Visit the rich historical center of Palermo, along the Arab-Norman route (an "open air museum" Unesco heritage since 2015) crossing the ancient Cassaro that leads from the Palazzo dei Normanni to the sea. You will admire the Cappella Palatina, the Cathedral, the Martorana, the 4 Canti, Piazza Pretoria, till the Massimo and Politeama theaters near the elegant Via Libertà.
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The city lies at the foot of Monte Pellegrino in a promontory described by Goethe as the most beautiful he had ever seen. Its thousand-year history has given it a remarkable artistic and architectural heritage that ranges from the remains of the Punic walls to the villas in liberty style, noble palaces and seventeenth-century squares, to the baroque churches and neoclassical theaters. Residence of emirs and kings, Palermo preserves monuments of the Arab-Norman period including the beautiful Cathedral; the Church of the Martorana, among the most fascinating Byzantine churches of the Middle Ages in Italy; and the Palatine Chapel, a higher example from the historical-artistic point of view, of the coexistence of cultures, religions and apparently irreconcilable ways of thinking, since they were involved by the wise management of the power of Ruggiero II, Byzantine, Muslim and Latin craftsmen.
