Museum sights in Palermo
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Museo Diocesiano
The Museo Diocesiano houses an important and rather extensive collection of artworks from the cathedral and churches destroyed during WWII; these include paintings, and marble, fresco and mosaic fragments. There's a friendly guide who will explain the significance of each piece (they are largely unmarked), though she speaks Italian and French only.
The ground floor holds 15th-century frescoes, along with Byzantine paintings and icons, among which the most beautiful is the 1171 Madonna della Perla, rescued from the now-no-more church of San Nicoló Reale.
Seek out the room dedicated to the 17th-century Sicilian painter Pietro Novelli (1603-47), who was one of the region's f…
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B
Museo Archeologico Regionale
North along Via Roma, the Museo Archeologico Regionale, in a Renaissance monastery, displays some of Sicily’s most valuable Greek and Roman artefacts. The galleries surround a gracious courtyard and display treasures from Selinunte such as a series of decorative friezes depicting classical scenes, full of humour and energy. In one, Perseus gleefully beheads the Gorgon, and the Cercopes twins, hanging upside down, laugh at the sunburnt bum of Hercules. There’s good wheelchair access.
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Museo Etnografico Pitrè
The Palazzina Cinese houses the Museo Etnografico Pitrè, Sicily's best ethnographic museum. It holds over 5000 objects, including traditional costumes, pottery, puppets, votive offerings, torture instruments and a model of the 18th-century Carrozza di Santa Rosalia (a massive cart used to carry the effigy of the saint through the streets during the Festino di Santa Rosalia).
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C
Museo Internazionale delle Marionette
On a jolly note, the Museo Internazionale delle Marionette houses over 3500 puppets, marionettes and glove puppets from Italy, China, India, southern Asia, Turkey and Africa. Delightful puppet shows are staged every Friday at 5.30pm.
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D
Oratorio del Rosario di Santa Zita
Covered in ornate stuccowork, this former social club for the celebs of its time are ostentatious displays of 17th-century status and wealth.
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