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Phoenicians founded this ancient seaport on Sicily’s northwest coast 2,700 years ago, and succeeding conquerors -- Romans, Byzantines, Norman chevaliers -- each left their mark, but it was under Muslim rule in the 9th-11th centuries that Palermo flourished as the “city of delights,” one of the most prosperous in the Mediterranean. Today the city is an evocative jumble of monuments: Romanesque churches, the dazzlingly eclectic Palermo Cathedral, palaces designed in the uniquely Sicilian architectural fusion called Arab-Norman, and luminous Byzantine mosaics, which reached their zenith in the 12th-century Cappella Palatina in the Palazzo dei Normanni. The Capuchin Catacombs hold another extraordinary sight: around 8,000 mummified remains, many remarkably well preserved.
Settled by the ancient Phoenicians, Palermo is the capital of Sicily, the doggedly independent island at the tip of the Italian peninsula's boot. The island of Sicily is a mere hundred miles north of Africa. The attitudes and weather are decidedly Mediterranean, but a tour of the island's architecture reveals a rich mix of classical, Moorish, Renaissance and modern influences, as befits a strategic (and oil-rich) region coveted by so many kingdoms. Palermo itself is a big and bustling city that doesn't sleep on Sundays. It is situated in a natural amphitheater setting. Some of its major attractions include the Orto Botanico gardens (on "Via Abramo Lincoln") and the Museo Archeologico Regionale, Sicily's most important museum. Another major site in the Palermo area is Monreale, the church that was founded in 1172 by King William II of Normandy. William II and William I are both buried here. (The Norman presence partly explains the number of blue-eyed Sicilians.)