Palermo Attractions: History & Culture
The landmarks you pass between bites on a food tour — and the ones worth returning to on your own. A short guide to Palermo's essential sights.
Palermo wears its history on the surface. More than a thousand years of Arab, Norman, Spanish and Bourbon rule left a city where a Baroque square opens onto a medieval market and a Norman palace hides Byzantine mosaics. Most food tours wind past these landmarks, and several of them cluster within a short walk of the markets, so it's easy to pair a morning of eating with an afternoon of sightseeing.
Palermo Cathedral
The Cattedrale di Palermo was built in 1185 on the site of an earlier mosque, and its long history shows in a facade that mixes Norman, Gothic, Moorish and later Baroque elements. Inside lie the royal tombs of Sicily's Norman and Hohenstaufen rulers, including Roger II and the emperor Frederick II. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing "Arab-Norman Palermo," inscribed in 2015, and entry to the main church is free.
Teatro Massimo
Opened in 1897 on Piazza Verdi, the Teatro Massimo is the largest opera house in Italy and one of the largest in Europe. Its neoclassical facade and grand steps may look familiar — they feature in the closing scene of The Godfather Part III. Guided tours of the interior run through the day, and it sits a short walk from the Capo market, making it a common meeting point for food tours.
Quattro Canti and Piazza Pretoria
The Quattro Canti, laid out in the early 17th century, is the Baroque crossroads where Palermo's two main streets meet, its four curved corners carved with statues and fountains. A few steps away, Piazza Pretoria is dominated by the 16th-century Fontana Pretoria, a marble fountain crowded with nude figures that earned it the nickname "the Fountain of Shame." Both are on nearly every walking route through the centre.
Palazzo dei Normanni and the Palatine Chapel
The Norman Palace, once the seat of Sicily's kings, houses the Cappella Palatina, a 12th-century royal chapel lined with shimmering Byzantine gold mosaics beneath a carved wooden muqarnas ceiling of Arab craftsmanship. It is one of the finest surviving expressions of the Arab-Norman culture that made medieval Palermo one of Europe's richest cities, and another part of the 2015 UNESCO listing.
La Martorana and the Capuchin Catacombs
Near Piazza Pretoria, the church of La Martorana (Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio) is famous for its 12th-century Byzantine mosaics and is also part of the Arab-Norman World Heritage site. For something stranger, the Capuchin Catacombs on the city's edge hold thousands of mummified and preserved bodies dating from the late 16th century onward, dressed in period clothing — one of Palermo's most unusual and memorable sights.
La Kalsa and the old port
The La Kalsa quarter, whose name comes from the Arabic for "the chosen," was the seat of Palermo's Arab rulers and today mixes bomb-scarred palazzi, churches, galleries and lively piazzas near the waterfront. It's an atmospheric area to wander after a food tour, and the Vucciria market's evening scene is on its doorstep. Just outside the city, the cathedral of Monreale — the third church in the 2015 Arab-Norman World Heritage listing — is covered inside with golden mosaics and makes an easy half-day trip for anyone who falls for Palermo's medieval art.
Planning the practical side of a visit? See Plan Your Visit for meeting points, timings and getting around.