The Church of San Giovanni degli Eremiti in Palermo is a monument of great charm, part of the UNESCO itinerary “Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedrals of Cefalù and Monreale.” The complex stands on a site with a long religious tradition, which first included a monastery dedicated to Saint Hermes and, during the Muslim domination, a mosque. The church was later entrusted to the Benedictines and became an important religious center. During this period the abbot also acted as the King’s confessor.
The Norman Palace, also known as the Royal Palace, is one of the most significant and historically relevant monuments in Palermo. It is the oldest royal palace in Europe. The Norman Palace stands on an older structure, dating back to the Punic-Roman period. In the underground areas that can still be visited, it is even possible to see the remains of the first Punic settlements.
Palermo Cathedral combines Byzantine, Islamic and Latin elements and has been recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The cathedral is an important site of Christian worship and houses the Diocesan Museum and the Chapel with the relics of Santa Rosalia, patron saint of the city, as well as the tombs of the Norman kings.
The Teatro Massimo in Palermo is the largest opera house in Italy and the third in Europe. Situated in a strategic position, on the border between the old city and the northern expansion, this imposing neoclassical building was designed by Giovanni Battista Filippo Basile.
Piazza Villena, known to the people of Palermo as Piazza dei Quattro Canti, was created in the Palermo of the seventeenth century where the new Via Maqueda, commissioned by the viceroy from whom it takes its name, met the already existing Via Vittorio Emanuele, also known as the Cassaro. This intersection determined the division of the city into four districts, called “Mandamenti”.
Piazza Pretoria is one of the most famous and fascinating squares in Palermo, located in the heart of the historic center of the city, also known as “Piazza della Vergogna” (Square of Shame) because of the fountain in the center of the square itself.
You can’t stay in Palermo without visiting at least once one of the city’s historic markets. The most important are La Vucciria, Capo and Ballarò. he Vucciria market is located in the historic Loggia district, between Via Roma, Piazza San Domenico and Via Vittorio Emanuele. In the past, this market was one of the liveliest and most chaotic in the city center, and its name derives from the French “boucherie” which means “butcher’s shop”, since meat was originally sold here.
Kalsa is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Palermo, dating back to the era of Islamic domination. The Kalsa still retains an oriental atmosphere today, accentuated by the presence of monuments in Arab-Norman style.
Palazzo Abatellis, located in Piazza Magione, is a prestigious example of Gothic and Renaissance architecture, built in the 15th century for Francesco Abatellis, a Sicilian nobleman. Designed by Matteo Carnilivari, the building combines Gothic elements with Renaissance influences.
If you like majolica, this private collection is just right for you. The collection, distributed in eight rooms, is divided by era and geographical origin. It includes tiles produced mainly in Campania and Sicily between the 15th and 19th centuries, used for floors in noble and bourgeois homes.
Great directions by using Google maps and made it fun with the bite sized audio to go with the places we visited. It gives you a breakdown of prices for each venue and roughly takes 5-6hours depending on if you look around inside or stop for a spot of food.
Informative guide on some of the main points of interest in Palermo. Would have benefitted from instructions in the commentary informing how to walk from one point to the next. I found it confusing finding my way to some of the points and had to keep referring to google maps to find my way.
Fantastic trip in Palermo,Sicily
Very nice walk for a reasonable price. Nice information about all the sights audio or read the text
This tour requires constant internet connection, which the organizer did not explain until the night before. This was not a possibility for me, and I was not able to get my money back. In the future, I will spend more money to get tours with a real guide.
Very good. Easy to use. I recommend.
We werent able to connect so a total waste if time and money. Need instructions on how to use it rather than saying to go to first site and then no one there has a clue about what u r talking about. I contacted whoever i was asked to contact and got no response.
This was the perfect thing for my mom and I. We wanted to explore the city on our own schedule and at our own pace, but we didn't want to miss anything special that Palermo had to offer. By following this tour guide, we were able to learn about the rich history of Palermo in real time as we walked around the historic streets.
The tour was definitely worth the money. I enjoyed the freedom of taking my time for photos and rest. I recommend taking walking tours as a method to get a great sense of city history and architecture.
