Italy · Sicily
Yacht Charter Palermo
Norman cathedrals with Arabic domes, the best street food in Italy, and Mondello twenty minutes round the headland.
Palermo has been Phoenician, Roman, Arab, Norman, Swabian, Spanish and Bourbon, and every one of them built on top of the last without knocking much down. The result is a city where a Norman king's chapel is covered in Byzantine mosaics with an Arabic honeycomb ceiling, and where the markets still shout in a cadence that came from Cairo. Mondello, the bay below Monte Pellegrino, is twenty minutes round the headland.
What the layers actually look like
The Cappella Palatina inside the Palazzo dei Normanni is the clearest single object: Byzantine mosaics, Latin architecture, Islamic muqarnas ceiling, all commissioned by one Norman king in the 1140s. The cathedral at Monreale, twenty minutes uphill, is the same idea at four times the scale.
The markets — Ballarò, Vucciria, Capo — are the other half of it. They are working food markets, loudest in the morning, and the street food that comes out of them is the best in Italy: panelle, sfincione, arancine, and pane con la milza for the brave.
Mondello and the coast
Mondello sits in a shallow turquoise bay between two headlands, with Liberty-era bathing houses on stilts and Monte Pellegrino rising eight hundred metres behind. Goethe called that headland the most beautiful promontory in the world and it is hard to argue at six in the evening.
West of the city the coast runs to Capo Gallo and the Isola delle Femmine reserve; east it goes to Cefalù, ninety minutes along, with a Norman cathedral on the beach and a rock behind it.
Practical notes
- Sailed from Portorosa or Trapani, both within a comfortable day
- Mondello is twenty minutes round the headland from the city and shallow a long way out
- Palermo airport is thirty minutes from Mondello, which makes this a straightforward start or end to a week
- Monreale and the Cappella Palatina are both morning visits; the markets are loudest and best before eleven
Reached from: Portorosa and Trapani
Where to dine
A table by the water
Osteria dei Vespri
PalermoIn a small square behind the Palazzo Gangi, where Visconti shot the ball scene in The Leopard.
Ballarò market
PalermoNot a restaurant — a working food market, loudest before eleven, and the best street food in Italy comes out of it.
Bye Bye Blues
MondelloIn the bay under Monte Pellegrino, doing Sicilian cooking with a star and none of the ceremony.
What to do
Anchorages & excursions
The Cappella Palatina
Byzantine mosaics, Latin architecture and an Islamic honeycomb ceiling, commissioned by one Norman king in the 1140s.
Monreale
Twenty minutes uphill: the same idea at four times the scale, with six thousand square metres of gold mosaic.
Mondello
A shallow turquoise bay between two headlands, with Liberty bathing houses on stilts and Monte Pellegrino behind.
Capo Gallo and Isola delle Femmine
A marine reserve west of the city, with clear water and a coast the road does not follow.
The fleet
Yachts available for Palermo
Vessels that operate here, from flagship motor yachts to smaller crewed boats. Every rate is quoted on enquiry.
Good to know
Questions we are asked about Palermo
- What should we see in one day in Palermo?
- The Cappella Palatina and one market, in that order and both before noon. If there is an afternoon, Monreale is twenty minutes uphill and the mosaics there are four times the scale.
- Is Mondello worth it?
- Very much, and it is twenty minutes round the headland. A shallow turquoise bay under Monte Pellegrino, with Liberty bathing houses on stilts — best in the last two hours of light.
- What does a yacht charter in Palermo cost?
- It depends on the yacht, the season and the crew, so we quote on enquiry rather than publish a figure that would be wrong for most weeks.
Destinations
Nearby destinations
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Enquire about a charter in Palermo
Tell us your dates and how many of you there are, and we will come back with the right yacht and a full quotation.