DK Travel : Sicily : Places of interest

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Museo Archeologico

Palermo’s regional archaeology museum displays finds from archaeological sites all over western Sicily, from the Neolithic age through to the Roman period. Among Punic and Egyptian objects is the Palermo Stone (c.2700 BC) with a hieroglyphic inscription recording a delivery of 40 boat-loads of Sicilian lumber to an Egyptian Pharaoh. There are also numerous Etruscan artifacts, Greek vases and Greek and Roman sculpture, but the highlight of the collection are the Archaic and Classical metopes recovered from Selinunte (see Selinunte).
Museo del Sale

Just south of Trapani, the small museum of salt is located inside a restored windmill. Its fascinating exhibits show how the windmill transfers water from pool to pool and grinds the harvested salt. Work in the salt pans themselves is on-going and you can see each stage that goes into transforming sea water to table salt (see Saline, Salt Pans).
Nature Reserves

Sicily’s nature reserves are good places to spot wildlife, climb about, picnic and go swimming. Hiking trails are graded for various levels of expertise. Mount Etna is probably the most fascinating for kids and adults alike – the volcano is always at least smoking, if not throwing red sparks into the air. Guides give a lively account of lava flowing underfoot and the gift shops screen spectacular video footage from past eruptions.
Norman Palermo

The splendid Norman kingdom in Sicily was marked by an exotic mix of cultures as manifested in their administration and in the architecture of the civic and private structures they commissioned (see Norman Palermo).
Noto

Noto is the chief proponent of the new cities built entirely in Baroque style after the 1693 earthquake destroyed most of eastern Sicily. Noto was rebuilt using a tufa stone that has turned a golden shade after years of sun, while the architecture is ebullient and dramatic. The town plan involves open, wide streets with plenty of piazzas and piazzettas for gathering and making the passeggiata (see Noto).
Novara di Sicilia

This little mountain village is tucked away between the Peloritani and Nebrodi mountain ranges. The medieval site has a crumbling Arab castle and the 16th-century Chiesa Madrice with naïve wood carvings on the altar.
Ortygia

The tiny island is a bustling mix of temples, churches, museums, open piazzas, seaside bars, markets and shops.
Palazzo Abatellis

Sicily’s regional fine arts museum is housed in the heavily restored 15th-century palace of a Spanish official, deep in the La Kalsa neighbourhood. The permanent collection traces the development of the figurative tradition in Sicilian art and the museum runs an active exhibition programme. Highlights include the door and courtyard of the building itself, a masterpiece of Gothic-Catalan architecture, the detached fresco of the Triumph of Death by an unknown 15th-century master, carved works by Antonello Gagini, Antonello da Messina’s Annunciation to the Virgin , and an enormous 14th-century Hispano-Moresque amphora (see Museo Regionale di Messina).
Palazzo Adriano

In the heart of this fertile area, Palazzo Adriano is lofty and remote. In Piazza Umberto I are two main churches, the Catholic Santa Maria del Lume, and the Greek Orthodox Santa Maria Assunta, built by Albanian refugees in the 1400s. Palazzo Adriano gained fame in 1990 as the setting for the Academy Award-winning film Cinema Paradiso (see Cinema Paradiso).
Palazzolo Acreide

The “modern” Baroque town was originally a Greek colony of Syracuse, founded in 664 BC. At the archaeological site just next to the village, the small, 600-seat Greek theatre remains in good condition, although temples to Persephone and Aphrodite are in ruins. Old quarries bear a Greek banqueting scene and a Roman sacrifice carved in relief. A short walk outside the old city are the Santoni (Big Saints), enormous statues of fertility goddess Cybele and her entourage carved out of the rock (see Palazzolo Acreide).