDING PALERMO

Palermo is essentially a straightforward street-grid confused by the memory of an Eastern past and gouged by war damage. Historical, the city sits compactly around a central crossroads, the Quattro Canti, which is the intersection of Corso Vittorio Emanuele and Via Maqueda, two streets that date from the city’s reconstruction in the sixteenth century. Parallel to Via Maqueda, and running north from Stazione Centrale, Via Roma was a much later addition, linking the old centre with the modern city. At the heart of this nineteenth-century grid of shops, apartments and office blocks are the double squares of Piazza Castelnuovo and Piazza Ruggero Séttimo – together known to Palermitans as Piazza Politeama – a lengthy 25- to 30-minute walk from the train station (or a quicker bus ride).

  Four distinct medieval quarters lie around Quattro Canti: the Albergheria and Capo districts lie roughly west of Via Maqueda, Vucciria and La Kalsa to the east, closest to the water. In the past, the inhabitants of these quarters had their own dialects, trades, palaces and markets – even intermarriage was frowned upon. Today, the areas hold most of Palermo’s most interesting sights and buildings, concealed within a tight, undisciplined web of alleys and piazzas. Often, you’ll come across tranquil gardens or chapels containing outstanding works of art, or even stabling for a goat – a world away from the din of the urban assault course outside. Beyond the old centre, on the outskirts of the modern city, are other attractions, from Palermo’s best park, the Parco della Favorita, to the ghoulish Cappuccini monastery, while the other quick retreat is to Monte Pellegrino, the mountain that looms beyond the city to the north.

  Given that cars, let alone buses, can’t get down many of the narrow streets in the old city centre, you’ll have to walk around much of what is detailed in this chapter – although for certain specific sights, don’t hesitate to jump on a bus, as it’s no fun at all slogging up and down the long thoroughfares of the modern city.

San Giuseppe dei Teatini

Corso Vittorio Emanuele • April–Oct Mon–Sat 7.30–11am & 6–8pm, Sun 8.30am–12.30pm & 6–8pm; Nov–March Mon–Sat 7.30am–noon & 5.30–8pm

Early seventeenth-century San Giuseppe dei Teatini is the most harmonious of the city’s Baroque churches. The misleadingly simple facade conceals a wealth of detail inside, from tumbling angels holding the holy water on either side of the door to the lavish side chapels and ceiling encrusted with writhing putti. Next to the church, its former convent is now the main building of the Università. There are generally plenty of students around here, and a couple of good bars in the little piazza across from the entrance.

Museo d’Arte Contemporanea della Sicilia

Corso Vittorio Emanuele 365 • Tues–Sun 10am–7.30pm • €6 •  091 587 717,  palazzoriso.it

The restored eighteenth-century Palazzo Riso is now home to the Museo d’Arte Contemporanea della Sicilia, with a permanent collection of Sicilian art dating back to the 1950s, as well as a programme of temporary exhibitions. Whether you want to see the collection or not, the palazzo is a marvellous place to escape from the hubbub of the city, with a cool bar, courtyard and arty book and gift shop.

Piazza Pretoria

Step into Piazza Pretoria and you’re confronted by the gleaming-white nude figures of a racy sixteenth-century Florentine fountain, protected by railings to ward off excitable vandals. The piazza also holds the plaque-studded and pristine Municipio and, towering above both square and fountain, the massive late sixteenth-century flank of the church of Santa Caterina, its entrance around the corner on Piazza Bellini.

Piazza Bellini

Just around the corner from the Pretoria fountain, Piazza Bellini is largely a car park by day, with vehicles jammed together next to part of the city’s old Roman wall. It’s also home to three of Palermo’s most distinct churches, Santa Caterina, San Cataldo and La Martorana. The first is Baroque, the latter two medieval, and you could do far worse than to spend your first hour in the city succumbing to their charms.

Santa Caterina

Piazza Bellini • April–Oct Mon–Sat 9.30am–1.30pm & 3–7pm, Sun 9.30am–1.30pm; Nov–March Mon–Sat 9.30am–1pm & 3–5.30pm, Sun 9.30am–1pm • Free

Founded in 1566, when Palermo was still under Spanish rule, the exterior of Santa Caterina has a certain gravitas, while the interior demonstrates Sicilian Baroque at its most daftly exuberant, as subtle as a multi-coloured wedding cake, with every centimetre of the enormous interior larded with pustular relief work, deep reds and yellows filling in between sculpted cherubs, Madonnas, lions and eagles. One marble panel (in the first chapel on the right) depicts Jonah about to be devoured by a rubbery-lipped whale, with a Spanish galleon above constructed from wire with string rigging.

San Cataldo

Piazza Bellini • April–Oct Mon–Sat 9am–2pm & 3.30–7pm, Sun 9am–2pm; Nov–March daily 9am–2pm • €2.50

The little Saracenic red golf-ball domes above Piazza Bellini belong to San Cataldo, a squat twelfth-century chapel on a palm-planted bank above the square. Other than the crenellations around the roof it was never decorated, and in the eighteenth century the chapel was even used as a post office. It still retains a good mosaic pavement in an otherwise bare and peaceful interior.

La Martorana

Piazza Bellini • Mon–Sat 9.30am–1pm & 3.30–5.30pm, till 6.30pm in summer, Sun 8.30–9.45am & noon–1pm

La Martorana is one of the finest surviving buildings of the medieval city. It was paid for in 1143 by George of Antioch, King Roger’s admiral, from whom it received its original name, Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio. After the Sicilian Vespers, the island’s nobility met here to offer the Crown to Peter of Aragon, and under the Spanish the church was passed to a convent founded by Eloisa Martorana – hence its popular name. It received a Baroque going-over and its curving northern facade in 1588, but happily this doesn’t detract from the great power of the interior; enter through the twelfth-century campanile, an original structure that retains its ribbed arches and slender columns. The church is a popular location for Palermitan weddings, spectacular events that often culminate in the newlyweds releasing a dozen white doves from the steps of the church.

FRUTTA DI MARTORANA

When Palermo’s religious houses were at their late medieval height, many supported themselves by turning out remarkable sculpted confectionery – fruit and vegetables made out of coloured almond paste. La Martorana was once famous for the quality of its almond “fruits”, which were sold at the church doors, and today most Sicilian pasticcerie continue the tradition. In Palermo these creations are known as frutta di Martorana, and cake-shop windows usually display not only fruit but also fish and shellfish made out of the same sickly almond mixture. The best time to see the displays is in October, before the festival of Ognissanti (All Saints).

The mosaics

A series of spectacular mosaics is laid on and around the columns supporting La Martorana’s main cupola – animated twelfth-century Greek works, commissioned by the admiral himself, who was of Greek descent. A gentle Christ dominates the dome, surrounded by angels, with the Apostles and the Madonna to the sides. The colours are still strong, a golden background enlivened by azure, grape-red, light-green and white, and, in the morning especially, light streams in through the high windows, picking out the admirable craftsmanship. On both sides of the steps by the entrance, two more original mosaic panels (from the destroyed Norman portico) have been set in frames on the walls: a kneeling George of Antioch dedicating the church to the Virgin, and King Roger being crowned by Christ – the diamond-studded monarch contrasted with a larger, more simple and dignified Christ.

The Albergheria

The district bounded by Via Maqueda and Corso Vittorio Emanuele, just northwest of Stazione Centrale – the Albergheria – can’t have changed substantially for several hundred years. Although there are proud palazzi on Via Maqueda itself, the real heart of the quarter is in the sprawling warren of tiny streets away from the main roads. The central core is taken up by the Ballarò, one of Palermo’s liveliest street markets, and there are several fine churches interspersed among the tall, blackened and leaning buildings.

Il Gesù

Via Ponticello • Daily 7am–noon & 4–6.30pm

The most spectacular of the Albergheria’s churches is Il Gesù, or Casa Professa, topped by a green-and-white-patterned dome. The first Jesuit foundation in Sicily, it was begun in the mid-sixteenth century and took over a hundred years to complete. It was later almost entirely rebuilt following bomb damage in World War II, and there are still signs of the devastation in the surrounding streets. The reconstruction has been impressively thorough, and the church’s awesome interior, a glorious Baroque swirl of inlaid marble, majolica, intricate relief work and gaudily painted ceiling, takes some time to absorb.

Piazza Ballarò market

Market Mon–Sat, usually from 5am until around 1pm

Piazza Ballarò is the focus of a raucous daily fruit and vegetable market that starts early in the morning. Gleaming fish curl their heads and tails in the air, squashes come as long as baseball bats, and vine leaves trail decoratively down from stalls. There are some very cheap snack bars here, too, where you can sidle in among the locals and sample sliced-open sea urchins, fried artichokes and beer, along with unmarked drinking dens and gutsy snack stalls selling pane e milza and pane e panelle. Don’t leave the area without visiting Rosciglione, creators of the best cannoli in town.

  At the southern end of Piazza Ballarò, the bright majolica-tiled dome of the seventeenth-century church of Santa Maria del Carmine looms above Piazza del Carmine, a singular landmark amid the market stalls and rubbish-strewn alleys.

San Nicolò

Via Nasi • Usually open Tues & Sat 10.30am–12.30pm • Donation expected

The Torre di San Niccolò started life as a watchtower in thirteenth-century Palermo, but in 1518 it was co-opted by the adjacent church as a campanile. These days you can climb the 84 steps to the top for an unsurpassed birds’-eye view of the market, teeming humanity and the city, while guides will help you identify surrounding landmarks.

San Giovanni degli Eremiti

Via dei Benedettini • Daily 9am–5pm, summer until 6.30pm • €6

Built in 1132, the deconsecrated church of San Giovanni degli Eremiti – St John of the Hermits – is the most obviously Arabic of the city’s Norman relics, its five ochre domes topping a small church that was built upon the remains of an earlier mosque (part of which, an adjacent empty hall, is still visible). It was especially favoured by its founder, Roger II, who granted the monks of San Giovanni 21 barrels of tuna a year, a prized commodity controlled by the Crown. A path leads up through citrus trees to the church, behind which lie some celebrated late thirteenth-century cloisters – perfect twin columns with slightly pointed arches surrounding a wilted garden.

Palazzo dei Normanni

Royal Apartments Mon, Fri & Sat 8.15am–5.40pm, last entry at 5pm, Sun & hols 8.15am–1pm, last entry at 12.15pm • Cappella Palatina Mon–Sat 8.15am–5.40pm, last entry at 5pm, Sun & hols 8.15am–9.45am & 11.15am–1pm, last entry at 12.15pm • Check the website before visiting, as parliamentary sessions often disrupt the usual opening hours • Royal Apartments and Cappella Palatina €8.50, Cappella Palatina only €7 •  federicosecondo.org

A royal palace has always occupied the high ground above medieval Palermo, and the vast length of the Palazzo dei Normanni, or Palazzo Reale, still dominates the western edge of the old town. Originally built by the Saracens in the ninth century, the palace was enlarged considerably by the Normans, under whom it housed the most magnificent of medieval European courts. The long front was added by the Spanish in the seventeenth century, and most of the interior is now taken up by the Sicilian regional parliament (hence the security guards and limited access).

  Visitors can tour the Royal Apartments, whose showpiece is the Sala di Ruggero, one of the earliest parts of the palace and richly covered with twelfth-century mosaics of hunting scenes. Other rooms, such as the Sala del Duca di Montalto, are used for occasional exhibitions. The highlight of the entire palace, however – and the undisputed artistic gem of central Palermo – is the beautiful Cappella Palatina, the private royal chapel of Roger II, built between 1132 and 1143. Its intimate interior is immediately overwhelming, with cupola, three apses and nave entirely covered in mosaics of outstanding quality. The oldest are those in the cupola and apses, probably completed in 1150 by Byzantine artists; those in the nave are from the hands of local craftsmen, finished twenty-odd years later and depicting Old and New Testament scenes. The colours are vivid and, as at Monreale and Cefalù, it’s the powerful representation of Christ as Pantocrator that dominates the senses, bolstered here by other secondary images – Christ blessing, open book in hand, and Christ enthroned, between Peter (to whom the chapel is dedicated) and Paul. The chapel also has a delightful Arabic ceiling with richly carved wooden stalactites, a patterned marble floor and an impressive marble Norman candlestick (by the pulpit), 4m high and contorted by manic carvings.

FROM TOP PALAZZO DEI NORMANNI; IL CAPO MARKET

The Cattedrale

Piazza Cattedrale • Cattedrale Mon–Sat 7am–7pm, Sun 8am–1pm & 4–7pm; closed during services • Area Monumentale Mon–Sat: March–Oct 9am–5.30pm; Nov–Feb 9am–1.30pm • €3, or €7 including roof tour • Roof Mon–Sat: March–Oct 9am–5.30pm • €5 •  091 334 373,  cattedrale.palermo.it

Walking down Corso Vittorio Emanuele from the Quattro Canti, there’s no preparation for the sudden, huge bulk of the Cattedrale, an even more substantial Norman relic than the royal palace. Founded in 1185 by Palermo’s English archbishop Gualtiero Offamiglio (Walter of the Mill), the cathedral was intended to be his power base in the city. Yet it wasn’t finished for centuries, and in any case was quickly superseded by the glories of William II’s foundation at Monreale. Less-than-subtle late eighteenth-century alterations added a dome – completely out of character – and spoiled the fine lines of the tawny stone. Still, the triple-apsed eastern end (seen from a side road off the Corso) and the lovely matching towers are all twelfth-century originals and, despite the fussy Catalan-Gothic facade, there’s enough Norman carving and detail to give the exterior more than mere curiosity value. The same is not true, however, of the overblown interior, which was modernized by Fuga, the Neapolitan architect responsible for the dome. Instead, the main interest inside resides in the Area Monumentale, where you can view the royal tombs, Palermo’s pantheon of kings and emperors. Gathered together in two crowded chapels are the mortal remains of some of Sicily’s most famous monarchs, notably Frederick II (left front) and his wife Constance (far right), Henry VI (right front) and Roger II (rear left). In a reliquary chapel to the right of the choir the remains of city patron, Santa Rosalia, are housed in a silver casket, while in the treasury, or tesoro, is a rare twelfth-century jewel- and pearl-encrusted skullcap and three simple, precious rings removed from the tomb of Constance of Aragon in the eighteenth century. The crypt is home to 23 impressive marble tombs, many of which are actually ancient sarcophagi with interesting decoration – no. 12 is a Greek sarcophagus boasting an imposing effigy by Antonello Gagini, one of a prolific dynasty of talented medieval sculptors who covered Sicily with their creations.

  In summer, you can take a tour of the cathedral roof, reached via a spiral staircase in one of the towers, for breathtaking views of Palermo and a chance to appreciate the intricacy of the Arab-Norman architecture below.

