Palermo & Monreale

Meet your driver at the established place. We will drive along almost the entire northern coast of Sicily to reach its capital, Palermo.

The huge artistic and architectural heritage that surrounds you in this city, which used to be the capital of the “Kingdom of the two Sicilies”, is the legacy of a millennial history marked by a series of different dominations and civilizations (Arabs, Normans, and Byzantines).

Among the highlights of Palermo are (please note that some of them can also be visited from the inside):

• The Teatro Massimo: the largest opera house in Italy and one of the largest in Europe after the Opéra of Paris and the Staatsoper in Wien;
• The Royal Palace and the Palatine Chapel: located inside the most ancient royal palace of Europe, the chapel boasts incredible Byzantine mosaics decorating the dome, the transept and the apses. The mosaics, which are of paramount importance in Sicily, depict scenes from the Bible and the image of Christ Pantocrator;
• The Cathedral, dedicated to the Virgin Mary assumed into heaven, is the main religious building in town and is a unique combination of Romanesque, Norman, Gothic, Baroque and Neoclassic styles;
• The Quattro Canti (Four Corners) used to mark the exact centre of the town, close to which is located the famous Fontana Pretoria, made entirely of Carrara marble. The fountain stands opposite the Palazzo Pretorio, the seat of Palermo municipality. Behind it is the church of Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio, better known as Martorana church. The church stands out for its multiple styles, but particularly noteworthy are its Byzantine and Baroque traces resulting from the varying architectural and cultural taste.

Palermo has been named Italian Capital of Youth for 2017 and Italian capital of culture for 2018. You can have lunch on the fly, making the most out of the local atmosphere: Palermo is also the capital of Sicilian street food, which you can find abundantly in any café or market.

Our next stop is Monreale, where you can step into the shrine of mosaic art in Sicily, the Duomo or Cathedral of Santa Maria Nuova. Time permitting, you can add a stop at the seaside village of Cefalù, boasting the marvelous Cattedrale della Trasfigurazione: its masterfully created mosaics are enshrined in a Byzantine-Arab-Norman church (entrance fees not included). In 2015, the Arab-Norman itinerary including Palermo, Monreale and Cefalù was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.