We are walking tour "regulars." Domenico's food and history tour was one our best ever. His knowledge of Palermo's history together with his "fun" attitude made this a great day. He got to know a little bit about us and joked with us along the way. This is really more a history and sites tour with a stop toward the end in Palermo's food market, (a site in itself), for a few tastings, topped with a classic gelato to end our tour. If you're in Palermo and looking for a great tour, Domenico is a great choice!
Great tour with lots of information. Links were great to maps and the tour meant we visited all the important sights in an efficient order and most importantly in our own time.
Nice walk in Palermo, recommended. It was a lovely tour and we saw all highlights. No difference to an real guide. Give it a try
Excellent way of discovering hidden parts of Palermo on your own and at your own pace, would recommend
We missed a guided walking tour so picked this up as a fall back. Good info and route to get you acquainted with Palermo. We did most of the sites in one day and picked up a few the following day. Well worth the cost.
Following a last minute cancelation of our guided tour in Palermo we booked onto this self guided audio tour. The instructions on how to use the guide were very clear and easy. The tour was easy to navigate and we chose the route that suited us. We were very glad that the guided tour canceled because we thoroughly enjoyed the self guide tour and would definitely book it again in other destinations.
Following a last minute cancelation of our guided tour in Palermo we booked onto this self guided audio tour. The instructions on how to use the guide were very clear and easy. The tour was easy to navigate and we chose the route that suited us. We were very glad that the guided tour canceled because we thoroughly enjoyed the self guide tour and would definitely book it again in other destinations.
An excellent tour and well worth the tiny price. It was easy to follow and linked with Google Maps well. There is the option to read more if, like us, you want to absorb as much information as possible. The information is both informative and interesting. Doing it at our own pace was also invaluable and allowed us the freedom to eat and drink whenever suited us. There are additionally some great food and drink recommendations included. Cannot recommend this enough.
Great tour! The guide summarized the main highlights and even recommended a great place to eat for lunch I enjoyed. I also liked the information on ticker prices. The only downside is the audio is read by a computer voice. It would have been nice to have someone who can pronounce the names correctly reading the script and also offering more anecdotes. Overall, for a quick day in Palermo this helped me to see all I needed to see!
This was our first digital tour experience. It was quite tricky to get connected at first but there was a helpline. Once we got started, it was really easy to use and gave extra information on certain places. You could stop, start and replay the download at your own convenience for up to 4 days which we found really helpful. Highly recommend if you want to do things at your own pace and time.
Nice option if you like walking. I would like done More information no what i am seeing, but ir Is ok . Works quite well with Google maps
Very monotonic and boring voice. It was very hard to focus on the audio. Also next day I took a walking tour in person and that was so much more engaging and informative!
The audio guide was very useful, It allowed me to visit the city according to my preferences, my intrests and the time I had available. The information provided ware very helpul.
This is an audio walking tour. GOOGLE maps worked well. We could easily find each location. The audio was informative without being too much info overload. You could walk at your own pace.
Very good. It would be even better if more itineraries were offered
This self-guided walking tour was a great help for visiting Palermo and its interesting sites. I also really appreciated the information about the food and other places. It's great to be able to put the tour on Google Maps. An improvement would be to be able to start wherever you want on the tour and in the direction you want. We used it for 2 days and are ready to reuse this type of medium for other cities.
Guided tour in French very much appreciated Interesting explanations of the different sites However, we were not able to do everything in one day
It was a beautiful experience. The audio guide was perfect. At least you learn important things about the monuments visited
Very pleasant to visit at one's own pace with very interesting comments on the various monuments along the route and on the history of Palermo.
We had booked the city walk through tripadvisor. It's nice that you can decide when to start. The explanation was clear and they had added nice extra tips.
Description of the really useful in-depth sites to get a good overview of the city highly recommended
Useful and above all comfortable audio guide: you hear it and feel it again when you want. Well structured: explanations, anecdotes and very useful maps
A nice route and well described. A great guide to get around the city independently. Definitely a valuable help to get around Palermo with your pace.
I wouldn't take it again. It is not worth paying because it is very easy to do it on your own. You have to connect to a website with a password for audios.
The app works well on Google maps, the explanations are interesting and quite detailed. It's okay for whoever likes to walk around town. He sent us down some streets that he would have avoided, alley guy with a lot of waste, but that's fine.
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