Museo Diocesano

Tues–Fri 9.30am–1.30pm, Sat 10am–6pm, Sun 9am–1.30pm • €4.50 •  091 334 373

At the western end of the cathedral, over the road, stands the Palazzo Arcivescovile, the one-time archbishop’s palace, entered through a fifteenth-century gateway. One wing of it holds the Museo Diocesano, which brings together religious art from the cathedral and from city churches destroyed during World War II. There’s some marvellous work here from the medieval and Renaissance periods, including a twelfth-century mosaic of the Madonna, a startling flagellation of Christ by Antonio Veneziano (1388), and a couple of lovely fifteenth-century triptychs, both showing the Coronation of the Virgin (one with angels blasting on trumpets).

Porta Nuova

Corso Calatafimi

Alongside the Royal Palace, Porta Nuovo was Palermo’s most important city gate. Erected in 1535, at the beginning of the road to Monreale, it commemorates Charles V’s Turkish exploits, with suitably grim, turbaned and moustachioed Moorish prisoners appearing as telamons along the western side.

Il Capo

Around the back of the Cattedrale lies the Capo quarter, one of the oldest areas of Palermo and another labyrinthine web of run-down streets. The only touch of grace is in the tree-planted Piazza del Monte, while former grandeur is indicated by a few surviving sculpted portals in the decaying palaces. One alley, Via Porta Carini, climbs past shambolic buildings and locked, battered churches to reach the decrepit Porta Carini itself, one of the city’s medieval gates.

  These days Via Porta Carini holds one of the city’s best markets, and the entire area is reminiscent at times of an Arab souk, though with a decidedly Sicilian choice of wares. The market extends on either side of Via Porta Carini, west to the edge of the Capo district and east, along Via Sant’Agostino – the closer you get to Via Maqueda, the more it’s devoted to clothes and shoes rather than food.

Sant’Agostino

Via Sant’Agostino • Mon–Sat 7am–noon & 4–6pm, Sun 7am–noon

Sant’Agostino was founded by the Chiaramonte and Sclafani families in the thirteenth century. Above the main door (on Via Raimondo) there’s a gorgeous latticework rose window and, inside through the adjacent side-door, some fine seventeenth-century stuccoes by Giacomo Serpotta. Another door leads to a quadrangle of calm sixteenth-century cloisters. Otherwise, turn the corner, and along Via Sant’Agostino, behind the market stalls, the church sports a badly chipped, sculpted fifteenth-century doorway attributed to Domenico Gagini.

Via Roma and Via Garibaldi

Starting out from Stazione Centrale, there doesn’t seem too much along modern Via Roma to get excited about, but many of the side streets are traditionally devoted to particular trades and commerce. Ironmongery, wedding dresses, baby clothes and ceramics all have their separate enclaves, while the pavements of narrow Via Divisi are chock-full of stacked bikes from a series of cycle shops. Via Divisi itself runs to Piazza della Rivoluzione, from where the 1848 uprising began, marked by an oddly elaborate fountain. From here, Via Garibaldi marks the route that Garibaldi took in May 1860 when he entered the city; at Via Garibaldi 23, the immense, battered fifteenth-century Palazzo Aiutamicristo keeps bits of its original Catalan-Gothic structure.

Piazza Croce dei Vespri

North of Piazza della Rivoluzione, Via Aragona leads to Piazza Aragona, the first of a confusing jumble of squares. Piazza Croce dei Vespri is named for a cross erected in memory of the French who died in the 1282 Sicilian Vespers rebellion. Dominating is the imposing entrance to the Palazzo Valguarnera Gangi, where Visconti filmed the ballroom scene in The Leopard; you may be able to get a glimpse of the interior by smooth-talking the porter.

San Francesco d’Assisi

Corso Vittorio Emanuele • Daily 8am–noon & 4–6pm • Free

From Corso Vittorio Emanuele, Via A. Paternostro swings right to the thirteenth-century church of San Francesco d’Assisi, whose well-preserved portal, picked out with a zigzag decoration, is topped by a wonderful rose window – a harmonious design that is, for once, continued inside. All the Baroque trappings have been stripped away to reveal a pleasing stone interior, the later side chapels showing beautifully crafted arches – the fourth on the left is one of the earliest Renaissance works on the island, sculpted by Francesco Laurana in 1468.

Oratorio di San Lorenzo

Via Immacolatella 5 • Mon–Sat 9am–5pm • €2

To the side of San Francesco d’Assisi, the renowned Oratorio di San Lorenzo contains another of Giácomo Serpotta’s stuccoed masterpieces, namely intricately fashioned scenes from the lives of St Lawrence and St Francis. However the Oratorio is best known for one of Caravaggio’s most dynamic and perfectly preserved canvases, Nativity with Saints Francis and Lawrence, stolen in 1969 and never recovered. There have been several attempts to establish the whereabouts of the painting, though in 2009, Mafia pentito Gaspare Spatuzza claimed that in the 1980s it had been given to one of Palermo’s leading Mafia families, who then hid it in a stable, where it was nibbled to shreds by rats and pigs, then burned.

The waterfront

From the Quattro Canti, Corso Vittorio Emanuele stretches east towards the waterfront, where the old city harbour of La Cala is on the left. This thumb-shaped inlet was once the main port of Palermo, stretching as far inland as Via Roma, but the harbour was in decline from the sixteenth century, when silting caused the water to recede to its current position. With all the heavy work transferred to new docks to the northwest, La Cala’s surviving small fishing fleet now plays second fiddle to the yachts of Palermo’s well-heeled. The little harbour is overlooked on one side by the church of Santa Maria della Catena, named after the chain that used to close the harbour in the late fifteenth century. The Corso, meanwhile, ends at the Baroque Porta Felice gate, begun in 1582 as a counterbalance to the Porta Nuova, visible way to the southwest. From here, you can judge the extent of the late medieval city, which lay between the two gates.

  The whole area beyond the Porta Felice was flattened in 1943, and has since been rebuilt as the Foro Italico promenade (also known as Foro Umberto I), complete with small amusement park, from where you can look back over the harbour to Monte Pellegrino. This is one of the liveliest places in the city on summer evenings, when the locals take to the street armed to the teeth with cellphones and ice creams. A street back, on Via Butera, the seventeenth-century facade of the Palazzo Butera faces out over the Foro Italico. Once the home of the Branciforte family, at one time the wealthiest family in Sicily, it was gradually partitioned and sold off, and is now only open for conferences or groups of visitors, but numerous films have been shot here, including The Talented Mr Ripley and The Godfather Part III.

SICILIAN PUPPET THEATRE

Sicily’s most vibrant traditional entertainment is its puppet theatre, and in the engaging Museo delle Marionette (Mon–Sat 9am–1pm & 2.30–6.30pm, Sun 10am–1pm, closed Sun June, July & Aug; €5;  091 328 060,  museomarionettepalermo.it) you’ll find the country’s definitive collection of puppets and painted scenery; the museum is just down Via Butera at Piazzetta Antonio Pasqualino. The fairly wide-ranging collection also encompasses puppet figures from Rajasthan, glittering dragons from Rangoon and the British Punch and Judy in their traditional booth, but it’s the Sicilian puppets that steal the show. Best of all is to see one of the theatrical performances staged at the museum – enjoyably rowdy affairs of battles, chivalry, betrayal and shouted dialect, based around French and Sicilian history and specifically the exploits of the hero Orlando (Roland). Other backstreet puppet theatres, run by the same families for generations, include Figli d’Arte Cuticchio, at Via Bara all’Olivella 95, near Teatro Massimo ( 091 323 400,  figlidartecuticchio.com); Teatro Argento, at Via Pietro Novelli 1, off Corso Vittorio Emanuele and opposite the Cattedrale ( 091 611 3680); and Teatro Ippogrifo, at Vicolo Ragusi 6, near Quattro Canti and off Corso Vittorio Emanuele ( 091 329 194).

Piazza Marina

The large square of Piazza Marina encloses the tropical Giardino Garibaldi, famed for its enormous banyan trees. It’s a popular venue for the city’s elderly card-players, who gather around green baize tables at lunchtime for a game. The square itself was reclaimed from the sea in the tenth century, subsequently used for jousting tournaments and executions, and is now overlooked by the lovely Renaissance facade of Santa Maria dei Miracoli, and surrounded by pavement restaurants and palazzi, including the second largest of Palermo’s palaces, the Palazzo Chiaramonte, flanking the east side of the square. Dating from the fourteenth century, the palace was the home of the Inquisition from 1685 to 1782, before becoming the city’s law courts (until 1972). Today, it is the administrative centre of the university and is only open to the public for occasional art exhibitions.

Palazzo Mirto

Via Merlo 2 • Tues–Fri 9am–6pm, Sat & Sun 9am–1pm • €4, or €10 with Galleria Regionale della Sicilia

Palazzo Mirto is a late eighteenth-century building that’s one of the few in the city to retain its original furnishings, thus giving a rare insight into palazzo life. The exquisite ceilings, intimate Chinese Room, imposing baldacchino, vibrantly coloured tapestries and overblown Baroque fountain are perhaps all to be expected, but the family’s more modest living quarters have also been preserved, while visits also take in the servants’ kitchen and the carriages in the stables.

Galleria d’Arte Moderna

Via Sant’Anna 21 • Tues–Sun 9.30am–6.30pm • €7 •  091 843 1605,  galleriadartemodernapalermo.it

At the far end of Via Alloro, Piazza Sant’Anna is home to the Convento di Sant’Anna, which has been stunningly restored and opened as the seat of the Galleria d’Arte Moderna. The collection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Sicilian works here is displayed thematically (portraits, nudes, mythology, seascapes, landscapes etc) to great effect. Its café, spilling into the courtyard in summer, is one of the loveliest places in the city for lunch or an aperitif. Prestigious international touring exhibitions often visit, too.

Galleria Regionale della Sicilia

Via Alloro 4 • Tues–Fri 9am–6pm, Sat & Sun 9am–1pm • €8, €10 with Palazzo Mirto •  091 623 0011,  regione.sicilia.it/beniculturali/palazzoabatellis

Sicily’s finest medieval art collection is displayed in the Galleria Regionale della Sicilia, which occupies the princely Palazzo Abatellis, a fifteenth-century building that still retains elements of its Catalan-Gothic and Renaissance origins. There are some wonderful works here, by all the major names encountered on any tour of the island, starting with the fifteenth-century sculptor Francesco Laurana, whose white marble bust of Eleonora d’Aragona is a calm, perfectly studied portrait. Another room is devoted to the work of the Gagini clan, mostly statues of the Madonna, though Antonello Gagini is responsible for a rather strident Archangel Michael, with a distinct military manner. Highlight of the ground floor, though, is a magnificent fifteenth-century fresco, the Triumph of Death, by an unknown (possibly Flemish) painter. It’s a chilling study, with Death cast as a skeletal archer astride a galloping, spindly horse, trampling bodies slain by his arrows. He rides towards a group of smug and wealthy citizens, apparently unconcerned at his approach; meanwhile, to the left, the sick and the old plead hopelessly for oblivion.

The first floor

There are three further frescoes (thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Sicilian, and rather crude) above the steps up to the first floor, which is devoted to painting. The earliest works (thirteenth- to fourteenth-century) are fascinating, displaying marked Byzantine characteristics, like the fourteenth-century mosaic of the Madonna and Child, eyes and hands remarkably self-assured. For sheer accomplishment, though, look no further than the collection of works by the fifteenth-century Sicilian artist Antonello da Messina: three small, clever portraits of saints Gregory, Jerome and Augustine (with a rakish red hat), followed by an indisputably powerful Annunciation, a placid depiction of Mary, head and shoulders covered, right hand slightly raised in acknowledgement of the (off-picture) Archangel Gabriel.

La Kalsa

La Gancia Mon–Sat 9.30am–noon & 3–6pm, Sun 10am–12.30pm • Orto Botanico Daily 9am–dusk • €5

The Galleria Regionale stands at the edge of the neighbourhood of La Kalsa (from the Arabic khalisa, meaning “pure”), one of the oldest quarters in Palermo, originally laid out by the Saracens and heavily bombed during World War II. It’s still a little on the rough side, with some unkempt squares and alleys, although the area is showing some signs of gradual gentrification, with the opening of new bars, restaurants and some chic B&Bs.

  There’s more work by the Gagini family (sculpted fragments and reliefs) in the fifteenth-century church of La Gancia – or Santa Maria degli Angeli – next door to the gallery on Via Alloro. To escape La Kalsa and the city noise, walk a few minutes along Via Lincoln to the eighteenth-century gardens of Villa Giulia. There’s a children’s train ride, plus bandstand, deer and ducks, while the Orto Botanico, next to the park, dates from 1795 and features tropical plants from all over the world.

Santa Maria dello Spasimo

Piazza Kalsa • Mon–Wed & Fri–Sun 8am–1pm & 4.30–6pm •  091 616 1486

The former church and convent of Santa Maria dello Spasimo is semi-ruined and roofless – and all the more romantic for it. None other than Raphael painted Lo Spasimo di Sicilia for the church, installed here in 1520 (though now in the Prado in Madrid). Since then, the church has been variously used as a theatre, barracks, plague hospital and rubbish tip; recently it has served as one of the city’s most popular and atmospheric concert venues, but is currently undergoing restoration (call for an update).

La Magione

Piazza Magione • Mon–Sat 9.30am–noon & 3–6.15pm • Donation requested

La Kalsa’s main highlight is the lovely church of La Magione, standing in isolation on Piazza Magione and approached through a pretty palm-lined drive and garden. A fine example of Arab-Norman architecture, it was originally built in 1151 for the Cistercians, but given to the Teutonic knights as their headquarters by Henry VI in 1197. The cloister resembles that at Monreale, and houses a rare Judaic tombstone re-carved into a basin for holy water. In the room between the cloister and the chapel, there’s a fresco of the crucifixion and – far more interesting and rare – a plaster preparation of the fresco, opposite. It’s the only example of a fresco model in Sicily, and its near-mathematical sketch lines show the care and detailed planning that went into the creation of such works.

La Vucciria

North of Corso Vittorio Emanuele and east of Via Roma, one of Palermo’s oldest markets, La Vucciria, is said to be named after the French boucherie, for butcher’s shop. Once the most renowned market in Palermo – and subject of one of Renato Guttuso’s most famous paintings – it is now a shadow of its former self, though it still has several basic bars and fish trattorias. There are a couple of excellent little trattorias tucked away in the alleys (best at lunchtime), and some very basic bars where the wine comes straight from the barrel.

SHOPPING IN PALERMO

Palermo’s old quarter sometimes seems like one big market. Apart from the stalls of Il Capo, Vucciria and Ballarò, where a range of household items is on offer alongside the fruit and veg, the city has several flea markets (mercati delle pulci) – with the occasional antique lurking amid the knick-knacks and curios – notably on Piazza Peranni near the cathedral, displaying chandeliers galore, and the Albergheria’s Piazza San Francesco Saverio off Corso Tukory (this last on Sunday). You’re more likely to find jewellery, watches – often convincing copies of branded products – and “designer” clothing on Via Sant’Agostino and the backstreets of the Capo quarter. More upmarket boutiques are scattered along Via Roma and Via Ruggero Séttimo, and on and around Viale della Libertà.

