Palermo Trip Overview
Our walking tours are operated with local guide and offer a great opportunity to visit the town and learn as much as possible of the history of the place. Our guide will show you the most important places and monuments of the city such as the famous Capo market, the Royal Palace with the Palatine chapel or Piazza Marina. This tour can be operated in 3 languages Italian, English and Spanish. At the time of booking, feel free to book your experience according to your interests and advise preferred language:
– THE SOVEREIGN AND THE PEOPLE from Tuesday to Sunday, departure at 9:00 AM from meeting point
– THE BAROQUE AND THE ARISTOCRACY from Tuesday to Saturday, departure at 2:00 PM from meeting point
– PALERMO BY NIGHT daily, departure at 7:00 PM from meeting point and enjoy our sicilian aperitif.
Take a look at: “what to expect” to know more about some of the mandatory stops of our tours
Additional Info
Duration: 3 hours 30 minutes
Starts: Palermo, Italy
Trip Category: Tours & Sightseeing >> Half-day Tours
Explore Palermo Promoted Experiences
What to Expect When Visiting Palermo, Sicilia, Italy
Our walking tours are operated with local guide and offer a great opportunity to visit the town and learn as much as possible of the history of the place. Our guide will show you the most important places and monuments of the city such as the famous Capo market, the Royal Palace with the Palatine chapel or Piazza Marina. This tour can be operated in 3 languages Italian, English and Spanish. At the time of booking, feel free to book your experience according to your interests and advise preferred language:
– THE SOVEREIGN AND THE PEOPLE from Tuesday to Sunday, departure at 9:00 AM from meeting point
– THE BAROQUE AND THE ARISTOCRACY from Tuesday to Saturday, departure at 2:00 PM from meeting point
– PALERMO BY NIGHT daily, departure at 7:00 PM from meeting point and enjoy our sicilian aperitif.
Take a look at: “what to expect” to know more about some of the mandatory stops of our tours
Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product
Stop At: Mercato del Capo, Via Cappuccinelle, 90138, Palermo, Sicily Italy
THE SOVEREIGN AND THE PEOPLE.
The Capo is one of the most famous historical markets in Palermo. The entrance is from Porta Carini and is really close from the Teatro Massimo. It is impossible don’t stop and visit it, regardless of the desire to to buy something. In any case, it is the fish market for excellence. The Capo is so called for the denomination of the area as “Caput Sarecaldii”, which later became simply Capo. It is said that, right below, there were the hidden paths used by the Beati Paoli. Inside the market you will find a precious church, a real jewel of Sicilian Baroque: the Church of the Immaculate Conception. A visit is mandatory.
Duration: 30 minutes
Stop At: Norman Palace, Piazza Indipendenza 1, 90129, Palermo, Sicily Italy
THE SOVEREIGN AND THE PEOPLE.
It was built around the 10th century by the Arab emirs. Some Norman kings, who chose it as their residence, it was conceived as a fortress, but also as a residence of exceptional refinement. Inside it is possible to admire, in addition to the splendid Palatine Chapel, the Hall of Hercules, so called due to the presence of paintings representing scenes of the mythological hero created by Giuseppe Velasquez; Sala del Duca di Montalto decorated with frescoes by Pietro Novelli; Sala dei Vicerè where there are twenty-one portraits of him; Sala di Re Ruggero where naturalistic mosaics have been placed on the walls on a background of golden tesserae; Sala of the Queen, in Pompeian style with paintings made by Giuseppe Patania.
Duration: 20 minutes
Stop At: Cappella Palatina, Piazza del Parlamento, 1, 90134 Palermo PA, Italy
THE SOVEREIGN AND THE PEOPLE.
The palatine chapel is located inside the Norman Palace, also known as the Royal Palace, but historically it has an autonomous dignity and immense artistic value. It was built between 1130 and 1143 at the behest of King Roger II. It was one of the obligatory stops on the Grand Tour, loved and cited by many, from Goethe to de Maupassant. Its interiors are one of the finest examples of integration between architecture and figurative arts. The richness of the decorations is impressive, in particular the Byzantine mosaics that cover all the upper walls of the naves. The blessing Christ Pantocrator stands out above all, inside the dome. The wooden ceiling of the central nave is also decorated with Arabic-style carvings and paintings. In each segment there are representations of animals, dancers and scenes from the life of the Islamic court and the Koranic paradise.
Duration: 15 minutes
Stop At: Palazzo Alliata di Villafranca, Piazza Bologni 18, 90134, Palermo, Sicily Italy
THE BAROQUE AND THE ARISTOCRACY.
