Palermo e provincia

Palermo, the regional capital of Sicily, is one of those cities with its own very distinct, almost tangible atmosphere, a place of mystery where reality often outperforms the traveller's imagination and preconceived stereotypes. It is a buzzing Mediterranean centre whose 1 million inhabitants are a fashinating cocktail of apparently conflicting characteristics.

Palermo's history has been anything but stable as the town passed from one dominating power to another with remarkable frequency. Its strategic position in the middle of the Mediterranean brought wave upon wave of invaders such as the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Saracen Arabs, the Normans, the Swabians, the French and the Spanish Bourbons just to name the most influential.

The result of this history is evident today in the vaste range of architectural styles, the intriguing fusion of ingredients used in many local dishes and in many place names wich are obviously not of Italian origin.

Visiting Palermo is a stimulus to those who wish to embark on a little  adventure to discover things for themselves, to dig into the very fabric of the city and to try to understand what really makes palermo (and its people) tick.

The often faded grandeur of many of Palermo's wonderful palaces and churches in the centre gives way to populer areas whose way of life doesn't fully belong to the 21st century. This is particularly true of the markets, whose Arabic origins are still evident today thanks to their noise, smells, colours, narrow labyrinthine streets, the plendid array of food and other goods on display and the general "souk" atmosphere.

Artistic delights abound at every corner, maybe most strikingly in the spectacular mosaics in the Palatine Chapel in Palermo and the Duomo of Monreale.