  Sicilian puppets and ceramics of varying quality are sold along Corso Vittorio Emanuele, Via Divisi and around Piazza Marina, or in the new city around Piazza Castelnuovo and along Viale della Libertà. You’ll also find model Sicilian carts in abundance in all these areas – a typical, if rather corny, souvenir. For frutta di Martorana look in any decent pasticceria – these are sold by weight, and do not need to be kept chilled.

  One of the best supermarket chains is Oviesse, which has a branch at Viale della Libertà, on the corner with Via Siracusa (Mon–Sat 9am–8pm, Sun 10am–1pm & 4–8pm). The ubiquitous SISA, CRAI and GS supermarkets are also perfectly adequate, though prices are much higher than at the street markets.

  There’s a large selection of English books at Mondadori Multicenter, Via Ruggero Séttimo 18 (daily 9.30am–8.30pm;  091 769 061); and Feltrinelli, Via Cavour 139 (Mon–Fri 9am–8.30pm, Sat 9am–9pm, Sun 10am–1.30pm & 4–8.30pm;  091 781 291).

San Domenico

Piazza San Domenico • Tues–Sun 8.15am–noon, Sat & Sun also 5–7pm

The northern limit of La Vucciria market is marked by the church of San Domenico, whose fine eighteenth-century facade, with its double pillars and slim towers, is lit at night to great effect. Inside, a series of tombs contains a horde of famous Sicilians – parliamentarians, poets and painters – of little interest to foreigners except to shed some light on Palermitan street-naming.

Oratorio del Rosario di San Domenico

Via dei Bambinai • Mon–Sat 9am–1pm • Donation requested

Behind San Domenico is a greater treat, the sixteenth-century Oratorio del Rosario di San Domenico, built and still maintained by the Knights of Malta, and adorned by the acknowledged master of the art of stucco sculpture, Giacomo Serpotta. Born in Palermo in 1656, Serpotta devoted his entire life to decorating oratories like this – here, the figures of Justice, Strength and suchlike (resembling fashionable society ladies, who often served as models) are crowned by an accomplished Van Dyck altarpiece.

Oratorio del Rosario di Santa Zita

Entrance on Via Valverde • Mon–Fri 9am–1pm, ring the bell if closed, or ask in the church • €2.50

Stucco-seekers will find splendour aplenty behind the late sixteenth-century church of Santa Zita (or Santa Cita) on quiet Via Squarcialupo. The marvellous Oratorio del Rosario di Santa Zita contains some of the wildest flights of Serpotta’s rococo imagination – a dazzling confusion of allegorical figures, bare-breasted women, scenes from the New Testament, putti galore, and, at the centre of it all, a rendering of the Battle of Lepanto. It’s a tumultuous work, depicted with loving care – notice the old men and women, or the melancholy boys perched on the ledge, and look for Serpotta’s symbol on the left wall, the golden snake.

Piazza XIII Vittime

Piazza XIII Vittime is named for the five tall V-shaped steel plates that splinter out of the ground, commemorating the officials who have lost their lives in Palermo’s enduring struggle with the Mafia. The installation replaces a monument commemorating thirteen citizens shot by the Bourbons in the 1860 revolt, which now stands along Via Cavour.

Museo Archeologico Regionale

Piazza Olivella 24 • Closed for restoration •  091 611 6806

The cloisters and surviving buildings of a sixteenth-century convent – once the property of the Sant’Ignazio all’Olivella church – now house Palermo’s Museo Archeologico Regionale. Its magnificent collection gathers together artefacts found at all western Sicily’s major Neolithic, Carthaginian, Greek and Roman settlements, but unfortunately the museum has been closed since 2009 for long-overdue renovations. These should improve the frankly old-fashioned displays, but you may have to take the projected re-opening date of 2014 with a pinch of salt. The new layout was undecided at the time of writing, but the highlights of the collection are described below.

  In particular, the museum is the repository of the extraordinary finds from the Greek site of Selinunte on the southwest coast, gathering together the rich stone carvings that adorned the various temples (known only as Temples A–G). The oldest are single panels from the early sixth century BC, representing the gods of Delphi, the Sphinx, the rape of Europa, and Hercules and the Bull. Other reconstructed friezes are more vivid works from the fifth century BC, like Perseus beheading Medusa, while the most technically advanced tableaux are those from Temple E, portraying a lithe Hercules fighting an Amazon, the marriage of Zeus and Hera, Actaeon savaged by three ferocious dogs, and Athena and the Titan. Other Greek relics include the famous stone lion’s-head water-spouts from the fifth-century BC Victory Temple at Himera – the fierce animal faces tempered by braided fur and a grooved tongue that channelled the water. Finds from the sites at Términi Imerese and Solunto are also here, as well as rich bronze sculptures like the naturalistic figure of an alert and genial ram (third century BC) from Siracusa, once one of a pair (the other was destroyed in the 1848 revolution). There’s Etruscan funerary art, a wide range of Neolithic finds (including casts of the incised drawings from Addaura, on Monte Pellegrino, and Lévanzo), and a series of beautifully preserved Roman mosaics – the largest of which measures nearly 10m in length – excavated from Piazza della Vittoria in Palermo.

The modern city

Via Maqueda assumes an increasingly modern aspect as it progresses north from Quattro Canti. Barring the bustle of activity around Via Candelai – a busy shopping street by day, a hubbub of cafés at night – the interesting medieval alleys are gradually replaced by the wider and more nondescript streets around Piazza Verdi.

  Beyond the Teatro Massimo theatre Via Maqueda becomes Via Ruggero Séttimo, which cuts through gridded shopping streets on its way to the huge double square that characterizes modern Palermo. Known as Piazza Politeama, it’s made up of Piazza Castelnuovo to the west and Piazza Ruggero Séttimo to the east. Dominating the whole lot is Palermo’s other massive theatre, the late nineteenth-century Politeama Garibaldi, built in overblown Pompeiian style and topped by a bronze chariot pulled by four horses. From here, broad boulevards shoot up to the shady nineteenth-century gardens of the Giardino Inglese.

THE UCCIARDONE – NO NEED TO ESCAPE

A couple of blocks east of the Giardino Inglese is Palermo’s notorious Ucciardone prison, connected by an underground passageway to the maximum-security bunker where the much-publicized maxi processi (maxi-trials) of Mafia suspects were held in the 1980s. At the time, the gloomy Bourbon prison was dubbed “the best-informed centre in Italy for gossip and intelligence about the operations of organized crime throughout the world”, not least because it was home to a good percentage of the biggest names in the Italian underworld. Mafia affairs were conducted here almost undisturbed, by bosses whose food was brought in from Palermo’s best restaurants and who collaborated with the warders to ensure that escapes didn’t happen – something that might increase security arrangements and hamper their activities. However, following the murders of Mafia investigators Falcone and Borsellino in 1992, many of the highest-risk inmates were transferred to more isolated prisons in different parts of the country.

Teatro Massimo

Piazza Verdi • Tours every 30min Tues–Sun 9.30am–5pm; last tour at 4.30pm, 4pm if there’s a show starting at 5.30pm, and there are no tours during rehearsal times • €8 •  091 605 3267,  teatromassimo.it

Said to be the largest theatre in Italy, built on a scale to rival Europe’s great opera houses, the nineteenth-century Teatro Massimo was constructed by Giovanni Battista Basile, whose Neoclassical design was possibly influenced by Charles Garnier’s contemporary plans for the Paris Opéra. Tours with an English-speaking guide show you the rich, gilded, marble Sala Pompeiana, where the nobility once gathered, and the domed ceiling in the six-tiered auditorium, constructed in the shape of a flower head, its centre and petals adorned with an allegorical portrayal of the triumph of music. Francis Ford Coppola shot the long climactic opera scene of The Godfather Part III here, using the theatre’s sweep of steps to great effect.

Museo Mormino

Viale della Libertà 52 • Mon–Fri 9am–1pm & 3–5pm, Sat 9am–1pm • €4 •  museo.fondazionebancodisicilia.it

Near the Giardino Inglese gardens, the Museo Mormino houses a beautifully presented collection of artefacts and paintings in the sumptuous Banco di Sicilia building. There’s a wide selection of Italian majolica from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries, and an extensive collection of Greek vases, Etruscan finds, old maps and ancient coins, while nineteenth-century paintings on show include the seascapes and tuna-fishing scenes of Antonino Leto.

Out from the centre

It’s well worth taking time to explore the Palermo that lies beyond the city centre. The highlights are the fine Arab Norman palace of La Zisa and the ghoulish mummies of the Catacombe dei Cappuccini. A one-time royal Bourbon hunting ground, Parco della Favorita is now a public park, its charms somewhat compromised by the fact that it’s crisscrossed by roads – anyone wanting to escape the city for a few hours would be better advised to head for the nature reserve of Monte Pellegrino.

Parco della Favorita

3km north of Piazza Politeama • Park No set hours • Free • Palazzina Cinese Tues–Sat 9am–5pm, Sun 9am–1pm • Free •  parcodellafavorita.it • Take bus #101 from Stazione Centrale to Piazza Giovanni Paolo II, then change to the #645 and ask to be dropped at the park

North of the centre lies the Parco della Favorita, a long, wooded expanse at the foot of Monte Pellegrino, with sports grounds and stadiums at one end, and formal gardens laid out a couple of kilometres beyond. The grounds were originally acquired in 1799 by the Bourbon king Ferdinand during his exile from Naples, and for three years he lived here in the Palazzina Cinese, a small but exquisite Chinese-style pavilion. There are plans afoot to close the entire park area to traffic.

Monte Pellegrino

Sanctuaries di Santa Rosalia Daily 7am–12.15pm & 2–6pm •  www.riservamontepellegrino.palermo.it • Bus #812 from Piazza Sturzo or Teatro Politeama

North of the city, and clearly visible from the port area, the massive bulk of Monte Pellegrino separates Palermo from the bay at Mondello. The mountain is a nature reserve, and there are marked paths across it, though for most locals Monte Pellegrino is primarily a venue for Sunday picnics and strolls. It’s also a significant place of pilgrimage, the site of the shrine of the city’s patron saint, St Rosalia.

  The half-hour ride up the mountain provides wide views over Palermo and its plain. At the very end of the road stands the Santuario di Santa Rosalia, part of a ramshackle collection of huts and stalls, entered through a small chapel erected over a deep cave in the hillside where the saint’s bones were discovered in 1624. Inside, a bier contains a reclining golden statue of the saint, thought by Goethe to be “so natural and pleasing, that one can hardly help expecting to see the saint breathe and move”. The water trickling down the walls is supposedly miraculous.

  A small road to the left of the chapel leads to the cliff-top promontory – a half-hour’s walk – where a more restrained statue of Santa Rosalia stares over the sprawling city. Another path, leading up from the sanctuary to the right, takes you to the top of the mountain – 600m high, and around a forty-minute walk. Elsewhere, the trails that cover Monte Pellegrino are dotted with families picnicking, while kids play on rope swings tied to the trees.

LA FESTA DI SANTA ROSALIA

Next to nothing is known for sure about Rosalia, who was probably a member of the Norman court in the twelfth century, except that at some point she rejected her wealthy background and lived as a hermit on Monte Pellegrino. Nothing more was heard of her until the early seventeenth century, when a vision led to the discovery of her bones in a mountain cave. Pronounced sacred relics, these were carried around Palermo in procession in both 1624 and 1625, thus staying the ravages of a terrible plague. It’s a ceremony that is now re-enacted every July 15 (and also Sept 4), with a torchlight procession to the saint’s sanctuary that forms part of Palermo’s annual jamboree, La Festa di Santa Rosalia – “U Fistinu” in dialect. An ebullient blend of devotion and revelry, U Fistinu is the central event of the year for locals, while for tourists it’s an uproarious party, perhaps the most exhilarating you’ll see anywhere in Italy. The annual ritual includes both solemn processions and gaudy entertainment, with the passionate and vociferous participation of hundreds of thousands of Palermitani. The central event is a long parade through the centre of town, from the Palazzo dei Normanni along Corso Vittorio Emanuele to the seafront, headed by a candle-lit statue of the saint borne aloft on the “Carro Trionfale”. There are puppet re-enactments of the saint’s miracles, concerts, exhibitions, and a gastronomic feast on Foro Italico, where heaps of food are consumed – most famously, snails, nuts, watermelons and dolci. The celebrations culminate in a spectacular display of fireworks over the harbour.

La Zisa

Piazza Guglielmo Il Buono • Mon & Sun 9am–1pm, Tues–Sat 9am–6.30pm • €6 •  091 652 0269 • Bus #124 from Piazza Sturzo and Piazza Politeama stops at La Zisa

The palatial king’s retreat of La Zisa – from the Arabic al-aziz or “magnificent” – was begun by William I in 1160, and later finished by his son William II. At one time its beautiful grounds were stocked with rare and exotic beasts, though a raid on the palace by disaffected locals in 1161 released some of the wild animals, which probably came as a bit of a shock to William’s neighbours. It’s now besieged by modern apartment blocks, but has been thoughtfully restored to something approaching its former glory. The centrepiece is the Sala della Fontana, comprising an elaborate fountain in a marble-sided chamber with glittering mosaic decoration. These are appropriate surroundings for a modest collection of Islamic art and artefacts, mostly inscribed copper bowls from periods much later than when La Zisa was constructed, and from different parts of the Mediterranean. The latticed windows afford impressive views over the surrounding greenery.

Catacombe dei Cappuccini

Piazza Cappuccini • April–Oct daily 9am–noon & 3–6pm; Nov–March daily 9am–12.30pm & 3–5.30pm • €3 •  091 652 4156 • Take bus #327 from Piazza Indipendenza southwest along Via dei Cappuccini as far as Via Pindemonte, and then follow the signposts for a couple of hundred metres

Of all the attractions on the edge of Palermo, it’s the Catacombe dei Cappuccini that generates the most interest among visitors. For several hundred years the Cappuccini placed its dead brothers in catacombs under the church and later, up until 1881, rich laymen and others were interred here too. Some 8000 bodies in all were preserved by various chemical and drying processes – including dehydration, the use of vinegar and arsenic baths, and treatment with quicklime – and then placed in niches along rough-cut subterranean corridors, dressed in a suit of clothes that they had previously provided for the purpose. In different caverns reserved for men, women, the clergy, doctors, lawyers and surgeons, the bodies are pinned with an identifying tag, some decomposed beyond recognition, others complete with skin, hair and eyes, fixing you with a steely stare. Those that aren’t arranged along the walls lie in stacked glass coffins, and, to say the least, it’s an unnerving experience to walk among them. Times change, though, as Patrick Brydone noted in his late eighteenth-century A Tour Through Sicily and Malta:

Here the people of Palermo pay daily visits to their deceased friends … here they familiarize themselves with their future state, and chuse the company they would wish to keep in the other world. It is a common thing to make choice of their nich, and to try if their body fits it … and sometimes, by way of a voluntary penance, they accustom themselves to stand for hours in these niches …

Of all the skeletal bodies, saddest are the many remains of babies and young children, nothing more than spindly puppets. Follow the signs for the sealed-off cave that contains the coffin of two-year-old Rosalia Lombardo, who died in 1920. A new process, a series of injections, preserved her to the extent that she looks as though she’s asleep. Perhaps fortunately, the doctor who invented the technique died before he could tell anyone how it was done.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: PALERMO

BY PLANE

Falcone Borsellino airport, also known simply as Punta Raisi ( 800 541 880,  gesap.it), is at Punta Raisi, 31km west of the city. Buses (Prestia & Comandè,  091 580 457,  prestiaecomande.it) run into Palermo (every 30min; 5am–midnight; 45min), and stop outside Politeama theatre, Stazione Marittima and at Stazione Centrale; tickets are €6.10 on board, or €11 return via the website. For the return, departures are at 4am, 5am and then every 30min until 11pm. Trains (€5.80) run from the airport to Stazione Centrale at 5.54am, 7.20am, and then on the hour and at 20min past the hour until 9.20pm, with the final departure at 10.05pm. From Stazione Centrale they leave at 4.45am, 5.09am, 6.07am and then every 30min between 7.09am and 8.09pm. The airport ticket office number is  091 704 4007.

