Palermo, the capital of the Sicily region, is a beautiful city located at the exact center of the Mediterranean. A wonderful city that amazes with its variety of art, history, culture and religion all of which, united by an invisible thread, blend together in diversity. When in Palermo, within a few meters, you pass from the majesty and opulence of the Teatro Massimo to the ramshackle alleys of the Cape, also when you enter the ancient Vucciria market, you will notice that around the corner rises the splendid Renaissance Pretoria fountain.
Theatre Massimo is the main opera house in the city of Palermo, as well as the third largest theater in Europe, after the Opéra National in Paris and the Staatsoper in Vienna. Theatre Massimo was designed by the architect Giovanni Battista Basile in a neoclassical-eclectic style. The theatre stands on the place where the monastery of San Giuliano used to be. This old building was demolished at the end of the nineteenth century to make room for the grandiose theatre construction.
Quattro Canti, located in Piazza Villena, represents the center of Baroque style Palermo. Its perfectly octagonal structure is formed by alternation of streets (Via Vittorio Emanuele and via Maqueda) and architectural wings. At the time it was built, the square was one of the first examples of urban planning in Europe. The facades that form the square are illuminated every day during daytime at least from one side, which is why they are also known as " the Theatre of the Sun".
The Palatine Chapel is the royal chapel located within the Royal Palace In Palermo.The Palatine Chapel was built by Ruggero II. It represents the expression of the cultural syncretism that distinguished the Ruggerian era, and one of the best preserved medieval monuments both in the architectural and in the decorative part. The building consists of a raised presbytery with a central plan and a longitudinal body with three naves.
The Cathedral of Palermo, dedicated to Maria Santissima Vergine Assunta, stands in an area close to the ancient Punic-Roman walls, on the site of the first Phoenician settlement. Transformed into a mosque at the time of Islamic domination, the basilica returned to Christianism in 1072, with the help of Roberto and Ruggero d’Altavilla. Archbishop Gualtiero was responsible for the reconstruction of the Norman building, formed by scholars between 1169 -1185.
The Royal Palace (built in XI-XII century) stands in the oldest part of the city of Palermo, the area of the first Punic appropriations, the traces of which are still visible today in the basement of the factory. The Royal Palace represents original and rare combinations of Islamic and Romanesque styles, the result of interaction and coexistence between different cultural components.
