Palermo in 2 days, on foot

This 2-day self-guided walking plan for Palermo covers 22 narrated sights in an easy day-by-day order. Each day is split into a morning and an afternoon loop, and every stop has a two to three minute audio story in the Gingerguide app.

You set the pace: this is a suggested order, not a schedule. Walk it in 2 days, or stretch it out. Reorder freely; Palermo rewards a detour.

The Palermo route at a glance

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Stops in route order, one colour per day. A diagram of shape and distance, not a street map; the app has the live map.

Day 1

Day 1 covers 11 stops over about 3.8 km as the crow flies, from Galleria d'Arte Moderna to Fontana Pretoria. ≈ 3.8 km between stops, straight line

Morning

  1. Galleria d'Arte Moderna: Sicily's finest collection of 19th and early 20th-century art, housed in a beautifully converted former convent, revealing the rich Romantic and Realist tradition of Sicilian painting. 0.1 km to the next stop
  2. Teatro Massimo: Italy's largest opera house, a magnificent neoclassical temple to music built between 1875 and 1897, immortalised as the setting for the climactic final scene of The Godfather Part III. 0.3 km to the next stop
  3. Piazza Politeama: The elegant northern gateway of Palermo, centred on the grand neoclassical Teatro Politeama and marking the division between the historic Arab-Norman city and the 19th-century new town. 0.8 km to the next stop
  4. Oratorio del Rosario: A Baroque oratory decorated with the most extravagant stucco work in Sicily by Giacomo Serpotta, featuring Van Dyck's Madonna of the Rosary altarpiece. 0.1 km to the next stop
  5. Vucciria Market: Palermo's historic medieval market, immortalised in Renato Guttuso's famous 1974 painting, now transformed into a legendary late-night street-food and aperitivo scene. 1.1 km to the next stop
  6. Botanical Garden: One of Europe's finest botanical gardens, founded in 1789, featuring ancient dragon trees, towering ficus trees, a Chinese garden, and over 12,000 plant species from around the world. 0.5 km to the next stop

Afternoon

  1. Palazzo Abatellis: A refined 15th-century Catalan-Gothic palace housing Sicily's greatest art museum, with Antonello da Messina's Annunciation and the monumental Triumph of Death fresco. 0.7 km to the next stop
  2. Palermo: Six Civilisations: Standing in Palermo means standing at the crossroads of 2,700 years of civilisation: Phoenician, Greek, Roman, Arab, Norman, and Spanish layers visible in one extraordinary city.
  3. Palermo Street Food: One of Europe's great street-food cities: arancini, panelle, sfincione, stigghiola, and cannoli, a culinary tradition shaped by Arab, Norman, Spanish, and Jewish influences over a thousand years.
  4. Quattro Canti: The theatrical Baroque crossroads at the heart of Palermo, where four concave facades decorated with fountains, statues of seasons, Spanish kings, and patron saints meet at a perfect octagon. 0.1 km to the next stop
  5. Fontana Pretoria: A magnificent 16th-century fountain of white Carrara marble featuring fifty nude mythological figures, so scandalous to locals that it became known as the Fountain of Shame.

Day 2

Day 2 covers 11 stops over about 22 km as the crow flies, from La Martorana to Mondello Beach. ≈ 22 km between stops, straight line

Morning

  1. La Martorana: A stunning 12th-century Norman church with original Byzantine gold mosaics, built on the minaret foundations of a converted mosque, featuring the oldest portrait of a Norman king. 0.4 km to the next stop
  2. Palermo Cathedral: A magnificent Norman-Arab-Byzantine cathedral built in 1185, housing the royal tombs of Frederick II and Roger II of Sicily. 0.4 km to the next stop
  3. Ballarò Market: Palermo's oldest and most vibrant street market, where North African street-food culture meets Sicilian tradition in a cacophony of calls, colours, and aromas. 0.2 km to the next stop
  4. Norman Palace: The oldest royal palace in Europe, built over Phoenician and Arab foundations, today housing the Sicilian Regional Parliament and the dazzling Palatine Chapel. 0 km to the next stop
  5. Palatine Chapel: The jewel of Norman Palermo: a 12th-century royal chapel covered floor to ceiling in golden Byzantine mosaics with an extraordinary Arab muqarnas ceiling. 0.1 km to the next stop
  6. San Giovanni degli Eremiti: An iconic Arab-Norman church with five distinctive red domes rising above a peaceful cloister garden, built on the site of a mosque using Arab craftsmen. 0.8 km to the next stop

Afternoon

  1. Cuba Palace: A remarkably preserved 12th-century Norman pleasure palace built in pure Islamic style, part of the same pleasure-garden complex as the Zisa, used by Boccaccio as a setting in the Decameron. 0.5 km to the next stop
  2. Capuchin Catacombs: A haunting underground gallery of 8,000 mummified bodies displayed in their finest clothing, including the perfectly preserved "sleeping beauty" Rosalia Lombardo from 1920. 5.3 km to the next stop
  3. Monreale Cathedral: The supreme masterpiece of Norman-Byzantine art: a 12th-century cathedral housing the world's largest Byzantine mosaic cycle, 6,340 square metres of glittering gold and colour telling the entire story of the Bible. 6.1 km to the next stop
  4. Zisa Castle: A magnificent 12th-century Norman pleasure palace built in pure Islamic style, with the finest muqarnas fountain room outside the Arab world and gardens fed by water channels. 8.5 km to the next stop
  5. Mondello Beach: Palermo's beloved beach resort with fine white sand, turquoise water and Art Nouveau bathing establishments, framed by Monte Pellegrino and Monte Gallo.

Distances are straight-line between stops; streets add a little.

Where the route eats

Food and market stops on the Palermo tour, each with its own story in the app:

  • Ballarò Market: Palermo's oldest and most vibrant street market, where North African street-food culture meets Sicilian tradition in a cacophony of calls, colours, and aromas.
  • Vucciria Market: Palermo's historic medieval market, immortalised in Renato Guttuso's famous 1974 painting, now transformed into a legendary late-night street-food and aperitivo scene.
  • Palermo Street Food: One of Europe's great street-food cities: arancini, panelle, sfincione, stigghiola, and cannoli, a culinary tradition shaped by Arab, Norman, Spanish, and Jewish influences over a thousand years.

Make it easy on your feet

Turn the radar on in the app and keep your phone in your pocket; it taps you on the shoulder when a Palermo story is close, so you never miss a stop.

Updated:

Full Palermo guide and all stops → · Other itineraries: 3 days

Walk Palermo with the stories on

Preview all 22 Palermo stops free in the Gingerguide app.

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