The Alliata were an ancient family of originally from Pisa, who moved to Palermo at the time of the struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines. Their greatest commercial enterprise took place in 1734 when Prince Giuseppe Alliata obtained the privilege of postal services of Sicily from Charles VI of Habsburg. The building had more or less the appearance that we still see today, with the ground floor occupied by the huge stables and rustic environments for storing hay. The rooms on the middle floors housed the family archives, the library, the wardrobe, the laundry room, closets, and the servants’ quarters of the house, each of which had accommodation for himself and his family. And then the noble floor, of enormous size and with decorated and furnished spaces reserved for the official life of the family, rich in furniture, paintings, statues, weapons, armor and precious art collections that have come to our days including Mattia Stomer and Anton Van Dyck)
Duration: 30 minutes
Stop At: Piazza Bellini, Palermo, Sicily Italy
THE BAROQUE AND THE ARISTOCRACY.
Piazza Bellini is located in the heart of the city of Palermo, near Via Maqueda and Piazza Pretoria.
In his perimeter there are two churches from the time of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily, Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio (commonly known as “La Martorana”) and San Cataldo. The baroque church of Santa Caterina, the Bellini Theater and the rear elevation of the Palazzo Pretorio, seat of the Municipality of Palermo, also overlook the square.
Duration: 20 minutes
Stop At: Piazza Marina, 90133, Palermo, Sicily Italy
THE BAROQUE AND THE ARISTOCRACY.
Situated in the historic center of Palermo, known for the ancient seat of the Inquisition Court and the nineteenth-century Villa Garibaldi designed by the architect Giovan Battista Filippo Basile. The square, now welcomes to the Free Theater of Palermo, a venue for artistic innovation shows in Sicily, and the Sicilian Marionette Theater. Typical meeting place for tourists in search of culinary specialties, Piazza Marina offers a lot of restaurants, pizzerias and pubs where you can enjoy aperitifs or sip good wine in company. The district then opens up to one of the most characteristic streets of the Palermo nightlife, via Chiavettieri.
Duration: 15 minutes
Stop At: La Kalsa, Palermo, Sicily Italy
PALERMO BY NIGHT.
The Kalsa, which rise in the 10th century under the Arab domination from which it takes his name al Khalisa, which means the pure or the elect, is the first district built outside the ancient walls, on a flat area and near the port and of the arsenal, so as to create another defensive and political pole outside the old center. Today, the Kalsa is a very picturesque popular neighborhood, where you can still breathe the ancient Arab culture, wrapped in strong spicy scents from the kiosks along the road. It really looks like a country apart, where it is possible to meet women in dressing gowns and sitting on chairs placed outside the door of their homes, intent on talking to their neighbors, while a man “abbanniando”, that means, shouting, invites people to the characteristic lottery that in the alleys of the district, raffles every food, money and today even “scratch and win”.
Duration: 20 minutes
Stop At: Piazza Magione, 90133 Palermo PA, Italy
PALERMO BY NIGHT.
Located in the Kalsa district, it takes his name from the church of the same name, with an ancient convent, which stands right near this significant place. The large square with a square shape was practically formed on the smaller and oldest Piazza Sant’Euno, whose characteristics were distorted due to the violent bombings that hit the city during the Second World War and which completely destroyed the buildings that surrounded it. The square, which for many years has become a meeting place for young people from Palermo, is also the site of the celebrations in memory of the Capaci massacre, given Giovanni Falcone’s belonging to this neighborhood. Despite the life that populates it at night and the events that occasionally take place here, many Palermitans dream of seeing a better management of Piazza Magione, which enhances his characteristics and treats it as a real city treasure.
Duration: 15 minutes
Stop At: Piazza Rivoluzione, 90133 Palermo PA, Italy
PALERMO BY NIGHT.
Piazza Rivoluzione is one of the major places of historical interest of the city of Palermo, as well as one of the epicenters of the nightlife in Palermo. This square is the heart of the Risorgimento and the symbol of the fight against the Bourbons. The first movement of revolt took place right here in 1820. In 1850 Nicolò Garzilli was shot right on the square along with other patriots and revolutionaries. On May 27, 1860 Garibaldi, entering from the nearby Porta di Termini, stopped in this place and on this occasion the square took the name of Piazza Revolution. The square is full of commemorative plaques that recall the historical events that took place there. In the center of the square there is a fountain with the statue of the Genius of Palermo, an elderly man crowned with a snake feeding on his chest, which was placed here by the praetor Strozzi in 1687.
Duration: 30 minutes
