Discover Palermo in an Authentic Way: A Unique Experience to Explore its Historic Markets, Taste Sicilian Street Food, and Live Like a Local with Public Transportation. Discover Palermo in an authentic way, just like a true Palermitan, with a unique experience that will take you through its historic markets, allow you to savor Sicilian street food, and let you experience the city as a local moving around with public transport. During your 4-night stay, you’ll have the chance to immerse yourself in Palermo’s millennia-old history, rich with UNESCO World Heritage monuments.
The Ape Tour through the Historic Markets: Start your adventure with a charming tour aboard an Ape calessino, taking you through the city's most famous historic markets, like Ballarò, Vucciria, and Capo. Here, among stalls filled with colors and scents, you’ll experience the lively and authentic atmosphere of old Palermo. Discover anecdotes and curiosities about Sicilian culinary traditions while tasting iconic dishes such as panelle, arancine, and sfincione.
Sicilian Street Food: There’s nothing more Sicilian than street food, and during your stay, you’ll have the chance to savor it at every corner of the city. In addition to the markets, you’ll explore the best “tavole calde” and food kiosks offering the most iconic dishes, all made with fresh, local ingredients. Don’t miss the chance to try cannoli and cassata, traditional sweets that are the heart of Palermo’s pastry heritage.
A Stay to Discover: Your 4-night stay will give you time to explore the city at a leisurely pace. You’ll also have time to get lost in the historic alleys, visit majestic palaces and churches, or simply stroll along the sea and enjoy the beauty of the city. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to visit the Teatro Massimo, Palermo Cathedral, the Palatine Chapel, and the Palazzo dei Normanni, extraordinary examples of art and architecture that tell the rich history of the city.
Your Journey to Palermo: End your days with a walk through the historic center, letting yourself be enchanted by the life flowing through lively squares, characteristic shops, and hidden corners. This journey isn’t just an opportunity to see, but to truly live Palermo, feeling like part of a millennia-old tradition that is still very much alive today.
Discover Palermo in an Authentic Way: A Unique Experience to Explore its Historic Markets, Taste Sicilian Street Food, and Live Like a Local with Public Transportation. Discover Palermo in an authentic way, just like a true Palermitan, with a unique experience that will take you through its historic markets, allow you to savor Sicilian street food, and let you experience the city as a local moving around with public transport. During your 4-night stay, you’ll have the chance to immerse yourself in Palermo’s millennia-old history, rich with UNESCO World Heritage monuments.
The Ape Tour through the Historic Markets: Start your adventure with a charming tour aboard an Ape calessino, taking you through the city's most famous historic markets, like Ballarò, Vucciria, and Capo. Here, among stalls filled with colors and scents, you’ll experience the lively and authentic atmosphere of old Palermo. Discover anecdotes and curiosities about Sicilian culinary traditions while tasting iconic dishes such as panelle, arancine, and sfincione.
Sicilian Street Food: There’s nothing more Sicilian than street food, and during your stay, you’ll have the chance to savor it at every corner of the city. In addition to the markets, you’ll explore the best “tavole calde” and food kiosks offering the most iconic dishes, all made with fresh, local ingredients. Don’t miss the chance to try cannoli and cassata, traditional sweets that are the heart of Palermo’s pastry heritage.
A Stay to Discover: Your 4-night stay will give you time to explore the city at a leisurely pace. You’ll also have time to get lost in the historic alleys, visit majestic palaces and churches, or simply stroll along the sea and enjoy the beauty of the city. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to visit the Teatro Massimo, Palermo Cathedral, the Palatine Chapel, and the Palazzo dei Normanni, extraordinary examples of art and architecture that tell the rich history of the city.
Your Journey to Palermo: End your days with a walk through the historic center, letting yourself be enchanted by the life flowing through lively squares, characteristic shops, and hidden corners. This journey isn’t just an opportunity to see, but to truly live Palermo, feeling like part of a millennia-old tradition that is still very much alive today.
Day 1: ARRIVAL IN PALERMO
DAY 2: WALKING TOUR OF PALERMO UNESCO ITINERARY
Breakfast in hotel.
