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Museo Internazionale delle Marionette
With over 3000 puppets, marionettes, glove puppets and shadow figures, the Museo Internazionale delle Marionette is almost single-handedly preserving the popular puppet culture that has long been a feature of Sicily's big-city life.
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Oratorio del Rosario di San Domenico
More exciting than the Chiesa di San Domenico is its oratory, Oratorio del Rosario di San Domenico, which is dominated by Anthony Van Dyck's fantastic blue-and-red altarpiece, The Virgin of the Rosary with St Dominic and the Patronesses of Palermo . Van Dyck left Palermo in fear of the plague, and painted the work in Genoa in 1628.
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Oratorio del Rosario di Santa Zita
In the 17th-century Oratorio del Rosario di Santa Zita you can see some of Serpotta's breathtaking stuccos. Indeed, this is where his work is at its best. The real masterpiece is the elaborate Battle of Lepanto on the entrance wall, depicting the Christian victory over the Turks, a scene that is framed by stucco drapes held by hundreds of naughty cherubs who were modelled on Palermo's street urchins.
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Oratorio di San Lorenzo
The Oratorio di San Lorenzo is another of Serpotta's extravagant stucco oratories, built in 1569 by the Compagnia di San Francesco. The work includes a series of panels with details from the lives of St Lawrence and St Francis, the best of which is the Martirio di San Lorenzo (Martyrdom of St Lawrence), on the far wall. A large Natività (Nativity) by Caravaggio once hung on the wall behind the altar, but it was stolen in 1969 and has never been found.
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Orto Botanico
Laid out by Léon Dufourny and Venanzio Marvuglia, the gorgeous Orto Botanico is a tropical paradise, with massive fig trees, tall palms and dazzling hibiscus bushes. There is an avenue of the bizarre-looking bottle, soap and cinnamon trees, as well as coffee trees, papaya plants and sycamores. It's a real haven of silence and fascinating botany, with a large herb garden that focuses on Mediterranean plants. Beware the mosquitos at dusk though.
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Palazzo Chiaramonte
The largest palazzo on Piazza Marina, the imposing 14th-century Palazzo Chiaramonte, was the headquarters of the Inquisition. Now part of the University of Palermo, it is only open for special exhibitions.
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Palazzo dei Normanni
West along Corso Vittorio Emanuele, past the waving palms in Piazza della Vittoria, rises the fortress palace of Palazzo dei Normanni, once the centre of a magnificent medieval court and now the seat of the Sicilian parliament.
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Palazzo Mirto
Just off Piazza Marina is one of the only palazzi open to the public, Palazzo Mirto . Considering Palermitan extravagances, the palazzo is actually pretty modest. Its walls are covered in acres of silk and velvet wallpaper, and vast embroidered wall hangings, while its floors are paved in coloured marbles and mosaics.
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Parco della Favorita
About 3km to the north of the city centre is Palermo's biggest park, the Parco della Favorita. Ferdinand purchased the land in 1799 and commissioned the original layout, and he lived in the extraordinary Chinese pagoda palace, the Palazzina Cinese, with his wife during his exile from Naples. Originally built as Ferdinand's hunting lodge by Venanzio Marvuglia, the palazzina is an odd but charming mixture of Chinese and neoclassical styles (if you can imagine such a thing).
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Porta Nuova
Next to the palace is the Porta Nuova, built to celebrate the arrival of Carlos V in Palermo in 1535 after a victory over the Tunisians. Designed in the mannerist style, the gate was partially destroyed by lightning in 1667 and rebuilt with the addition of the conical top. More than 400 years later, it still serves as a demarcation line between the old and new city.
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Quattro Canti
The busy intersection of Corso Vittorio Emanuele and Via Maqueda marks the Quattro Canti, the centre of Palermo. This intersection is surrounded by a perfect circle of curvilinear façades that disappear up to the blue vault of the sky in a clever feat of perspective. It is known locally as Il Teatro del Sole (Theatre of the Sun) as each façade is lit up in turn throughout the course of the day.
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Teatro Massimo
Built between 1875 and 1897 by Giovanni Battista Basile and subsequently his son, Ernesto, to celebrate the unification of Italy, Teatro Massimo has become a symbol of the triumph and tragedy of Palermo itself.
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Teatro Politeama Garibaldi
Palermo's second theatre, the Teatro Politeama Garibaldi, was designed in classical form by Giuseppe Damiani Almeyda between 1867 and 1874. It features a particularly striking façade that looks like a triumphal arch topped by bronze chariots. The theatre is only open for performances.
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Villa Giulia
Villa Giulia in La Kalsa is a welcome relief from the claustrophobic streets, although the formal planting scheme of the park is severely challenged by the rampant fecundity of the island.