BY TRAIN

All trains arrive at the Stazione Centrale at the southern end of Via Roma. Bus #101 runs from the station along Via Roma to Via della Libertà. It has its own priority lane, so is much faster than most of the city’s other services. Even the linea gialla and linea rossa, little buses that run through the centro storico, passing by the station, get terribly snarled up in the traffic.

Destinations Agrigento (10 daily Mon–Sat, 7 daily Sun; 2hr 15min); Bagheria (2–3 hourly; 10min); Capaci (hourly; 40min); Carini (hourly; 45min); Castellammare del Golfo (hourly; 1hr 30min); Castelvetrano via Alcamo (5–6 daily; 2hr 25min); Cefalù (hourly; 45min–1hr); Isola delle Fémmine (hourly; 30–45min); Mazara del Vallo via Alcamo (6 daily; 3hr); Milazzo (13 daily; 2hr 30min–3hr); Messina (13 daily; 3–4hr); Solunto (1–2 hourly; 15min); Términi Imerese (2–3 hourly; 25–40min); Trapani (5 daily; 2hr 15min–3hr 45min).

BY BUS

The majority of country- and island-wide buses operate from the recently opened Piazza Cairoli bus station alongside the train station.

Destinations Agrigento (5 daily; 2hr 30min); Bagheria (1–2 hourly Mon–Sat; 1hr 15min); Caccamo (4 daily Mon–Sat; 1hr); Caltagirone (1 daily except Sat; 3hr); Caltanissetta (7–10 daily Mon–Sat, 5 daily Sun; 1hr 40min); Capaci (Mon–Sat 1–2 hourly; 1hr); Carini (Mon–Sat 1–2 hourly; 1hr–1hr 30min); Castelbuono (5 daily Mon–Sat, 1 daily Sun; 1hr 40min–2hr 30min); Castellammare del Golfo (6 daily Mon–Sat, 1–3 daily Sun; 50min); Catania (hourly; 2hr 40min); Cefalù (5 daily; 1hr); Corleone (hourly Mon–Sat; 1hr 30min); Enna (5–7 daily; 1hr 35min–1hr 50min); Gela (3–4 daily; 2hr 45min–3hr); Marsala (hourly; 2hr 30min); Messina (5 daily Mon–Sat; 2hr 40min); Piana degli Albanesi (6 daily Mon–Sat; 1hr); Piazza Armerina (hourly; 2hr 15min); San Martino delle Scale (2 daily Mon–Sat; 30min); San Vito Lo Capo (2–4 daily Mon–Sat, 1–3 daily Sun; 2–3hr); Siracusa (3 daily; 3hr 15min); Términi Imerese (6 daily Mon–Sat; 40min); Trapani (Segesta; 1–2 hourly; 2hr).

BUS COMPANIES

AST Via Paolo Balsamo  091 680 0038,  aziendasicilianatrasporti.it. For Bagheria, Castelbuono, Corleone and Montelepre.

AST Piazzale John Lennon, near Viale Regione Siciliana  091 685 8015,  aziendasicilianatrasporti.it. For Capaci, Carini and Partinico.

Cuffaro Via Paolo Balsamo  091 616 1510,  cuffaro.info. For Agrigento.

Interbus Via Paolo Balsamo  091 616 7919,  interbus.it. For Catania and Siracusa.

Prestia & Comandè Stazione Centrale  091 586 351,  prestiaecomande.it. For the airport and Piana degli Albanesi.

Randazzo Via Paolo Balsamo  091 814 8235,  autobusrandazzo.altervista.org. For Caccamo and Términi Imerese.

Russo Piazza Marina  092 431 364,  russoautoservizi.it. For Castellammare del Golfo and San Vito Lo Capo.

SAIS Via Paolo Balsamo  091 616 6028,  saisautolinee.it. For Caltagirone, Catania, Cefalù, Enna, Gela, Messina and Piazza Armerina.

Segesta Via Paolo Balsamo  091 616 919,  segesta.it. For Alcamo, Messina, Partinico and Trapani.

Salemi Via Rosario Gregorio  092 398 1120,  autoservizisalemi.it. For Castelvetrano, Marsala and Mazara del Vallo.

BY FERRY OR HYDROFOIL

Stazione Marittima All ferry and hydrofoil services dock at the Stazione Marittima, just off Via Francesco Crispi. A free navetta bus shuttles constantly between the Stazione Marittima and the port entrance (though it is only a 5min walk), from where it’s a 10min walk up Via E. Amari to Piazza Castelnuovo. There is a left luggage office at the port (€2.50 per piece of luggage); it’s officially open daily 7am–8pm, but they may ask you what time you want to pick up your luggage, and close for a while if things are quiet.

City transport from the port Bus #139 connects the port with Stazione Centrale, though it is rather infrequent, so it is better to walk up Via E. Amari to Piazza Politeama from where buses #101 or #102, and the linea rossa, run regularly to the train station.

Schedules The ferry and hydrofoil services detailed here refer to the period from June to Sept; expect frequencies to be greatly reduced or suspended outside these months. Ferry details are available on  aferry.it, while all hydrofoils are run by Ustica Lines ( usticalines.it).

Ferry destinations Cagliari (1 or less weekly; 14hr 30min); Civitavecchia (up to 3 weekly; 17hr); Genoa (1 daily; 20hr); Naples (1–2 daily; 11hr); Tunis (1–2 weekly; 10hr; Ustica (1 daily; 2hr 20min).

Hydrofoil destinations Aeolian Islands (all 1 daily) – Alicudi (2hr), Filicudi (2hr 30min), Rinella (3hr 15min), Santa Marina Salina (3hr 30min), Lipari (4hr), Vulcano (4hr 25min), Panarea (4hr 40min), Stromboli (5hr 15min); Ustica (2 daily; 90min).

GETTING AROUND

BY BUS

AMAT buses City buses (AMAT;  091 350 111, infoline  848 800 817 or from a mobile  199 240 800,  amat.pa.it) cover every corner of Palermo as well as Monreale and Mondello.

Fares and tickets There’s a flat fare of €1.30 valid for 90min, or you can buy an all-day ticket for €3.50, while tickets for the linea gialla, linea rossa and linea verde, and the circolare minibus services (which all weave in and out and over the centro storico), cost just €0.52 for a day’s use. Buy them from AMAT booths outside Stazione Centrale, at the southern end of Viale della Libertà, in tabacchi and anywhere else you see the AMAT sign, or, if you forget, from the driver for a supplement of €0.40. Validate tickets in the machine at the back of the bus as you board – there has recently been a clampdown on people travelling without tickets, with spot checks carried out by plainclothes inspectors. The main city bus rank is outside Stazione Centrale and buses run until midnight (11.30pm on Sun).

BY CAR

City driving It’s far better not to drive in Palermo – you won’t need a car to get around, and can pick up a rental car on the day you leave. Driving into the city can be a bit traumatic, as directional signs are confusing and the traffic unforgiving of first-time visitors. Following signs for “Stazione Centrale” – or anything that reads “Centro” – should at least get you into the city, while Piazza Politeama is a convenient first place to get your bearings and leave your vehicle.

Parking Finding a parking space can be a real problem, though you’ll find somewhere eventually if you drive around for long enough. Metered parking costs €1 an hour (maximum 3hr) – either feed the ticket machine or buy a parking scratch card (biglietto parcheggio) from a nearby shop. In some areas, you will be ushered into a parking space by an unofficial attendant, who will expect a tip of 50 cents to €1. It’s much less hassle to use a garage, especially if you have to leave your car in Palermo’s old quarter overnight: useful ones include L’Oasi Verde (Corso Tukory 207, southwest of Stazione Centrale), Central Garage (Piazza Giulio Césare 43, in front of Stazione Centrale), Via Guardione 81 (near Stazione Marittima, behind Via Francesco Crispi) and Via Sammartino 24 (town centre, off Via Dante). It costs €10–20 per day to garage-park, usually less when arranged through a hotel.

Leaving the city Take Via Oreto (behind Stazione Centrale) for the Palermo–Messina (A19) and Palermo–Catania (A20) autostradas; Corso Vittorio Emanuele (westbound) for Monreale; and Viale della Libertà (northbound) for the airport and Trapani.

Car rental Avis, Via Francesco Crispi 115 ( 091 586 940); Hertz, Via Messina 7/E ( 091 323 439); Maggiore, Stazione Notarbartolo 79 ( 091 681 0801); Sicily By Car, Via Mariano Stabile 6/A ( 091 581 045). All of these also have desks at the airport.

BY TAXI

Taxi companies and ranks Palermo’s three taxi companies – Auto Radio Taxi ( 091 513 311,  www.autoradiotaxi.it), Radio Taxi Trinacria ( 255 or  091 6878,  radiotaxitrinacria.it) and Sicilia Uno ( 339 408 5713,  siciliaunotaxipalermo.com) – all charge the same rates. The minimum fare is €4.50; if the driver doesn’t want to switch the meter on, agree a fare you are prepared to pay first – not a bad strategy if there is more than one taxi driver about, as they may well bid for custom. There are ranks at the airport, train and bus stations, piazzas Castelnuovo, Verdi and Matteotti and at Via Roma.

Drivers For a good reliable official taxi driver who charges less than most call Pino  328 374 5341, who will do the airport run for €40, and Stazione Centrale to the port for €10.

BY HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGE OR APE

Taking a horse-drawn carriage, a carrozza, is a suitably kitsch way to see the city, or you could take a tour on a Piaggio Ape, a three-wheeler pick-up. Both tout for business alongside Piazza Pretoria, outside the port and by the cathedral, and should charge around €20 per person for a tour of the city.

BY BIKE OR SCOOTER

If you’re adept on two wheels, biking is not a bad option: as long as you realize the rules of the road – he who hesitates is lost, and go for the gap – weaving your way in and out of the traffic can be an exhilarating way to save time and legwork. Rent Bike, Via Giardinaccio 66, off Via Maqueda ( 331 750 7886) offer bicycle and scooter rental.

INFORMATION AND TOURS

Tourist offices Palermo’s helpful city-centre tourist office, at Via Principe di Belmonte 92, Mon–Fri 8.30am–2pm, 2.30–6pm,  091 585 172,  palermotourism.com), has maps and plenty of information about the city and province. Information kiosks run by the city council (all theoretically open Sat–Wed 9am–1pm & 3–7pm, Thurs & Fri 9am–1pm & 3–6pm, but hours may be reduced) are scattered through the city centre, in places like Piazza Politeama, Piazza Bellini and at the Stazione Centrale.

Listings information For a rundown of what’s on, the free Agenda Turismo lists useful contact details, museum times, transport links and cultural events in and around the city. For a more detailed look at arts and entertainment, there’s Lapis ( palermoweb.com/lapis), published fortnightly and widely available from cultural venues, bars and cafés. The local edition of the daily newspaper Il Giornale di Sicilia also details forthcoming events.

Tours The Parco Culturale del Gattopardo offer guided walking tours in Italian and English focusing on places associated with Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and his iconic book, The Leopard ( 327 684 4052,  parcotomasi.it).

ACCOMMODATION

Most of Palermo’s traditional budget hotels lie on and around the southern ends of Via Maqueda and Via Roma, close to Stazione Centrale, but you’ll get far more for your money in the city’s B&Bs, many of which are charming and extremely well run. Prices tend to stay the same year-round (except out on the nearby coast, where usual summer rates apply), but advance reservations are recommended if you want to be sure of a room in a particular place (and also around the time of Palermo’s annual festival, July 11–15). The two nearest campsites, as well as Palermo’s youth hostel, are actually all at the beachside town of Sferracavallo, 16km northwest of the city or a good half an hour on the bus – convenient for beach or airport but not really for city sightseeing or nights on the town.

OLD TOWN

 Al Giardino dell’Alloro Vicolo S. Carlo 8  338 224 3541,  giardinodellalloro.it; map. Lovely B&B in the heart of La Kalsa with books for guests to borrow, a courtyard where breakfast is served, and a living room used as an exhibition space for contemporary Sicilian artists. The five rooms feature original works of art, and have kettles and mugs. There is a small kitchen for guests’ use, and more rooms in the recently opened annexe. €85

Alla Kala Via Vittorio Emanuele 71  091 743 4763,  allakala.it; map. An excellent, centrally located choice, this spick-and-span B&B has five stylish designer rooms and a suite with magnificent views of the sailing marina. It has a keen following among those in the know, so book in advance. €120

BB22 Palazzo Pantelleria, Largo Cavalieri di Malta 22  091 611 1610 or  335 790 8733,  bb22.it; map. Faultless Milanese designer-chic (resinated cement floors, perspex chairs, walls painted in matt stone hues) blended with a feeling of being at home (free wi-fi, coffee and water) in a historic palazzo a few steps from the Vucciria market. Breakfast is served on a small roof terrace. The owners also organize food and wine tours, in both Palermo and further afield, and boat trips to the beach at Mondello. €140

La Casa dei Limoni Piazza Giulio Césare 9  334 834 3888 or  338 967 8907,  lacasadeilimoni.it; map. A friendly B&B right opposite the train station that’s great value for money, and the perfect place to stay if you arrive late or have to leave early. €64

La Dimora del Genio Via Garibaldi 58  347 658 7664,  ladimoradelgenio.it; 5min walk from Stazione Centrale; map. Three cosy rooms in a centrally heated seventeenth-century palazzetto, furnished with a tasteful blend of antiques, modern furniture and original paintings by the owner’s artist husband. The friendly owner is a talented cook, and offers cooking courses for guests, as well as a splendid Sunday dinner for €30 a head. €90

La Dimora del Guiscardo Via Vetriera 83–5  328 662 6074,  ladimoradelguiscardo.it; map. Little B&B in the heart of La Kalsa, close to the area’s bars and restaurants. Clean, simple rooms, and a sole shared bathroom. The owner offers free pick-up from the port, station or airport bus stop, and organizes wine tastings at the nearby Enoteca Cama. €60

