"In Sicily" Palermo by bambino36

MAFIA... it's the word everyone comes up with when Sicily is the subject. Well I think the Godfather is just a movie. Palermo is a beautiful city. I've been there for a week and had time to visit places around Palermo like Isole Delle Femine, Mondello and Cefalu.
Inside the city there's a lot of things to visit and I did it without a map ... just started to walk in one direction and exploring it. And never forgot to pay attention to the traffic...

Teatro Massimo, Palermo

Palermo, the capital of both Palermo Province and the island of Sicily, is the largest city and chief port on the island and it's located on the northwest coast.
Palermo is hasty, noisy, exciting and culturally very rich. Endowed with a past that strongly influences the present, this city presents itself as a fusion typically sicilian of art, architecture and foreign lifestyles.
Walking through its streets we can admire baroque and norman monuments side by side with arab cupolas, spanish palaces and renaissance churches.
The city of Palermo doesn't have many characteristics strictly italian or, I dare, even european and it's full of surprises. The geographic isolation forced the city to forge it's own identity.