Palermo at Christmas - Art, archaeology and architecture in Palermo and its vicinity

Fly at c. 9.30am (Lufthansa) from London Heathrow to Palermo, via Frankfurt. First night in  Palermo, where all seven nights are spent.

A morning walk includes two adjacent Norman churches, La Martorana and San Cataldo, which reveal the extraordinary melting pot of cultures in 12th-century Sicily, with Arabic and Byzantine features as well as Italian and North European. The Palazzo dei Normanni, of ninth-century Arab origin but extended in nearly every subsequent century, the secular mosaics (c. 1170) in the Hall of King Roger being the highlight Also visited today are San Giovanni degli Eremiti, a church with five cupolas and a garden, the largely medieval cathedral with its royal and imperial tombs, and the Chiesa del Gesù, an outstanding example of Palermitan Baroque with a profusion of marble inlay, stucco and sculpture.

Cefalù is charming small coastal town dominated by a massive Norman cathedral on the slopes behind, which contains outstanding mosaics. The art gallery of the Museo Mandralisca has a painting by the enigmatic 15th-century Antonello da Messina. In the evening there is a private out-of-hours visit to the 12th-century chapel in the Palace of the Normans. The interior is entirely encrusted with mosaics, the finest assembly of Byzantine art to survive anywhere.

A day of palaces. The morning is dedicated to the Galleria Regionale in the 15th-century Palazzo Abatellis, the most important art gallery on the island. Continue to meet the Duchess of Palma in her 18th-century palazzo facing the Bay of Palermo. The palace is the former residence of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, author of The Leopard, now the home of his adoptive son. Enjoy a cooking class with the Duchess herself, before lunch in the grand dining room and a tour with the Duke and Duchess.

Set in an unspoilt hilly landscape, the almost complete but fascinatingly unfinished fifth-century temple at Segesta was built by indigenous, if thoroughly Hellenised, Sicilians. On an adjacent hill is a spectacularly sited theatre with views to the sea. Back in Palermo, an afternoon stroll encompasses several oratories.

Travel to Mondello, a charming seaside town to the northwest of Palermo, for a special lunch in a fine dining restaurant. 

Drive out to Monreale, a small town which dominates a verdant valley southwest of Palermo. Its cathedral is one of the finest Norman churches on the island and possesses the largest scheme of mosaic decoration to survive from the Middle Ages. Back in Palermo, visit one of the richest collections of Punic and Ancient Greek art in Italy in the Archaeological Museum. Evening reception in a private palazzo, with astonishing Rococo interiors and original furnishings (used as a set in Visconti’s film of The Leopard).

Fly from Palermo to London Heathrow, via Munich, arriving c. 5.00pm.

Several of the visits outlined above are dependent on the kindness of individuals and organisations, some of whom are reluctant to make arrangements far in advance, so the order of visits outlined above may change and there may be substitutions for some palaces mentioned.