Grand Hotel et des Palmes Via Roma 398  091 602 811,  grandhoteletdespalmes.com; map. Although it may no longer have the cachet of the days when guests included Wagner, the Des Palmes remains an extremely comfortable four-star chain hotel conveniently located on the main Via Roma. What’s more, discounts via the website can result in room rates that compete with those of many B&Bs. €130

Letizia Via dei Bottai 30  091 589 110,  hotelletizia.com; map. Each room in this delightful hotel, just off Piazza Marina, has its own colour scheme and furnishings. There’s an enclosed courtyard for breakfast, free wi-fi, and the loan of a mobile phone for the duration of your stay. €115

Palazzo Conte Federico Via dei Biscottari 4  091 651 1881,  contefederico.com; map. A magnificent (if chilly) Arabic Norman palace built over the Punic city walls close to Ballaro market, retaining fourteenth-century frescoed ceilings and an impressive armoury. The aristocratic owners have several comfortable and practical one- and two-bedroom apartments for rent, plus a palatial suite, and can offer cooking lessons – followed by a torchlit dinner in the defensive tower. Apartments €120, suite €360

Quattro Quarti Palazzo Arone di Valentino, Via Vittorio Emanuele 376  347 854 7209,  quattroquarti.it; map. A superior B&B with four smart, elegant rooms in part of a huge palazzo owned by the Arone di Valentino family. Guests are very well looked after, making this a great choice if you’re a little nervous about finding your feet in Palermo. In the main part of the palace, there is a plush suite of rooms furnished with antiques. Rooms €130

MODERN CITY

 Palazzo Pantaleo Via Ruggero Settimo 74/H  091 325 471 or  335 700 6091,  palazzopantaleo.it; map. This outstanding B&B has seven huge, light, airy rooms in an eighteenth-century palazzo, set on a quiet square close to Piazza Politeama. Great attention to the details that matter to business travellers – internet access in all rooms, adaptors for charging mobile phones in all sockets – plus respect for the privacy and independence of guests. There’s a small kitchen where you can make drinks or snacks. €100

Ucciard Home Via Enrico Albanese 34–36  091 348 426,  hotelucciardhome.com; map. Trendy designer hotel opposite the prison, with sixteen comfortable, stylish rooms and lovely, luxurious bathrooms. Staff are excellent, breakfasts good and deals via the website can be fantastic. €154

Vecchio Borgo Via Quintino Sella 1–7  091 611 8330,  www.hotelvecchioborgo.eu; map. A smart and appealing hotel between the Piazza Politeama and one of Palermo’s best weekend markets. Comfortable rooms with bold printed fabrics and all amenities (including internet points). Excellent breakfast, including home-made cakes. Garage €10 a night, outdoor car park free, but spaces are limited. Website deals can make it cheaper than many B&Bs. €119

OUT FROM THE CENTRE

Baia del Corallo Via Plauto 27, Sferracavallo  091 679 7807,  www.ostellopalermo.it; bus #101 from the train station to Piazza de Gaspari, and then bus #628 to Punta Matese; map. Palermo’s youth hostel is by the sea 12km northwest of the city – not the most convenient choice for sightseeing, but handy for the airport and a good cheap option for a first or last night. There’s accommodation in double and family rooms as well as in dorms. Dorms €18; doubles/family rooms €56

 Grand Hotel Villa Igiea Via Belmonte 43  091 631 2111,  villaigiea.com; bus 731 or 721 from Piazza Croce, halfway along Via Liberta; map. This classic Art Nouveau building, originally a villa of the Florio family (the people who pioneered tuna canning), was designed by Ernesto Basile in 1900, and stands outside the city centre above the Acquasanta marina. It has a swimming pool overlooking the port, shady gardens, a tennis court and sweeping terraces for the most stylish aperitif in town. Give up all notions of sightseeing in favour of long lazy days by the pool. Boat trips and food tours available. €180

EATING

You can eat well and cheaply in Palermo, either snacking in bars and at market stalls or sitting down in one of dozens of good-value restaurants throughout the old town serving cucina casalinga. Pizzas and pastries, in particular, are among the best in Sicily, while fish is another local highlight – a typical Palermo speciality is pasta con le sarde, macaroni with fresh sardines, fennel, raisins and pine kernels. Traditional street food is enjoying something of a renaissance, and in hole-in-the-wall outlets and fancy bars alike you can try the sort of earthy snacks and fritters the locals have eaten for decades. The other prime glory is ice cream – Palermo’s best gelaterie (ice-cream parlours) are famed all over Italy. Restaurants tend to close early, especially in the central old town, where if you turn up at 10pm the waiters are likely to be packing up around you. For the most popular places, go before 8pm or be prepared to wait in line.

PALERMO’S STREET FOOD

Street food in Palermo is pretty distinctive – away from pizza slices and pastries there are plenty of things you may not have come across before (and a few you may not wish to encounter again). Many of the more traditional snacks are straight out of the market, and while chopped boiled octopus (purpu in Sicilian), cooked artichokes and charcoal-roast peppers and onions are at least familiar, you might be less inclined to hover at the stalls selling pani cu’ la meuza – bread rolls filled with sautéed beef spleen or tripe, which either come unadorned (schiettu, meaning “nubile”) or topped with fresh ricotta and caciocavallo cheese (maritatu, “married”). Meanwhile, any old-fashioned friggittoria (deep-fry takeaway) – and there are still plenty in Palermo – serves up arancini (savoury rice balls), pane e pannelle (chickpea-flour fritter served in a bread roll) and crocchè (potato croquettes with anchovy and caciocavallo cheese). I Cuochini wins our vote for street food, but markets too are a great place to sample all these kinds of street food, especially at Ballarò market (in Piazza del Carmine), at Vecchio Borgo and along Via Sant’Agostino. The Ballarò market, in particular, has a few very basic hosterie – wooden tables scattered around the market stalls – where you can accompany your snack with a beer or two.

CAFÉS AND SNACK OUTLETS

Casa Obatola Via Alloro 16  091 982 4442; map. Relaxing little bar with seats outside on a piazzetta below Via Alloro, good for a rest before or after visiting the nearby Galleria Regionale. Delicious sandwiches (from €3) and salads, and good pastries. Mon–Sat 8am–9pm.

I Cuochini Via Ruggero Settimo 68  091 581 158; map. Diminutive, spick-and-span frigittoria – all gleaming white tiles and zinc – founded in 1826, and concealed within an arched gateway (the only sign is a small ceramic plaque). Panzerotti (deep-fried pastries, stuffed with tomato, mozzarella and anchovy, or aubergine, courgette and cheese), arancini (with ragù, or with cheese and ham), pasticcino (a sweet pastry with minced meat), timballini di pasta (deep-fried pasta), besciamelle fritte (breadcrumbed and deep-fried bechemel) and the like – all at €0.70 a portion. Mon–Sat 8.30am–2.30pm.

Franco ’U Vastiddaru Piazza Marina (no phone); map. Palermitani street food such as pane e panelli, arancini, crocchè and pane con la milza (pane ca meusa in Sicilian) – which you can eat at plastic tables on plastic plates with plastic knives and forks, on the busy corner of Piazza Marina and Via Vittorio Emanuele. Daily lunch & dinner.

Friggitoria Chiluzzo Piazza Kalsa (no phone); map. Stand under a canopy, drink beer from a bottle, and eat pane and pannelle from a paper wrapping. Daily from morning until late.

Ima Sushi Rinascente, Via Roma/Piazza San Domenico  091 610 7811,  www.rinascente.it; map. If you want to pretend you’re not in Palermo for a while (and it happens), head up to this sushi bar on the fourth floor of the Rinascente department store. Colour-coded plates of sushi, California rolls and sashimi on the obligatory conveyor belt, priced at between €2.50 and €7.50. Daily 9am–midnight.

Mazzara Via Magliocco 15 (off Via Ruggero Settimo)  091 321 443; map. Long-established bar-pasticceria where Tomasi di Lampedusa is reputed to have penned some of The Leopard. These days it serves light brunch and lunches – try the rare roast beef with rocket and shaved parmesan – alongside a dangerous selection of pastries and ice creams. Tues–Sun 7am–9pm.

Michele alla Brace Piazza Borgo Vecchio (no phone); map. At the tiny market of Piazza Borgo Vecchio, you can’t miss this huge grill with a couple of plastic tables and a steaming cauldron of vegetables. Buy your fish from one of the nearby stalls and bring it to Michele, who will grill it and provide you with veg, drinks and a table. Mon–Tues & Thurs–Sat lunch.

Obika Rinascente, Via Roma/Piazza S. Domenico  091 601 7861,  obika.it; map. On the top floor of the Rinascente department store, this is the Palermo branch of an exclusive chain of bars specializing in meticulously sourced mozzarella di bufala, which appears in exquisitely presented salads and other light dishes. A great lunchtime escape from the heat and chaos of Palermo, and a good place for an aperitivo (daily 6.30–9pm), the drinks accompanied by a selection of mouthwatering mozzarella tasters. Daily 9am–midnight.

Palazzo Riso Via Vittorio Emanuele 365  091 320 532,  palazzoriso.it; map. Cool, white, minimalist bar inside Palermo’s new contemporary art museum. Hazelnut- and chocolate-flavoured coffees, tisanes, cornetti with forest fruits, light lunches and aperitivos. Eat in the bar, or outside in the shady courtyard. Free wi-fi and use of computers. Daily 10am–11pm.

Risto Cibus Via E. Amari 79  091 323 062,  gustidisicilia.com; map. High-class grocery store with a great deli counter, and a wood-fired oven that cooks up pizzas and other savoury pastries to eat in or take away. It’s 5min walk from the port, so ideal for stocking up if you are sailing to Ustica or the Aeolian Islands. Daily 8am–11pm.

Rosciglione Via Gian Luca Barbieri 5  091 651 2959; map. Watch cannoli being made as you eat them at this bakery (which exports worldwide) on the edge of the Ballarò market. Mon–Sat 7am–2pm & 1.30–6pm.

Spinnato Via Principe di Belmonte 107–115  091 749 5104,  spinnato.it; map. With tables outside on a pedestrianized street, this is the perfect place for breakfast, delicious cakes and ice creams, or an aperitivo served with an aesthetic cascade of roast almonds, shelled pistachios and crisps. Daily from breakfast until late.

RESTAURANTS

Antica Focacceria San Francesco Via A. Paternostro 58  091 320 264,  afsf.it; map. This old-fashioned place has been in the same family for five generations. Downstairs they serve traditional Palermitani street food, such as focaccia schietta (focaccia with offal and caciocavallo cheese), sfincione (pizza with onion, tomato, caciocavallo and breadcrumbs), crocchè (potato croquettes) and panelle (chickpea-flour fritters). Upstairs you can eat full meals (try the pasta con le sarde, pasta with sardines). There are also several fixed-price menus: pannelle, crocchè, an arancina or slice of pizza, cannolo and a drink for €7; or the same, with pasta instead of the arancina or pizza for €8.50. In summer you can eat outside. Mon & Wed–Sun lunch & dinner.

Il Mirto e la Rosa Via Principe di Granitello 30  091 324 353; map. One of the Palermo businesses that don’t pay pizzo, Il Mirto began life as a vegetarian restaurant, and the emphasis on vegetables remains alongside carefully sourced local fish and meat. Signature dishes include caponata with pistachio-spiked couscous, and home-made tagliolini with a sweet, sticky tomato sauce, grilled aubergine and cheese from the Nébrodi mountains. Finish up with a voluptuous dessert followed by home-made cinnamon liqueur. Eating à la carte, you’ll spend around €25 for three courses without wine, €30 with dessert, but there are various deals (€10 for a primo, secondo and salad, €15 for antipasto, primo, secondo, salad and dessert). Mon–Sat lunch & dinner.

 Osteria dei Vespri Piazza Croce dei Vespri  091 617 1631,  osteriadeivespri.it; map. Palermo’s best restaurant was opened as a hobby a decade ago and continues to be run with passion by brothers Andrea and Alberto Rizzo, who cook complex meals with a loyal and intelligent use of local Sicilian ingredients. Dishes might include rabbit terrine with pistachios from Bronte, black tagliolini served with red mullet, ginger, red onion and fresh fava beans, or quail stuffed with prunes served on a puree of cannellini beans and celeriac. À la carte you’ll pay at least €20 per course, while there are degustazione menus at €60 and €85 per person, excluding wine. Mon–Sat lunch & dinner.

 Osteria lo Bianco Via E. Amari 104  091 251 4906; map. Decorated with Juventus souvenirs and religious bric-a-brac, this is one of the cheapest places to eat in town. Traditional Palermitano food, such as pasta con sarde, polpette (meatballs) in tomato sauce, ricciola in a spicy tomato sauce, or a stew of beef, peas and carrots. Two courses with wine and fruit for under €15. Mon–Sat lunch & dinner, Sun lunch only.

Osteria Paradiso Via Serradifalco 23 (no phone); map. Typical family-run trattoria, to the north of La Zisa, open only at lunchtime and specializing in fish. There is no written menu – the owner just tells you what’s available that day. Specialities include fish cooked in seawater, raw prawns dressed with olive oil and lemon juice, and deep-fried cicirello, a long skinny silver fish. Arrive early to get a table. Mon–Sat lunch only.

Pizzeria Italia Via Orologio 54  091 589 885; map. Opposite Teatro Massimo and attracting large queues, this is the best place in town for light, oven-blistered pizzas (€4–10). Try the “Palermitana” with tomato, anchovies, onion, artichokes, caciocavallo cheese and breadcrumbs. Dinner only; closed Mon.

Primavera Piazza Bologni 4  091 329 408; map. Not far from the cathedral – off Via Vittorio Emanuele and across from the Palazzo Riso – with outdoor seating in a lovely little piazza with a recently restored garden, this popular, reasonably priced trattoria serves home-style cooking such as pasta con le sarde and bucatini con broccoli (both €10). Bottles of good, inexpensive local wine as well. Tues–Sun lunch & dinner.

Trattoria Piccolo Napoli Piazzetta Mulino di Vento 4  091 320 431; map. Lively trattoria off the Vecchio Borgo market, founded in 1951 and run by three generations of the same family. They have two boats at Terrasini: fish is brought in daily, and anything not eaten that day is sold on to the local market stalls. Try raw prawns (€60/kg), pasta with neonati (newborn fish) when it’s in season (€12) or what may prove to be the best caponata you will ever taste (€4). Mon–Sat lunch only.

 Trattoria Torrenuzza Via Torrenuzza 17  091 252 5532; map. Bustling, no-frills trattoria where fish is grilled on an outside brazier. Eat at streetside tables in summer, inside in winter. Antipasti (mussel soup, seafood salad, etc) and primi (pasta with broccoli, with mussels and clams, or with swordfish and aubergine) are all priced at €5, except for a couple of special dishes such as spaghetti with ricci di mare (sea urchin) which ring in at €10. Meat secondi (involtini, charcoal-grilled sausage and the like) are also €5, while fish dishes (mixed fried or grilled fish, grilled prawns, grilled sea bream or sea bass) cost from €7–10. Calamari and swordfish are frozen (but none the worse for it), the rest of the fish is fresh. Wine is a dangerous €3 a litre, so lunch here could well write off your afternoon. Daily lunch & dinner.

