A page for Palermo
In its own wide bay underneath the limestone of Monte Pellegrino,Palermo is stupendously sited.Originally a Phoenician, then a Carthaginean colony, this remarkable city was long considered a prize worth capturing, and under Saracen and Norman rule in the ninth and twelfth centuries Palermo became the greatest city in Europe, famed for wealth of its court and peerless as a center for learning.
Nowadays it's a fast, brash and exciting city, a fascinating place to be as much for just strolling and consuming as for specific attractions. But Palermo's monuments, its unique series of Baroque and Arabo-Norman churches, the unparalleled mosaic work and excellent museums are also the equal of anything on the mainland.
