Our first trip to Sicily was in the summer of 2001 with our two sons (17 and 9) and my mother — we had flown into Venice for a week, then driven from Venice to Sicily, stopping for a night each in Brisighella, Orvieto, Pompei, and Scilla before crossing to Sicily on the ferry. It sounds nutty to me now, but it was fun and seemed practical at the time. In Sicily for two weeks, we stayed near Enna (an agriturismo), in Noto, and in Scopello, making day trips to Agrigento, the Villa Romana, Santo Stefano di Camastra (for its orange, red, and teal ceramics), Mount Etna, Ortigia, and Monreale.
Our 2nd Sicily trip was late March to late April this year.
Palermo 5 nights. We really loved Palermo, even more than we thought we would, and we now think another 3 or 4 nights would have been a good idea. We could have eaten even more of the best pistachio and the best espresso gelato we have ever had (rather than subtle and creamy it was intense and with crunchy bits in it, like Palermo itself). Dolce Capo was the great pistachio gelateria.
Our apartment’s neighborhood was perfect for us, easy walking distance to everything we wanted to see — a 5 minute walk to the southwest got us to the Cathedral (whose eclectic exterior was incredible, but we didn’t go inside or up onto the roof).
We both enjoyed the Palazzo Abatellis art gallery (Triumph of Death, Gossaert’s Malvagna Triptych, Antonello de Messina’s Annunciate Virgin) even though my husband is, after many years of keeping me company in art galleries and churches, inclined to skip the art stuff now. One experience we loved there was when some young Italian students on a school field trip practiced their art appreciation lecture on us about the Gossaert. In English. https://www.wondersofsicily.com/palermo-abatellis-museum.htm
The Ballaro and Vucciria markets were OK but there were way too many people taking photos and restaurants trying to entice you inside, few people actually doing their grocery shopping like we were.
We ate great local food, especially street food, but our favorite very casual place was Trattoria Trapani near the train station.
Husband went to the opera. The timings of the operas in Palermo and Catania, plus the town we wanted to visit on Easter Monday, is why we had to crisscross the island the way we did.
We had visited the Monreale cathedral in 2001 but wanted to go again and spend as much time as we wanted. If you go, see if you can find the four rabbits hiding in the otherwise geometric designs in the mosaic floors in the church. Really happy that we made this return visit — we especially loved the cloisters (new to us) with all the strange, amusing, and often not obviously religious carvings on the column tops.
https://www.wondersofsicily.com/palermo-monreale-cloister.htm
We liked eating at Osteria Peper’s in Monreale.
The Baroque fountain in the Piazza della Vergogna (nicknamed “Shame” because of the nude statues) had a high fence around it, so it was hard to see all its cool details. We’re always glad that Italy is restoring its art treasures but always bummed when we can’t see stuff because of it.
We went to the Palazzo dei Normanni and its tiny Palatine Chapel right when it opened at 8:30am — the royal chambers are only open on Fridays and the weekends (when the parliament is not in session). And the cruise ship and other tourists crowd the chapel starting about 10am.
If we went back to Palermo, we’d see: Palazzo Chiaramonte Steri and its food market painting by Renato Guttuso, the Martorana (Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio) mosaics, the Museo delle Maioliche Stanze al Genio, and the Church of Santa Caterina d’Alessandria. Also the archeology museum (we should have gone, but I was excessively put off that only the first floor was open).