DRINKING AND NIGHTLIFE

After dark and over much of the city, Palermo’s frenetic lifestyle stops, pedestrians flit quickly through the shadows, and the main roads are given over to speeding traffic and screaming police sirens. The only place for a civilized, fume-free aperitivo al fresco is the pedestrianized Via Principe di Belmonte, off the upper part of Via Roma, which has a glitzy selection of bars and pasticcerie. For a livelier scene, head to the clutch of bars in the streets behind the Museo Archeologico – Via Spinuzza, Via Bara all’Olivella and Piazza Olivella – while things are grungier in the student-filled bars along and around Via Candelai, not far from the Quattro Canti, off Via Maqueda. There’s also a burgeoning bar scene down in La Kalsa, on and off Via Alloro.

BARS

Bar Malox Piazzetta della Canna; map. Hidden away off an old-town alley near the Quattro Canto, this convivial student bar has plenty of tables outside where the drinking continues till late. Tues–Sun evenings only; closed every other Sun.

 Caffè Letterario Malavoglia Piazzetta Pietro Speciale; map. You could easily miss this small, backstreet “literary café” near Corso Vittorio Emanuele, but it’s a good find, with sofas, books, occasional exhibitions and live music, cheap drinks from 6–9pm, and late hours. Daily 5.30pm–2am

 Cama Enoteca Via Alloro 105; map. This cosy candle-lit wine bar has an excellent choice of wines and nibbles. The bar staff are welcoming and knowledgeable, and the variety of wines almost overwhelming. Sept–June Tues–Sun 7pm–2am.

Champagneria del Massimo Via Salvatore Spinuzza 59; map. Charming wine bar with outdoor seating near the Teatro Massimo; along with the neighbouring bars, it’s a lively spot on summer nights, and stays open till the early hours. Closed Sun.

 Kursaal Kalhesa Foro Italico 21 091 616 2282,  kursaalkalhesa.it; map. Set deep in the echoing stone vaults of the ancient fortifications of Arabic Palermo, this impressive café and wine bar is furnished with traditional Sicilian furniture, has a huge fire in winter and is a great place for a Sunday brunch. In summer, the Palermo address closes and the bar shifts to the seaside town of Vergine Maria. Tues–Sat noon–3pm & 7pm–1.30am, Sun noon–1.30am.

Il Kursaal Tonnara Tonnara di Bordonaro, Via Bordornaro 9, Vergine Maria 091 637 2267,  kursaaltonnara.it; bus #731; map. Evocative place set in an atmospheric former tuna-fishing station at the foot of Monte Pellegrino. There are indoor and outdoor bars, a jasmine-scented courtyard, a fancy sea-facing restaurant and frequent concerts. Daily, usually 7pm–late; closed winter.

CLUBS

Palermo’s clubs are almost exclusively found in the northern part of the city, especially on and around Viale della Regione Siciliana, a bus- or taxi-ride from the centre. They’re mostly expensive dance clubs, rarely worth the long journey – note also that you may have to pay to “join” the club before they’ll let you in. In summer, the scene switches to the coastal resorts of Mondello and Isola delle Fémmine, while the beach at Capo Gallo, between Mondello and Sferracavallo (about 30min north of the city), is popular with students for ad hoc weekend parties until dawn.

Cafè 442 Piazza Don Bosco 1  cafe442.it; map. Lounge bar near Viale Lazio and La Favorita, with nightly DJ sets and dancing, as well as rather too frequent karaoke. Tues–Sun usually 6pm–late.

I Candelai Via Candelai 65  091 327 151,  candelai.org; map. Seat of a cultural association that organizes music events all over Sicily. Good student vibe, and very unpretentious; check the website for DJ sets and live music events. Moves to Sferracavallo in summer. Sept–June Tues–Sun evenings only.

Zsa Zsa Mon Amour Via Angelitti 32  zsazsamonamour.com; map. Live rock, metal and funk bands, and the place to come if an Iron Maiden tribute is your kind of thing. It’s west of Stazione Notarbartolo, off Piazza Campolo. Oct–June evenings only.

MUSIC, CULTURE AND THE ARTS

There’s always something going on in Palermo, and you can check the current cultural calendar at the tourist office, in the arts publication Lapis or the daily newspaper Il Giornale di Sicilia. Teatro Massimo is the first choice for classical music, but lots of other smaller theatres and concert halls have good music programmes too. Independent arts centres put on a really mixed bag of concerts and events, and although there’s no major venue for live bands (top British and American artists rarely make it further south than Naples) the Comune regularly stages open-air gigs in the summer, usually in the Giardino Inglese and other city parks. Mainstream Italian-language theatre is less accessible to foreign visitors, but a couple of more offbeat venues are worth checking out, while puppet theatre is easily the best night out at the theatre in Palermo (see La Festa di Santa Rosalia). Cinemas show the latest films dubbed into Italian – it’s rare to find films in their original language with subtitles – and the main central screens, ABC and Imperia, are right next to each other at Via Emerico Amari 160–166.

THEATRES AND LIVE MUSIC VENUES

 Agricantus Via XX Settembre 82A  091 309 636,  agricantus.org. Arts centre near the Giardino Inglese, owned by and named after Italy’s most outstanding World Music band (check out the album Tuareg or the soundtrack to the film Bagno Turco). Regular live music and dance sessions, as well as theatre, readings, festivals and events, and a bar that’s open until 1.30am. Tues–Sun evenings only.

 Nuovo Montevergini Via Montevergini 8  091 612 4314,  nuovomontevergini.com. Alternative culture, Palermo-style, in a monumental deconsecrated convent that supports its own theatre, arts festivals and events programme, from dance and live music to poetry and film. Bar open daily until late.

Lo Spasimo Via dello Spasimo, La Kalsa  091 616 1486. The former church hosts an excellent series of concerts, classical and jazz, many of them free. Undergoing restoration at the time of writing, but may re-open soon.

Teatrino Ditirammu del Canto Popolare Via Torremuzza 6, La Kalsa  091 617 7865,  teatrinoditirammu.it. An intimate venue for Sicilian folk music and traditional dance performances.

Teatro Libero Salita Partanna 4, Piazza Marina  091 617 4040,  teatroliberopalermo.it. Palermo’s long-standing avant-garde theatre, with an annual festival that incorporates theatre, dance, music and performance art.

Teatro Massimo Piazza Verdi  091 605 3580,  teatromassimo.it. The concert and dance programme (classical music, opera and ballet) at Palermo’s most prestigious venue runs from October to June, while in summer shows shift to the Teatro del Parco di Villa Castelnuovo for concerts and outdoor performances of ballet and operetta.

PALERMO’S FESTIVALS

Palermo’s biggest traditional festival is La Festa di Santa Rosalia, in honour of the city’s patron saint. The city’s most interesting arts festival is Kals’Art, a cultural extravaganza of live music, theatre and cinema that takes place at a number of venues in the old-town La Kalsa neighbourhood, usually between mid-July and mid-September. However, at the time of writing, its existence was threatened by a lack of funding.

DIRECTORY

Consulates UK, Via Cavour 117 ( 091 326 412); USA, Via Vaccarini 1 ( 091 305 857); South Africa, Largo degli Abeti 16 ( 348 340 0219). Other major consulates are in Milan or Rome.

Hospitals Ospedale Cívico, Via Carmelo Lazzaro ( 091 666 1111); Policlinica, Via Carmelo Lazzaro ( 091 655 1111). For an ambulance call  118.

Left luggage Stazione Centrale by track 8 (daily 7am–11pm; €3.80 for the first 5hr, then cheaper); Stazione Maríttima (daily 7am–7.30pm; €3 for 12hr).

Newspapers Foreign newspapers and magazines are sold at kiosks at Stazione Centrale, Piazza Verdi and Piazza Castelnuovo, and at Kursaal Kalhesa, Foro Italico 21.

Pharmacies All-night service at Lo Cascio, Via Roma 1; Di Naro, Via Roma 207; and Farmacia Inglese, Via Marina Stabile 177. Other chemists operate a rota system, with the address of the nearest open chemist posted on the door.

Post offices Palazzo delle Poste, Via Roma 320 (Mon–Sat 8am–6.30pm).

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Mondello

On a hot summer’s day, when the city heat is oppressive, the most obvious escape from central Palermo is the 11km run to MONDELLO, a small seaside resort tucked under the northern bluff of Monte Pellegrino. A 2km-long sandy beach fronts the town, and there’s also a tiny working harbour, a jetty from which you can try your luck fishing, and the remnants of a medieval tower. In July and August, like most Sicilian resorts, it’s a bit of a zoo, featuring tacky souvenir stalls, hot-dog and burger vans, pumped-up pizza places and packed lidos. At night, there’s a crush in the bars in the main square while the roads around are filled with cruising cars and preening youth. In winter it’s more laidback and rarely busy, but many of the restaurants and snack stalls stay open and it’s usually warm enough to swim until well past the end of the official season.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: MONDELLO

By bus To get to Mondello, take bus #806 or #833 from Piazza Politeama or Viale della Libertà – a thirty-minute ride. The last bus back to town leaves around midnight.

By car Driving to Mondello, exit at the Tommaso Natale junction from the main road.

By taxi A taxi from Palermo costs about €35.

EATING

There’s a line of trattorias along the seafront at Mondello – some with outdoor terraces – though the quality is patchy (have a good look at the fish on display in the fridges before you decide where to eat).

Da Calogero Via Torre 22  091 684 1333. Right on the seafront, this is the best traditional choice in Mondello. You stand up at the window and eat freshly caught and cooked octopus (they do have chairs and tables these days, but standing is de rigueur). Daily lunch & dinner.

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Monreale

The major excursion from the city – rated almost unmissable – is to MONREALE, a small hill-town 8km southwest of Palermo. It commands unsurpassed views down the Conca d’Oro valley, with the capital shimmering in the distant bay, and while the panorama from the “Royal Mountain” alone is worth making the trip for, the real draw is the mighty Norman cathedral and its celebrated mosaics. These form one of the most extraordinary and extensive areas of Christian medieval mosaic-work in the world, and are the apex of Sicilian-Norman art. Monreale is an easy day-trip from Palermo, but once the tourists leave in the late afternoon the prospect of a quiet night in town might appeal, and there are plenty of characterful B&Bs in the medieval alleys near the cathedral.

  It’s hard to look beyond the Duomo, but Monreale itself is a handsome small town with a dense latticework of streets and (mostly locked) Baroque churches. For the famous view down the valley, stroll into the courtyard of the new convent (built in 1747) behind the cathedral cloisters to the belvedere (the entrance is from the other corner of Piazza Gugliemo). Come passeggiata time the main Via Roma pulses with life, and you don’t have to walk very far along here to swap touristy mosaic galleries and gift shops for butchers, grocers and hardware stores.

Brief history

Monreale’s cathedral owes its existence to young King William II’s rivalry with his powerful Palermitan archbishop, the Englishman Walter of the Mill. Work had started on Walter’s fine cathedral in the centre of the city in 1172. Determined to quickly break the influence of his former teacher, William endowed a new monastery in his royal grounds outside the city in 1174, and its abbey church – the Duomo at Monreale – was thrown up in a matter of years. Monreale was made an archbishopric in 1183, two years before Walter’s cathedral was finished, and this unseemly haste had two consequences. As a highly personal project, Monreale’s power lasted only as long as William did: although he wanted to create a royal pantheon, he was the last king to be buried here. But the speed with which the Duomo was built ensured the splendid uniformity of its interior art – a galaxy of mosaic pictures bathed in a golden background.

The Duomo

Piazza Guglielmo II • Mon–Sat 9am–12.45pm & 2.30–6pm, Sun 8am–10am & 2.30–5.30pm • Tower and terrace €1.50, combined ticket with treasury €2 •  cattedraledimonreale.it

Monreale’s Duomo presides magisterially over the town centre, facing two open squares and flanked by alleys teeming with souvenir stalls and gift shops. A ticket desk provides access to the tower and terrace for some sweeping views, and there’s a combined ticket to see the collection of reliquaries in the treasury. Before or after going inside, walk around the exterior to wonder at the enormous triple apse, a polychromatic jumble of limestone and lava, supported by slender columns and patterned by a fine series of interlacing arches. To see it, go through the arched alley (Arco degli Angeli) to the left of the Duomo entrance.

  Bear in mind that despite the continual influx of tourists, you may not be allowed in if dressed in skimpy beach clothes.

The mosaics

The gleaming mosaics, almost certainly executed by Greek and Byzantine craftsmen, are a magnificent achievement, thought to have been completed in just ten years. They were designed for worshippers to be able to read the Testaments straight from the walls, and eyes are drawn immediately to the all-embracing half-figure of Christ in benediction in the central apse. The head and shoulders alone stand almost 20m high, face full of compassion, curving arms with outstretched hands seemingly encompassing the whole beauty of the church. Underneath are an enthroned Virgin and Child, attendant angels and, below, the ranks of saints – each subtly coloured and identified by name. The two side-apses are dedicated to saints Peter (right) and Paul (left), the arches before each apse graphically displaying the martyrdom of each – respectively, an inverse crucifixion and a beheading. The nave mosaics then start with the Creation (above the pillars to the right of the altar) and run around the whole church, while the aisle mosaics depict the teachings of Jesus. Most scenes are instantly recognizable: Adam and Eve; Abraham on the point of sacrificing his son; positively jaunty Noah’s-ark scenes showing the ship being built, recalcitrant animals being loaded aboard and Noah’s family peering out of the hatches; the Feeding of the Five Thousand; and the Creation itself, a set of glorious, simplistic panels portraying God filling His world with animals, water, light … and Man.

  Above the two thrones (royal and episcopal) are more mosaics: William receiving the crown from Christ; and the king offering the cathedral to the Virgin. Both William I and William II are buried here in side chapels, the latter resting in the white marble sarcophagus to the right of the apse.

Chiostro dei Benedettini

Enter from the corner of Piazza Gugliemo II, by the right-hand tower of the Duomo • Daily 9am–7pm, last entry 6.30pm • €6

The Chiostro dei Benedettini, or cloisters, is one of the indisputed highlights of the Duomo complex, an elegant arcaded quadrangle with 216 twin columns supporting slightly pointed arches – a legacy of the Arab influence in Sicilian art. No two of the carved capitals are the same: on one, armed hunters do battle with winged beasts; another has two men lifting high a casket of wine; while flowers, birds, snakes and geometric shapes dip and dance from column to column.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: MONREALE

By bus Bus #389 runs frequently from Palermo’s Piazza dell’Indipendenza (outside the Porta Nuova, reached by bus #109 from Stazione Centrale) through the western suburbs and up the valley, and takes around twenty minutes.

By taxi A taxi from Palermo costs around €30 each way.

