The First Day in Palermo - Arrival and First Discoveries

Hello friends. Today I wanted to tell you about our trip from mainland Italy to the island of Sicily, specifically to the city of Palermo. The first to arrive on these lands were the Phoenicians. They saw the bay, the mountains that seemingly embrace it and two roaring rivers feeding the valley. The Phoenicians founded a city here and named it Zis, meaning flower. The Ancient Greeks called it Panormus, meaning all port. This is a land that can be approached from any point along the coast, welcoming all travelers into its embrace. A flower city, a port city. Beautiful, bright and utterly mesmerizing. This city knows no peace. Here an endless struggle for land, power and influence takes place. Peoples and cultures succeed one another. After the Phoenicians and Greeks come the Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Swabians, Aragonians, Spaniards and Garibaldians. In the 20th century Palermo became one of the main centers of the Sicilian mafia, Cosa Nostra. And all of this is just a few pages of the city's complex and multi layered history. Today Palermo is the fifth most populous city in Italy. With a population of around 630000, this city is the capital of the island and region of Sicily, one of the greatest centers of the Italian Baroque style and a true gastronomic capital of Italy. Colorful and fascinating, Palermo is the perfect city to start exploring the Italian island of Sicily.

We flew here from Pisa and settled into our apartment. When we walked straight ahead, I saw the sea just a very short distance away. Of course, at first with a sudden impulse from within, I immediately wanted to run towards it, towards the sea. But we still decided to stay true to our initial plan. Our plan for the first day was to see the main attractions or at least some of them. So, we walked towards the Palermo Cathedral and the place known as Palazzo dei Normanni. We came out onto one of the city's main avenues and proceeded along it. We had to walk about a kilometer before making a turn. The center of Palermo is the largest historical center in Europe. Despite this it is still possible to explore every part of it on foot.

On the way to the Cathedral, we encountered Teatro Massimo, which features a magnificent neoclassical portico. Sculptures adorn its entrance. Right next to it is a modern art installation called Extinction. Figures resembling the seven dwarfs surround the monument of Giuseppe Verdi. I imagine Giuseppe Verdi must be quite pleased with such a neighborhood. Of course, they aren't actually seven, I'm just joking. They are lined up in front of the monument. People are taking photos.

I looked at the architecture of the theater once more. The theater of the city of Palermo. By the way there are two of them in the city, but you can visit this particular theater not just by buying a ticket to a show, but also by booking a guided tour. The tobacco kiosk here is virtually a work of art. When I went, Palermo was quite cold and cloudy. But no matter what, we continued to walk with pleasure in this beautiful city. This city arouses a childlike enthusiasm in me.

We came out into Palermo's famous square Quattro Canti. This square is also called the Theater of the Sun. Because on a sunny day, the sun is sure to hit one of the four facades surrounding the square at any time of the day.

We went to examine the church. We wanted to visit it anyway, but while we were already here, we decided to postpone the church visit because there was a service inside. The church is dedicated to St. Joseph. The square here is under restoration, but it is stil right there in front of you with its famous fountain: Fontana Pretoria. In Palermo they used to call this fountain the Fountain of Shame. The reason it was called that was because it was the first fountain in the city to be decorated with ancient style naked human body statues. Palermo is famous for its numerous palaces and general Baroque architecture. But unfortunately the state of some of them is not very heartening.

We saw another famous church with three red domes in the Arabic style San Cataldo church. When you look at its general architecture, it doesn't look like a Catholic church at all because it was built by Arabs. In fact it tells us the history of the city of Palermo and how many different cultures lived and dominated here at one time.

San Cataldo Church was built in the middle of the 12th century. One might think it was built as a mosque. But at that time Sicily was already under Norman influence. Therefore although its architects were Arab, this church was actually built as a Catholic church from the very beginning. The interior is quite simple but equaly eclectic. The first thing that caught the eye here was the floor. A multicolored mosaic in the Cosmatesque style, meaning it was made with an inlay of different types of marble. And there are three symmetrical naves. Among these the central main nave is higher. The three red domes we see from outside the church are located right above this main nave.

San Cataldo is an active church and is affiliated with the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. It is also on the UNESCO World Heritage List. In my humble opinion it is one of the most unusual and interesting churches you can see. Entry is 2.5 Euros per person.

Saying goodbye to San Cataldo, we moved towards the Cathedral. There are shops along the street here. Right next to them, there is a complete ruin area and adjacent to that is a pizzeria. Everything operates side by side. Ahead, one of the city's surviving entrance gates is visible. Palermo is a true city of contrasts.

Without realizing it, while looking around constantly, we finaly reached Palermo Cathedral and went inside. The Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Palermo is a testament to the centuries old history of art and architecture in this city.

Admission is free and there is no queue. You can easily walk in, sit down and rest. They say for this cathedral that the outside is more beautiful than the inside. In principle I can agree with this claim. However there is a wonderful and unique opportunity in this cathedral. You can walk on the terraces on the roof of the cathedral and get a bird's eye view of Palermo. The ticket is 7 Euros. Naturally the tickets are sold somewhere else. You need to exit the cathedral and go to the right. We proceeded the ticket booths were not yet in sight. Bt at least we had the opportunity to examine the cathedral from every angle. The outside is very beautiful. But here too, there are architectural elements that remind us of the Arabic dominance throughout Sicily and Palermo in general. This situation manifests itself in the architecture.

By the way if you want to have some fun, read the history of the island of Sicily. Such a soap opera has gone down that it would blow your mind. Anyway we got the tickets, everything was fine, we went up and it wasn't very narrow here. First we examined the square.

After the cathedral visit our last serious stop was Palazzo dei Normanni. I had checked the day before and there were tickets for every hour on the online ticket office. Based on this I concluded that buying tickets in advance was not essential because we didn't have a definitive schedule. Instead of running around like crazy to catch museums, we wanted to relax. We decided to go to the ticket counter, try our luck and see if there was a line.

Only one person was waiting. The palace is quite popular, from what I understand. By the way there was also a Manet exhibition inside. Entry is 19 Euros.

This palace is not just a museum, but also the building of the Sicilian Regional Parliament. The region of Sicily holds a special status in Italy. The symbol of the city of Palermo is also the eagle. This is probably one of the reasons why taking photos inside is not allowed.

The plan to get to know Palermo's historical heritage on the first day was successfully completed. Afterwards we embarked on a fascinating journey of flavor in Sicilian cuisine.