A FULL DAY SICILIAN EXPLORING
PALERMO AND ITS SURROUNDING AREA

If you like to enjoy a real Mediterranean capital in a just a couple of hours drive full of several monuments and churches and rich of elegant streets with luxurious shops. Palermo is the capital and the most important city of all Sicily located between the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Conca D'oro Mountains.
You start to approach the city walking the Medieval area of Palermo where the main features are from Baroque and Arabian-Norman period. Another peculiarity of Palermo are the gardens and prestigious Villas. We will start at Piazza Pretoria with its beautiful Renaissance fountain originally built for a villa near Florence: a piece of 16th century Tuscany in the center of an Arab-Norman city. We will continue to walk the heart of the city, called: "Quattro Canti", then you will visit the Cathedral: a magnificent and imposing religious building erected on the site of the old cathedral, transformed into a mosque by the Arabs and re-consecrated to the Christian cult by the Norman kings.
Then we'll continue on foot to visit San Giovanni degli Eremiti one of the best known Norman monuments built by Roger II in 1136 on the site of a pre-existing Gregorian monastery. You will also have the possibility to visit San Cataldo, an example of a Norman Church located in the old city centre. It is an outstanding religious building dating back to 1160. The tour will end with a visit to the Palazzo dei Normanni the most important monument of Palermo where the most obvious traces of the Norman period are Torre Pisana, Roger's Room in the Joaria and the Palatine Chapel. Since the post-war period the Norman Palace has been the seat of the Sicilian Regional Assembly.
Next, we'll move on to the village of Monreale, driving along a wonderful road overlooking the "Conca D'Oro" valley. We will visit the magnificent Duomo of Monreale, which is one of the great sights of Norman Sicily. Founded in 1172 by the Norman King William II, it flanks a monastery of Benedictine Order. The interior of the Cathedral glitters with mosaics designed by Sicilian and Byzantine artists. We will be ending our day with a stroll at the famous open market "Vucciria" which is the busiest and largest market in Palermo and offers the usual market ware from every day objects to junk, as well as a wide selection of fruit, vegetables, meat and fish (other sites can be added, time permitted and up your interests - Cappuccini Catacombs, Zisa Castle and so on...).