Palermo Cathedral

The Cathedral of Palermo is one of the cities main attractions and super interesting, because of the mix of different architectural styles, like norman, moorish and neoclassical, due to the long history of alterations. There is no entrence fee. Just if you want to visit the roof or treasury, you must pay (which we visited another day). It is also near the Palace of the Normans, if you want to visit both at the same day and which I totally recommend.

Die Kathedrale von Palermo ist eine der Hauptsehenswürdigkeiten der Stadt und im typischen Stilmix, in diesem Fall im Normanisch-Arabischen. Der Eintritt ist kostenlos. Lediglich der Aufstieg auf die Kuppel kostet 5 Euro, welchen wir aber an einem anderen Tag gemacht haben.

Palermo - Historical Pearl

When thinking of the city of Palermo, would baroque fountains and palaces come to your mind? I definitely didn't think of that at all, until I visited the city myself. Also, I think you don't see enough positive reports or articles about Sicily either, except it is about the Mafia. 

After our first minutes at the Ballaro market (my previous post) I also had a false impression at first, but that changed quickly. When it comes to the architecture, Palermo is quiet a mix of various cultural epochs, because the city was ruled by Arabs, Normans and Spains, just to name a few, but all left their architectural traces. The city also has many examples for the Sicilian Baroque, a distinctive form of baroque, which arose after a huge earthquake, when cities had to be rebuilt (not Palermo).

So our way led us from the market, which is near the main station, along the Via Marqueda to the Piazza Pretoria, a square with a monumental fountain, originally built in Florence and later relocated to Palermo. The square is right next to the Quattro Canti (four angles), a crossing of two main streets with four concave facades of palaces decorated with colums, statues and fountains and which are a good showpiece for the sicilian baroque.