In
the City Palermo
is the capital of the main Italian island of Sicily, located on the north coast
of the island. What to see in Palermo The
Cathedral - honey-coloured and Catalan influenced the Quattro Canti - the symbolic
crossroads at the old centre of the city and the nearby small, but pretty La Martorana
church with byzantine mosaics inside. The
catacombs of the Capuchin convent located on the Piazza Cappuccini, just west
of the city centre, contain over 8000 mummified ex-residents from Palermo and
its surrounding villages, some merely clothed skeletons, other remarkably well-preserved
and lifelike. The Palazzo dei Normanni. Inside,
don't miss the mosaics in the Cappella Palatina and the old Royal Apartments Tthe
'street markets', especially near the Piazza del Carmine and Vucciria.
The Gesu Church is one of the most architecturally important highly decorated
in Palermo. Constructed between 1564-1633, it's late date of completion resulted
in an abundant use of polychrome marbles on both floors and walls. This form of
decoration, which gradually evolved in Sicily from the beginning of the 17th century,
was to mark the beginning of the Sicilian Baroque period, which was to give Sicily
almost an architectural national identity. | 
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