Optional excursion: Walking tour in Palermo. The city has been dominated from the 9th to the 11st centuries by the Arabs. In the 11st and 12nd centuries they were replaced by the Normans; from the mix of these two people is born the “Arabic-Norman” architecture style, that one can find just in Sicily. In 2017 some of such monuments have been inserted in Unesco World Heritage, From the hotel walking you will reach the Cathedral (in its interior are the tombs of the emperor Frederick II and of some Norman kings). You will enjoy the stunning view of the cathedral as well from the balconies of the Palazzo Asmundo, an aristocratic palace of the 18th century, a “museum of itself”. Before to continue your walking tour you will taste one of the typical Sicilian beverages in a kiosk. Continuation (through a palms garden) to the Royal Palace (called as well Norman Palace), seat of the Sicilian kings and vice-kings from the 11st to the 19th centuries; here you will admire some halls in different styles and the Palatine Chapel, where a jewel of architecture are its polychrome marbles and colored mosaics on a golden background. You finish the visit in front of the Porta Nuova erected on the 16th century. Overnight.
DAY 3: MONREALE & APETOUR
Breakfast in hotel.
Optional excursion: Not far from the hotel,you enter in the popular market “Il Capo”, that looks like an Arabic souk, where local people prefer to buy the local food, in a mix of colours, flavours and smells. At the end of the market you reach Piazza Indipendenza, where you will take the public bus, that will drive us to Monreale, a village 7 km far from Palermo, world famous because of its magnificent Cathedral (Unesco World Heritage as well), in Arab-Norman style with its 3.500 square meters of polychrome mosaics on a golden background, representing scenes of the Old and New Testament. Close to the cathedral (that host the tombs of other Norman as well kings) you will visit the cloister, with its 80 couples of twinned columns, each one different from the others. In a corner of the cloister is the Arabic fountain. Back by public bus to Palermo. Who wants can continue the visit on its own (nearby we suggest the Fleas Market, the Christian Catacombs and the Arabic-Norman church St John of the Hermit.During the day you can have Apetour in Palermo of 1 hour and entering to the small streets you will discover the real 'old' Palermo and the famous markets such as the Capo, Ballarò, the Vucciria.
DAY 4: PALERMO & MONDELLO
Breakfast in hotel.
Optional excursion: Our Our last day in Palermo is dedicated to the walking tour of the most central part of the old historic centre of the city. From the hotel you can walk the Teatro Massimo, inaugurated in 1897 and currently the third largest opera house in the world, after those in Paris and Vienna. The Theater is famous also for the film Godfather with the killing of Al Pacino's daughter as they were leaving the theatre. If you want to visit you can have the possibility to see the audience and the other rooms of this masterpiece of Sicilian liberty. On foot you will continue on via Maqueda (on both sides of which some aristocratic palaces rise) to reach the "Quattro Canti" (Four Corners), the geographical centre of the city, where fountains and statues of Spanish kings stand. Not far away you can admire the baroque Pretoria Fountain (with its naked statues), and the exterior of the Town Hall. A few steps away you will visit the Arabic-Norman churches (Unesco) Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio and San Cataldo, the latter with the red domes. On foot you enter the popular Ballarò market that looks like an Arabic souk. The walking tour ends at the central train station, from where you can take the public bus and you can go to Mondello, one of the most beautiful beaches in Italy. Mondello was (and still nowadays is) a fisher village, that at the beginning of the XX century was chosen by the rich families of Palermo as seat for their summer holidays. For these reasons you will admire there a lot of villas built in liberty style, and another interesting liberty building, the “Stabilimento Balneare” (the bathouse), erected on stilts on the water, that hosts also one of the best restaurants in Palermo. Depending on the weather and on the sea conditions you could also have the opportunity to get the sun or swim. A stroll along the sea-promenade (with the palm trees) is a “must”. In the main square you will have the opportunity to taste on your own the specialities of the sicilian street food or an ice-cream. Overnight in hotel.
DAY 5: DEPARTURE
4 overnights on B&B basis in double room in hotel central located 4* in Palermo
(*) The hotels indicated may be replaced with others of the same category. Accommodations are located in the indicated towns or in a different cities where will be possible to realize the program. The name of the hotel will be sent to you 21 days before the arrival.