By car Parking is restricted in Monreale’s old town and visitors are advised to use one of the signposted car parks – there’s one on Via Cappuccini, below the Duomo and belvedere (from where a pedestrian way leads up past souvenir stalls into the town) and another (Parcheggio Duomo) down Via D’Acquisto to the side of the Palazzo Communale. Parking costs €1 an hour, and it’s free overnight after 8pm.

ACCOMMODATION, EATING AND DRINKING

There’s only a limited number of hotels actually in town, but there are charming B&Bs and “rooms” places much nearer the Duomo, especially in the tangle of alleys by the Duomo’s apse. There are plenty of restaurants, though prices are generally on the high side.

Bricco & Bacco Via B. D’Acquisto 13  091 641 7773. A definite cut above the family tourist restaurants in town, this brasserie is serious about its meat. Steaks, chops and lamb grills are €10–15, and the Angus beef is also available with a classy balsamic vinegar and honey salsa. Lunch & dinner: summer Mon–Sat; winter Tues–Sun.

La Ciambra Via Sanchez 23  091 640 9565 or  335 842 5865,  laciambra.com. A quaint, family-run place wedged into a plant-filled alley, with a great view of the apse. The two rooms here sleep up to four people. No credit cards. €70

Peppino Via B. Civiletti 12  091 640 7770. Popular local pizzeria tucked away down on a side street off Via Roma, past San Giuseppe church. It has a shady summer terrace, some antipasti to start and crisp pizzas (€5–12). Try one of the versions with mozzarella di bufala. Mon & Wed–Sun lunch & dinner.

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Bagheria and around

The Palermitan nobility of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries chose to sit out the enervating summer heat in their Baroque country villas scattered around the small town of BAGHERIA, 14km east of the city. Here – as described by Dacia Maraini in her memoir Bagheria – they enjoyed “the atmosphere of a summer garden enriched by lemon groves and olive trees, poised between the hills, cooled by the salt winds”. Some of the villas are open for visits, and Bagheria still has the air of a summer retreat. Give yourself a full day and you can also see the ancient ruins of Solus at Solunto and the working fishing port of Porticello, the latter boasting a boutique hotel and a ring of harbourside fish restaurants that might just persuade you to make a night of it.

  A town map outside the gates of Villa Palagonia shows you the local layout, but basically anything else you need – like drinks and ice cream – is easily found down the pleasant, long, traffic-free Corso Umberto I that runs from the villa.

Villa Palagonia

Via Palagonia • Daily: April–Oct 9am–1pm & 4–7pm; Nov–March 9am–1pm & 3.30–5.30pm • €5 •  091 932 088,  villapalagonia.it

Best known – or perhaps that should be most notorious – of Bagheria’s Baroque villas is the Villa Palagonia, whose grounds boast an eccentric menagerie of grotesque gnomes, giants, gargoyles and assorted mutants. The villa was the work of Ferdinand, Prince of Palagonia, a hunchback who – in league with the architect Tommaso Napoli – took revenge on his wife’s lovers by cruelly caricaturing them. Although only 64 of the original 200 statues remain, they certainly add entertainment to a wander around the garden, before you climb the stairs into the crumbling sandstone villa to view a selection of frescoed halls and the dramatic Salone degli Specchi, covered in mirrors and marbling.

BAGHERIA’S OTHER VILLAS

Several of Bagheria’s villas are privately owned, and only open to the public on occasion; check  bagherianews.com for details. Of these, Villa Valguarnera on Piazza Sturzo, another Tommaso Napoli design, displays Bagheria’s most sumptuous facade, pink and festooned with a royal coat of arms and Attic statues. Villa Butera, on Corso Butera, just off the SS113, has a collection of wax figures in Carthusian apparel within its grounds. Legend has it that their creator, Ercole Branciforti, had promised the erection of a Carthusian abbey in return for the granting of a prayer, and took the crafty way out when the prayer was answered.

Museo Guttuso

Via Rammacca 9 • April–Oct Tues–Sun 9.30am–2pm & 3–7.30pm • €5 •  091 943 902,  museoguttuso.it

Some 500m from the train station along the main SS113, Villa Cattolica has been restored to hold the Museo Guttuso, dedicated to Bagheria’s most famous son, Renato Guttuso (1912–87), whose brilliant use of colour and striking imagery made him one of Italy’s most important modern artists; his tomb, designed by his friend, the sculptor Giacomo Manzù, is in the garden.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: BAGHERIA

By bus From Palermo, buses run every half hour to Bagheria, dropping you on Corso Umberto I, from where it’s a short, straight walk to the villa.

By train There are frequent trains from Palermo to Bagheria’s train station, from where it’s a 10min walk to Villa Palagonia (turn left onto Corso Butera, then left onto Via Palagonia).

By car There’s free parking near the villa, though you might find yourself sucked into the narrow streets of the old town trying to find it. Eventually you should be directed into a space by a parking guy (tip a euro).

EATING

Antica Osteria Zza Maria Via Paternò 11  091 931 388. All wine barrels and old photos, this atmospheric place is the best option in town for a meal. There’s no actual menu (and you might have to hammer at the door for entrance), but you’ll get a good plate of home-made pasta con le sarde or similar for around €10. Find it by walking down Corso Umberto I to the free-standing columns at Piazza IV Novembre and you’ll see the restaurant sign on your right, down Via Pasquale. Mon dinner, Tues–Sun lunch & dinner.

Solus

Mon–Sat 9am–7pm, Sun 9am–2pm, last entry 1hr before closing • €2 • By train from Palermo, get off one stop beyond Bagheria (at Santa Flavia-Solunto-Porticello station), crossing over the tracks and walking down the main road towards the sea; after 300m there’s a signposted left turn up the hillside

Beautifully sited on the slopes of Monte Catalfano, ancient Solus, a Phoenician settlement, was originally founded in the eighth century BC, resettled in the fourth century BC, and later Hellenized, finally surrendering to Rome after the First Punic War, when its name was changed to Solentum. Ruins at the site date mostly from the Roman period, notably the impressive remains of wealthy houses – one, with a standing column, was built on two floors, the stairs still visible, and retains a complete geometric mosaic floor. The main street leads past houses and shops to the agora itself, a piazza with nine clay-red-coloured recessed rooms at the back. Above it sit the fragmentary ruins of a theatre and a smaller odeon, deliberately sited so as to give marvellous views away to the coast. Beyond the agora are the remains of a water cistern and storage tanks – necessary, as Solentum had no natural springs. Two “pavilions” interpret the site and display many of the finds, one at the entrance (before you see the ruins) and one at the exit, though there’s nothing in English.

Porticello

With views across the bay towards Cefalù and up to the line of rounded peaks on the horizon, PORTICELLO, 6km east of Bagheria, makes a great bolt hole from the city – Palermitani come here at weekends and in summer to eat fish and seafood at the harbourside trattorias, but the place is definitely nice enough to warrant a stay. Fishermen have been working out of the port for centuries, and an old tonnara (tuna fishery) is still preserved near the medieval Castello di Solanto, which guards one side of the bay. It’s a real, working harbour, and Porticello’s fish market is one of the most important in Sicily, with boats unloading here in the early hours before the catch is shipped across Italy and beyond. Ice-house chutes channel ice into containers for the fish, and boats and nets are still hauled under great stone arches back from the harbour to be repaired.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: PORTICELLO

By bus There is only one direct AST bus daily from Palermo to Porticello, so it’s easier to take a bus to Bagheria and another to Porticello. The most convenient services for a day-trip leave Palermo Piazza Lennon at 7am, 8am, 11am and noon, with stops at Piazza Politeama, Via E Amari and Via Balsamo. Return buses from Porticello to Palermo depart at 2.55pm and 7.55pm.

ACCOMMODATION AND EATING

 Stenopus Greco  091 958 851 or  320 799 2011,  stenopusgreco.com. Imbued with real artistic flair by the charming owner Stéfano, this boutique dockside hotel is a surprising find in such a working town, but is perhaps a sign of things to come if plans for a new harbour and marina development for Porticello come to fruition. There are eight lovely rooms in bold colours with terracotta floors and beamed ceilings, original art above the handmade beds, painted ceramics and carved Indonesian chests. Three have harbour-view balconies, others either partial harbour or town views. €70

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Piana degli Albanesi

Less than an hour’s bus ride south of the capital, PIANA DEGLI ALBANESI sits placidly in an upland plain above a pleasant lake. The town was founded by fifteenth-century Albanians uprooted from their homes in flight from the Turkish invasions, and the six thousand inhabitants here still follow the Orthodox rite and proudly retain many of their old traditions – signs are in Albanian as well as Italian, and on Sunday mornings there are traditional Orthodox services in the three churches lining the steeply sloping main street, Via Giorgio Kastriota. At Easter, out come the handsome traditional costumes – black with gold brocade on Good Friday, brightly coloured on Easter Sunday.

SICILY’S BANDIT KING: SALVATORE GIULIANO

Salvatore Giuliano (1922–50) was Sicily’s most dashing anti-establishment hero – and villain. Known to his comrades as Turiddu, he embodied the hopes and frustrations of the Sicilian people more than any other individual in recent history. Part of his charm lay in his long defiance of the government. Starting out as a petty criminal and black-marketeer, he was a hunted man after his murder of a Carabiniere who had challenged him as he transported stolen grain in 1943. Gathering a band of followers in the mountains around his home in Montelepre, he was pursued by platoons of hand-picked soldiers who combed the maquis for him. As his legend grew, so did his charisma, enhanced by such madcap gestures as writing to President Truman and offering the annexation of Sicily to the United States, in a last-ditch attempt to sever the island from the Italian State.

  Giuliano’s separatist ambitions led him into some disreputable alliances, and his fall from grace occurred when he was shown to be behind the massacre of villagers at Portella della Ginestra in 1947. Just three years later, he was betrayed and killed, his body found in a courtyard in Castelvetrano, in the south. No one knows exactly what happened or who was responsible for his death, though his deputy, Gaspare Pisciotta, chose to confess to the crime. Many doubt that he was the one who pulled the trigger, and Pisciotta himself was on the verge of making revelations at his trial that would have implicated high-ranking Italian politicians, when he too was assassinated in his cell at Ucciardone prison.

  Whatever the truth, there’s a pungently Sicilian flavour to the affair, full of corruption, betrayal and counter-betrayal, and Giuliano’s legend has since grown to Robin Hood dimensions, nowhere more so than in his home territory around the small town of Montelepre, where he was born. As his biographer Gavin Maxwell was told: “They should change the name of that village, really – anything else but Montelepre would do. No one can look at it straight or think straight about it now – it just means Giuliano.” Giuliano hid out in the hills and caves around the village, slipping into town at night to see family and friends; if you’re genuinely interested, you may be able to persuade his nephew to show you around the house in which he lived, to see various personal effects. His nephew also runs the Castello di Giuliano, Via Pietro Merra 1, at the top of Montelepere on the road in from Carini ( 091 894 1006,  castellodigiuliano.it; €70), an eccentric hotel and restaurant built to look like a castle, with more Giuliano memorabilia on display and faux-rustic rooms; the baronial restaurant serves pasta, meat and fish grills and pizzas in the evening (full meal €20).

Museo Civico

Via Giorgio Kastriota • Tues, Thurs & Sat 9.30am–1pm & 4–7pm, Wed & Fri 9.30am–1pm, Sun 10am–1pm • Free

Rural life and local history, as well as Albanian traditions and costumes, are well covered in the fascinating little Museo Civico, just off Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, the small square at the top of the main street. There are reconstructions of room interiors containing anything from dental tools to cheese-making equipment as well as grainy photographs and other memorials to the infamous massacre at Portella della Ginestra.

THE MASSACRE AT PORTELLA DELLA GINESTRA

The mountain pass 4km southwest of Piana degli Albanesi, Portella della Ginestra, was the scene of one of the most shocking episodes in recent Sicilian history. On May 1, 1947, when the Albanians and villagers from neighbouring San Giuseppe Jato had assembled for their customary May Day celebrations, gunfire erupted from the crags and boulders surrounding the plain, killing eleven and wounding 55, many of them children. This massacre was the work of the bandit Salvatore Giuliano, whose virulent anti-Communist feelings were exploited by more sinister figures high up in the political and criminal hierarchy: only two weeks previously, the people of the town, together with most other Sicilians, had voted for a Popular Front (left-wing) majority in the regional parliament. The cold-blooded killings erased at one stroke the bandit’s carefully nurtured reputation as defender of the poor and friend to the oppressed. There’s a car park at the pass and the site is marked by a memorial of sculpted rocks inscribed in blood-red lettering – slightly unkempt, and a haunting place still.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: PIANA DEGLI ALBANESI

By bus Prestia & Commandé buses (direction Santa Cristina) run to Piana from Palermo’s Stazione Centrale; the last one back leaves at around 4pm. Buses stop at the top of town, 500m from Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, at the Villa Comunale gardens (there’s free parking here too). Cross the road viaduct to reach Via Kastriota and the centre of town.

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Ficuzza

South of Piana degli Albanesi, a highly scenic driving route skirts the lake and then winds through rolling hills to reach the junction for the dead-end hamlet of FICUZZA after 20km. An information board in the piazza shows the local waymarked walks (between 45min and 3hr) on mountain paths that crisscross the wooded heights of Rocca Busambra (1613m), or you can simply grab a drink or a simple meal in one of the two or three bars and trattorias in the piazza.

Palazzo Reale di Ficuzza

Currently closed for restoration •  091 846 062

Ficuzza is completely dominated by the honey-coloured stone Palazzo Reale di Ficuzza, set against a dramatic mountain backdrop. This stately royal palace, fronted by a grassy piazza, was once the hunting lodge of Ferdinand III. Several sections of the building, notably the hunting scenes in the Sala da Pranzo, survived destruction and burning by Mussolini’s troops, but at the time of writing the guided group visits of the interior had been suspended and there was no sense of when the palazzo might reopen; call for an update.

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Corleone

From Ficuzza, another 20km on a quick country highway sees you in CORLEONE, a fairly large inland town squeezed between a couple of fortified rocks and girded by crags. It attracts a trickle of tourists, mostly on the scent of the Mafia since the town lent Mario Puzo’s fictional Godfather, Don Corleone, his adopted family name. However, it is also the real-life name of Sicily’s most notorious Mafia clan, and post-war Corleone was certainly a desperate place of murder and inter-family blood-letting. You wouldn’t, of course, know it from the quiet streets today, and if it wasn’t for the notoriety there would be no compelling reason to stop in Corleone, pleasant though the town centre is. A flurry of signs do their best to interest you in the various churches and small local museums.

