Palermo's swagger and scruffy charm
From its opera house to its art galleries, the Sicilian city is 'adorable and underrated'

Set on a "glittering" bay against a sweeping mountain backdrop, Palermo is the most "adorable and underrated" city in Italy, says Stanley Stewart in Condé Nast Traveller.
For millennia, the Sicilian capital was "central to a sprawling cosmopolitan world", and it has seen a dizzying array of overlords, from the Phoenicians and the Romans to the Arabs, the Normans and beyond. It is a place of "great swagger", like a stage set, with its "theatrical confusion" of ornate facades. But it has none of the "studied" finesse that makes some Italian cities feel like museums. It is "as untidy as life" – chaotic, irrepressible, and yet possessed of an air of "vulnerability", too, with "its past troubles, its shabby side streets, its relative lack of resources".
Today, however, it is seeing a "spirited renaissance" – making this an exciting time to visit. Palermo's cathedral is like a microcosm of the city – a fabulous hotchpotch of architectural elements, built by the Normans in the 12th century on Byzantine foundations, incorporating bits of a former mosque, and altered repeatedly in the centuries since. No less grand is the opera house – the third largest in Europe, after Paris's and Vienna's – and the city's great palaces, including the Palazzo Valguarnera-Gangi, where Visconti shot the dazzling, 47-minute ballroom scene of "The Leopard", his 1963 film of Lampedusa's great novel.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But whatever you do, however, don't get too hooked on sightseeing. Palermo's magic lies close to its streets – in its colourful old markets, its small trattorias, its excellent pastry shops (try the ricotta tarts made from an old convent recipe at I Segreti del Chiostro), and so on. The city's opportunities – its low rents, unrestored buildings, and "sense of authenticity" – have recently made it "a magnet for startups". There's no shortage of new bookshops, bars and designer boutiques, while new galleries (such as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sicily and the Gallery of Modern Art) have opened in old palazzi. Yet this doesn't feel like "gentrification" – just "new ideas fitting into Palermo's wonderful chaos".
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Gavin Newsom mulls California redistricting to counter Texas gerrymandering
TALKING POINTS A controversial plan has become a major flashpoint among Democrats struggling for traction in the Trump era
-
6 perfect gifts for travel lovers
The Week Recommends The best trip is the one that lives on and on
-
How can you get the maximum Social Security retirement benefit?
the explainer These steps can help boost the Social Security amount you receive
-
Pals and loved ones always on the move? These are the gifts to give the constant travelers in your life.
The Week Recommends The best trip is the one that lives on and on
-
6 peaceful homes near small towns
Feature Featuring doors with local topographical maps in Oregon and a 1850s homestead-turned-house in Vermont
-
The best TV shows based on movies
The Week Recommends A handful of shows avoid derivative storytelling and craft bold narrative expansions
-
Too Much: London-set romantic comedy from Lena Dunham
The Week Recommends Megan Stalter stars as a 'neurotic' New Yorker who falls in love with a Brit
-
Apocalypse in the Tropics: a 'troubling' portrait of modern Brazil
The Week Recommends Petra Costa's sobering documentary examines the rise of right-wing evangelical Christianity in Brazilian politics
-
Murderland: a 'hauntingly compulsive' book
The Week Recommends Caroline Fraser sets out a 'compelling theory' that toxins were to blame for the 1970s serial killer epidemic
-
The 2025 James Beard Award winners
Feature Featuring a casually elegant restaurant, recipes nearly lost to war, and more
-
Film reviews: Superman and Sorry, Baby
Feature A hero returns, in surprising earnest, and a woman navigates life after a tragedy