Palermo

Palermo is Sicily’s capital, a historic coastal city on the island’s northern shore facing the Tyrrhenian Sea. Set in the Conca d’Oro plain, surrounded by mountains and watched over by Monte Pellegrino, it combines a dense urban centre with a strong maritime setting and the energy of a regional capital.

Its identity is deeply Mediterranean. Founded by the Phoenicians under the name Zyz and later known as Panormos, Palermo became a meeting point for successive Phoenician, Greek, Roman, Arab, Norman, Swabian, Angevin, Aragonese and Spanish influences. That long sequence is still central to the city’s character, especially in its Arab-Norman legacy and in the mix of western, Islamic, Byzantine, Gothic-Catalan, Renaissance and Baroque layers found across the historic centre.

Today Palermo feels varied, lively and unmistakably layered, with a strong street and food culture, religious memory, theatre tradition and everyday city life woven into its old quarters. What makes it distinctive is not a single period or style, but the way Sicily’s capital gathers many Mediterranean histories into one coastal city.