Palermo
La Kalsa — The Arab Quarter and Palermo's Most Historic Neighbourhood
La Kalsa (the 'al-Khalisa' — the Arabic name for the 'chosen place', the exclusive quarter of the Arab Emir's palace in the 9th-10th century Emirate of Palermo, subsequently the most densely populated quarter of the Norman city and the most heavily bombed neighbourhood in the Allied bombing of 1943) is the most historically layered neighbourhood in Palermo, the neighbourhood where the Arab palaces, the Norman churches, the Baroque oratories, and the post-war reconstruction coexist in the most dramatic and the most atmospheric street scene in Sicily.
Palermo Street Food, Capo Market & the Sicilian Gastronomic Tradition
Palermo is the street food capital of Italy — the city with the most vibrant and the most distinctive street food tradition in the country, the tradition of the 'arancine' (the fried rice balls), the 'pani ca meusa' (the bread with spleen), the 'sfincione' (the thick Sicilian pizza), and the 'cannoli' (the fried pastry tubes filled with the ricotta cream) that reflects 3,000 years of Sicilian culinary history and the Arab, Norman, Spanish, and mainland Italian culinary influences on the Sicilian kitchen.
Monte Pellegrino, Santa Rosalia & the Patron Saint of Palermo
Monte Pellegrino (the 'Pilgrim Mountain' — the 600-metre limestone promontory jutting into the Tyrrhenian Sea on the northern edge of Palermo, described by the German writer Goethe as 'the most beautiful promontory in the world') is the dominant natural landmark of Palermo and the site of the Santuario di Santa Rosalia (the sanctuary in the cave where the patron saint of Palermo, Santa Rosalia (1130-c.1170), retreated as a hermit in the 12th century — the saint whose relics, found in 1625, were credited with ending the plague epidemic that was killing the people of Palermo).
Cefalù — Norman Cathedral, Beach & the Perfect Sicilian Town
Cefalù (the medieval fishing town and resort 70 km east of Palermo — accessible in 1 hour by direct train) is the most beautiful coastal town in Sicily: the Norman Cathedral of Cefalù (1131-1267 — one of the three UNESCO World Heritage Arab-Norman monuments of the 'Arab-Norman Palermo' inscription, the cathedral famous for the magnificent Pantocrator mosaic in the apse, dated 1148, the earliest and the most monumental Byzantine Pantocrator mosaic in Sicily), the Rocca (the limestone cliff rising 268 metres above the town), and the beautiful sandy beach beneath the cathedral.
Quattro Canti, Baroque Palermo & the Spanish Viceroyalty Legacy
The 'Quattro Canti' (the 'Four Corners' — the baroque octagonal piazza at the intersection of the Via Maqueda and the Corso Vittorio Emanuele, created 1608-1620 during the Spanish Viceroyalty of Sicily) is the most theatrical Baroque urban space in Sicily and the heart of the Baroque historic centre of Palermo — the city that was the capital of the Spanish Viceroyalty of Sicily (1516-1713) and that contains the most extensive and the most varied collection of Baroque art and architecture in southern Italy.
Arab-Norman Palermo, Palatine Chapel & UNESCO World Heritage Sicily
The 'Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale' (UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2015) encompasses the extraordinary monuments of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily (1130-1194) — the medieval kingdom that was the most culturally sophisticated state in Europe, the kingdom that fused the Byzantine, the Arab-Islamic, and the Norman-Latin artistic traditions into the unique 'Arab-Norman' style that is the most extraordinary multicultural artistic synthesis in the history of Western civilization.
Mount Etna Day Trip — Europe's Largest Active Volcano
Mount Etna (the 'Mongibello' — the 3,357-metre active stratovolcano on the eastern coast of Sicily, the largest active volcano in Europe and one of the most active volcanoes in the world, the volcano in continuous eruption since at least 1500 BC) is 2.5 hours east of Palermo by road or 3.5 hours by train, accessible as a day trip from the Sicilian capital with the combined visit of the Etna cable car and the 4×4 jeep excursion to the summit craters (2,950 metres).
Valley of the Temples, Agrigento & Ancient Greek Sicily
The Valley of the Temples ('Valle dei Templi' — the UNESCO World Heritage Site archaeological park near Agrigento on the southern coast of Sicily, 2.5 hours south of Palermo) is the most important Greek archaeological site outside Greece — the site of the ancient Greek city of Akragas (founded 580 BC, one of the largest Greek cities of antiquity with a population of 200,000-300,000 at its peak), the site where 9 Doric temples of the 5th century BC survive in the most complete state of any Greek temples in the world.
Sicilian Puppet Theatre, Mafia Heritage & Sicilian Identity
The 'Opera dei Pupi' (the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Sicilian puppet theatre tradition — the theatre of the armoured knights ('pupi' — the large, elaborately crafted marionettes operated by the 'puparo' from above via rods and strings) performing the cycles of the medieval chivalric romances (the 'Orlando Furioso' of Ariosto, the 'Chanson de Roland')) is the most distinctive traditional performing art of Palermo; combined with the understanding of the Sicilian Mafia (the 'Cosa Nostra' — its origins, its culture, and its devastating impact on Sicilian society, documented in the Falcone and Borsellino Museum), it forms the most complex portrait of Sicilian identity.