Palermo is the main city of Italian Sicily with sights that have become memorials of different eras and peoples that have been successfully preserved to the present day. Despite its former mafia fame, Palermo is a quiet, cozy and family friendly town. About what to see in Palermo, so that the rest will be remembered for a long time, we will tell further.
Catacombs of the Capuchins in Palermo
One of the unique and interesting places in Palermo are the Catacombs of the Capuchins. In underground corridors, under one of the squares of the city, everyone who wants a tourist can independently see the unguarded face of death.
The bodies of the dead were taken to the Capuchin catacombs of Palermo from different parts of Sicily. It was not every resident who was honored to be buried here. For several centuries only priests, famous figures, virgins and children were buried in the catacombs. In special underground rooms the bodies of the deceased were dried, mummified and then folded on shelves or hung out. The special conditions of the catacombs allowed the bodies not to decay as it happens in a conventional burial.
There are several long corridors in the catacombs, all walls of which are occupied by remains, dressed in the best clothes of their time. In total there are about eight thousand bodies in the catacombs.
The last burial in one of the corridors of the catacombs is dated 1920. The dead girl was Rosalie Lombardo. Thanks to the skill of a well-known embalming specialist, she still lies behind the glass lid of the coffin, as if alive.
Cathedral of Palermo
The Cathedral of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin is a unique shrine. It was erected in Palermo in the IV century. At that time it was a church, which later became a temple. After the capital of the Sicilian province was captured by the Arabs, the sacred building was radically rebuilt, making the cathedral a Friday Mosque. In the XI century the building was again consecrated in honor of the Holy Virgin. In subsequent years, it was repeatedly restored and rebuilt. The result was a mixture of architectural styles.
The walls of the Cathedral have features characteristic of different religions, and on one of its columns the words from the Koran are imprinted. In addition to exploring the cathedral itself and its history, tourists can visit the amazingly beautiful garden that was laid in the vicinity of the temple several centuries ago.
Teatro Massimo in Palermo
The opera house, named on behalf of King Victor Emmanuel III, has functioned continuously since 1999. Until that time, for more than 20 years, it was closed for restoration.
When the theater was erected at the end of the 19th century, a scandal arose. According to the construction project, the temple was erected, which stood on the site of the present Massimo theater. Until now, there is a legend that one of the nuns never left the walls of the opera house.
The architect of the theater was the most famous specialist in Italy, Giovanni Basile. The theater was pompous. Internally, its decoration is stylized under the era of the late Renaissance. The architect himself could not live to see the opening. Due to the constant problems with financing, the construction was not frozen once.
Today, guests of the city, lovers of shopping in Italy , tourists and ardent admirers of the art of opera can enjoy in Palermo performances of the most famous tenors of our time.
Other places of interest in Sicily: Palermo
Palermo, thanks to many conquerors who have been here in different periods of time, has become a city-museum in which every street can tell about the past, not to mention the sights themselves. In addition to the places already mentioned, in Palermo you can visit the Norman and Orleans Palace with adjoining parks, the amazing beauty of the Botanical Garden, the Villa of Palagonia, the Theater of Politeama and the Palatine Chapel, in which the Norman and Arabian architecture merged.