THE MAFIA TRAIL

Corleone might only be 60km from Palermo, and still in the same province, but the dry hills, rolling farmland and isolated rural outposts are far removed from the bustling capital. If you’re in no hurry, there’s a circular driving route back to Palermo that shows you a wilder side of the island, with a few Mafia connections to boot to add a certain frisson. It’s a quick 25km southeast over the hills on the SS118 to Prizzi – the name borrowed for that of a New York mob family in John Huston’s 1985 black comedy Prizzi’s Honor. On Easter Sunday here, giant statues of Christ and the Virgin Mary are taunted by masked figures representing Death and the Devil, to whom onlookers are forced to give money. Another 20km east along the SS189, the main claim of Lercara Friddi is as the birthplace in 1897 of the Sicilian-American gangster Lucky Luciano, whose family emigrated in 1907. While in prison in the US, Luciano was enlisted by the Americans to aid their Sicilian campaign (which was fully backed by the Mafia in its desire to end the Fascist rule) and his reward when the war was over was to be freed, on the condition that he returned to Sicily. The town’s main piazza was packed to welcome him home in 1946, and he repaid the adulation by opening Lercara Friddi’s first cinema – apparently with a screening of the gangster movie, Little Caesar. A few kilometres north of Lercara, you pick up the SS121, which winds across the entire length of Sicily from Catania to finish its run in Palermo. One final (signposted) stop is at Bagni di Cefalà, eleventh-century Arab baths, still flowing with thermal waters which the locals use for washing clothes, though you can swim here too. Few other examples of Arab architecture in Sicily are in such good condition.

CIDMA

CIDMA Via Orfanotrofio 7 • Open daily, guided tours available, though best to email or call first •  091 8452 4295,  info@cidma.it • • Corleone, Come and See  340 402 5601,  cidmacorleone@gmail.com

Off the central Piazza Garibaldi, close to the Comune, CIDMA (International Centre for the Documentation of the Mafia and the Anti-Mafia Movement) is an anti-Mafia museum where you can trace the violent history of both Corleone and the Mafia, not only through brutal photographs (taken and donated by photographer Letizia Battaglia) of the so-called “Mafia Wars”, but also by examining displays of original documents used in the maxi-trials of the 1980s. It’s a sobering experience, though current street names in town at least demonstrate a contemporary corleonese desire to make amends (Piazza Víttime della Mafia, Piazza Falcone e Borsellino, etc). And at dusk in the town gardens, when couples, teenagers and families stroll under the soaring palms and flowering oleanders, the dark dealings of earlier times seem an age away. This more enlightened view of town is the one promoted by two local women under the name “Corleone, Come and See” who, with a couple of days’ notice, can arrange a tailor-made tour with an English-speaking guide and including a typically rustic corleonese lunch.

CORLEONE AND THE MAFIA

Whether by luck or with foresight, when Mario Puzo chose the name Corleone for his central character in The Godfather (published 1969), he picked a little-known place that later came to have a huge significance in Mafia circles, as the native town of many of the so-called capo di tutti capi (literally “boss of all the bosses”). Even before Puzo’s novel, the name Corleone had a certain resonance, due to the activities of Luciano Leggio (also known as Liggio), who had a reputation as a dashing figure and was hailed for his long-running evasion of the forces ranged against him. He was, however, responsible for one of the most notorious political killings of the twentieth century, that of the trade union leader Placido Rizzoto, who had been trying to organize peasants into staging occupations of uncultivated Mafia-owned lands. Two years after Rizzoto’s disappearance in 1948, the fire brigade hauled out his dismembered corpse from a 30m crevice near Corleone (along with sackfuls of other bodies of Mafia victims). His killers were eventually acquitted for lack of evidence, the most common end to murder charges brought against mafiosi. Leggio was finally imprisoned in 1974 and died in jail in 1993.

  At the time of his arrest in 1993, Leggio’s trusted deputy from Corleone, Salvatore Riina, was the most wanted man in Italy, allegedly responsible for ordering at least 150 murders, 40 of which he’s said to have committed himself. His capture came as a complete surprise and triggered a wave of accusations, since it became clear that for over twenty years Riina had been living in Palermo while making clandestine visits to his family in Corleone. This, it’s said with some justification, could only have been the case if he had enjoyed a degree of high-level protection.

  The most notable among several further members of the Corleonese clan who have been put away since Riina’s arrest is Bernardo Provenzano, known as “the Tractor” on account of his brutal methods and also as “the Accountant” for the way in which he increasingly blurred Mafia operations with legitimate business interests. He was finally captured in 2006, having been convicted in absentia of a string of murders, including the 1992 killings of the two anti-Mafia investigators Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: CORLEONE

By bus Corleone is 60km from Palermo and there are seven buses daily (AST), taking 1hr 30min. The main bus stop is on the central Piazza Falcone e Borsellino.

EATING AND DRINKING

 Azienda Agricola Ridocco del Conte Lo Bue di Lemos Contrada Ridocco, Campofiorito  091 846 1575,  ridocco.com. An outstanding agriturismo set in the gentle rolling hills above Corleone with rooms in the main house and converted outbuildings of a typical masseria, belonging to (and run with grace and enthusiasm by) a local aristocratic family. There are three double rooms with private bathrooms, and an independent apartment with kitchen comprising a double, a twin and a single. There is also a small swimming pool, horseriding and pony-trekking on site, and an excellent restaurant (open to residents only) where the food is simple, genuine and very delicious. Rooms €90; apartments from €90

Leon d’Oro Via Umbertino da Corelone 1  091 846 4287,  leondorocorleone.it. Just off the roundabout on the northern (Palermo) approach road, this three-star, villa-style hotel with swimming pool has spacious and smart rooms, and you can enjoy excellent crisp pizzas (€4–6), pasta and regional cuisine (dishes €6–13.50) in the shady garden courtyard. Restaurant Mon & Wed–Sun lunch & dinner. €70

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Ustica

A turtle-shaped volcanic island, 60km northwest of Palermo, USTICA is ideal for a few days’ rest and recreation. The island’s fertile nine square kilometres are just right for a ramble, and what it lacks in sandy beaches it more than makes up for in the limpid waters of a marine reserve that many consider to provide the best snorkelling and dive-sites in the Mediterranean. If tourism has rescued isolated Ustica, it has also been at the risk of spoiling its charms – the population of 1300 quadruples in the summer months, and you’ll see the island at its best if you can avoid coming in August.

Brief history

Colonized originally by the Phoenicians, the island was known to the Greeks as Osteodes, or “ossuary”, a reference to the remains of six thousand Carthaginians they found here, abandoned to die on the island after a rebellion. Its present name is derived from the Latin ustum – “burnt” – on account of its blackened, lava-like appearance. Ustica had a rough time throughout the Middle Ages, its sparse population constantly harried by pirates who used the island as a base. In the Bourbon period the island was commandeered as a prison for political enemies, a role it continued to play until well into the twentieth century – Antonio Gramsci, the great theorist of the Italian Communist Party, was interned here in 1926, while Mussolini similarly exiled many other political prisoners. Only in recent decades has Ustica shaken off its chains and become a holiday destination.

Ustica town

USTICA TOWN is built on a steep slope, many of its low buildings covered in fading murals. Despite the veneer of tourism – a handful of hotels, restaurants, diving outfits and souvenir shops – it’s not hard to see that life here has always been pretty tough. Most of what passes for entertainment – chatting in the open air, having a coffee in the couple of bars, impromptu games of soccer – takes place in and around the three central squares, piazzas Umberto I, della Vittoria and Vito Longo, which merge into each other, tumbling down the hill from the church.

Museo Archeologico

Largo Granguardia Tanino Russo •  333 357 4242 • Free

Ustica’s museum, the Museo Archeologico, is a low-key affair, its collection a motley assortment of crusty anchors, shipwreck oddments and excavated Bronze Age objects. It has recently moved to a new site on Largo Granguardia, near the hospital. To visit, it is necessary to phone the museum guide, Tanino Russo, in advance.

Castello Saraceno

To get a sense of Ustica as an island, climb up to the remains of the Castello Saraceno, which gives you a good initial view of the island’s layout: from the top of the square to the right of the church, the path runs left of the fancy cross at the end of Via Calvario, an easy twenty-minute walk to an old fort pitted with numerous cisterns to catch the precious water.

Guardia dei Turchi

From the Castello Saraceno you can see Ustica’s highest point, the Guardia dei Turchi (244m), at the summit of a ridge that cuts the island in two, and topped by what looks like a giant golf ball – in fact a meteorological radar system. You can also climb up to the summit from the town, in about an hour or so: take Via B. Randaccio to the right of the church, turn left at the top and then right, and you’ll come to the Municipio, where you turn left along Via Tre Mulini for the summit – keep straight ahead on the cobbled path, cutting off to the left when you reach the stepped path.

ARRIVAL AND GETTING AROUND: USTICA TOWN

By boat Siremar ( siremar.it) ferries (€18; 2hr 30min) and hydrofoils (€23.50; 1hr 15min) run to Ustica daily from Palermo (from the Stazione Maríttima); summer departure times from Palermo are 7am, 8.15am, 1pm and 5.15pm, though are liable to change. Note that there’s also a summer Ustica Lines ( usticalines.it) hydrofoil service connecting Ustica with the Égadi Islands, Trapani and Naples. The R&S Militello ticket agency, just off the piazza at Via Cap. di Bartolo 15 ( 091 844 9002), dispenses all tickets; there’s also a ticket kiosk at the harbour, open just before sailings. The island’s only port is at Ustica Town, with the town centre up the flight of steps leading from the harbour.

Getting around From Piazza della Vittoria, an efficient minibus service (pay on board) plies the island’s one circular road every hour or so until around 7pm.

INFORMATION AND TOURS

Online information There’s no tourist office on Ustica, but you can glean some information from  ustica.net and  ustica.org.

Bikes, boats and tours Usticamare Noleggio ( 339 218 5630) has bikes at €10 per day, boats from €50–180 per day excluding fuel, depending on size, and cars to rent, while the restaurant Da Umberto ( usticatour.it) rents out scooters and boats and arranges tours. Boat excursions from the quay cost around €20 per person for three hours – it’s best to agree a price beforehand.

DIVING ON USTICA

Ustica is well set up for divers, and facilities include a decompression chamber, though medical facilities are limited to the pharmacy and the guardia médica. The waters are protected by a natural marine reserve, divided into several zones with restrictions on where you can swim, dive and fish.  Profondo Blu ( 091 844 9609 or  349 672 6529,  ustica-diving.it), run by an Italo-Belgian couple, is the island’s most organized and experienced dive-operator, arranging diving courses, holidays and accommodation in their own self-contained resort with apartments outside town. It is open from May till the end of October, with prices at €470–720 per week for an apartment sleeping two, depending on the season. Meals are available (breakfast €5; dinner €35). There are various diving packages – a single dive costs €43; a ten-dive package €350 and a six-day open water diver PADI course €460.

ACCOMMODATION

In summer hotels fill up quickly, and in winter only a few remain open. However, there are plenty of opportunities to rent rooms (camere) – ask around in the shops or at the Bar Centrale, in Piazza Umberto I.

Ariston Via della Vittoria 5  091 844 9042,  usticahotels.it. A smart, central hotel with eleven rooms and impressive sea views. Diving trips and scooter rental can be arranged. Sizeable reductions in winter. No credit cards. €78

 Caminita Vittorio Via Tufo 1  091 844 9212. Two attractive, self-contained mini-apartments, each with kitchenette, bathroom, terrace and separate entrance, run by friendly, helpful owners. One has a sweeping view down over the town to the sea. It’s just a few minutes from the main square – at the church, turn right along Via Calvario, and Via Tufo is the sixth on the left. No credit cards. €60

Giulia Via San Francesco 16  091 844 9007,  giuliahotel.com. Open year-round, with ten perfectly acceptable two-star rooms above a lovely restaurant right off the main piazza (single rooms also available). See the website for weekend packages including certain meals and excursions. No credit cards. €90

Stella Marina Residence Via Cristoforo Colombo 35  091 844 8121,  stellamarinaustica.it. Seventeen smart, self-catering mini-apartments in a small complex right above the port. There’s also a nice big terrace for sun-soaking, and a small spa. Rentals range from €490–990 per week for a two-person apartment, including breakfast, but they’re available on a two-nightly basis May–July & Sept–Oct. Nightly rate €95

Da Umberto Piazza della Vittoria  091 844 9542,  usticatour.it. As well as running the Da Umberto restaurant, Gigi Tranchina rents out rooms in over twenty apartments and houses around Ustica, some with great sea views, others more rustic in the middle of the island. Prices depend on size and quality of the accommodation. From €60

EATING AND DRINKING

As well as a couple of harbourside bars, there are several places to eat on and around Ustica Town’s central squares, and most of the hotels have restaurants, often with roof terraces and sea views. Most restaurants not attached to hotels close during the winter. Don’t neglect to visit Maria Cristina, just above the piazzas at Via Petriera 5, who sells Ustica lentils, home-made preserves, pestos and sauces, and other island treats to savour, from a tiny room in her home.

 Giulia Via San Francesco 13  091 844 9007. The simple trattoria attached to this hotel is the best bet on the island for genuine home-cooking. Try pennette al usticese (with herbs, chilli, garlic, pine-nuts, raisins, anchovies, capers and olives), fish-balls (polpettine) with local capers and olives, or totano (a big squid) stuffed with shrimp, tomatoes, cheese and breadcrumbs. Fish couscous is available for a minimum of two people, but book a day in advance. Expect to spend around €30–40 per person. No credit cards. Daily dinner only.

Da Umberto Piazza della Vittoria  091 844 9542. Tables on the terrace and a menu chiefly consisting of pasta dishes (from €8) and seafood main courses that depend on the day’s catch (€12–16). Try the polpette of fish spiked with wild fennel, the spaghetti with seafood or a soup of tiny locally grown lentils; or splash out on lobster with spaghetti or a whole fish (such as scorpion fish) cooked with capers and tomatoes (prices depend on weight). Daily lunch & dinner.

DIRECTORY

Bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Via Cap. V. di Bartolo, on the left-hand side of the church, has an ATM.

Pharmacy Piazza Umberto I 30  091 844 9382 (Mon–Sat 8.30am–1pm & 5–8.30pm). Closed Wed afternoon Nov–April.

Post office Largo Ameria off the main piazza (Mon–Fri 8am–1pm, Sat 8am–12.30pm).

Around the island

To explore the rest of Ustica you could use the minibus service that departs from Ustica Town, rent a scooter or bike, or even walk – it doesn’t take much more than two or three hours to walk round the entire island. There’s a path running right round the rocky coastline, with just a brief stretch where you have to follow the road, and there are ample opportunities to stop for a swim or sunbathe along the northern coast. Keep straight on past the Municipio and then bear off the road to the right, down past the cemetery. The path starts at the remains of a Bronze Age settlement – the foundations of the closely packed huts are still clearly visible. From here the path hugs the cliffs along the island’s north side as far as the Punta di Megna (where path and road converge). There’s excellent snorkelling at Punta di Megna and at the offshore rock of Scoglio del Médico, where the clear water is bursting with fish, sponges, weed and coral. The road then keeps to the west coast as far as the old torre (tower) at Punta Spalmatore, where you’ll find some of the island’s best bathing spots; try below the tower, or – below the nearby lighthouse – at Punta Cavazzi, where there’s a piscina naturale, a perfect, sheltered pool of seawater that can get uncomfortably crowded in high season. Above here, the Rosa d’Eventi restaurant-bar offers the only refreshments and shade along the route.

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