Audio tour · Italy
Palermo
A self guided audio tour of Palermo.
Downloadon the App Store
The app is on the App Store
A self guided audio tour of Palermo.
Palermo is loud and gorgeous and utterly itself. The markets spill onto the pavements, the churches fold Arab arches into Norman stone, and the whole place smells of orange blossom and frying fish. Walking through the old quarters you sense every civilisation that left its mark here, worn into the walls and the food and the way people move through the day.
In the app, 100 stops in Palermo are narrated aloud, about 2h 50m of listening across 8 walking routes, in 13 languages, offline once downloaded. Choose a route or build your own, then walk while a calm voice tells you the story of each stop. The app also maps 30 Instagram photo spots, social media photo locations with directions to where you stand for the shot.
The opening lines of a few narrations, straight from the tour.
"You're standing in front of a building that has seen everything."
"As you walk past this massive structure, you are looking at a building whose story is steeped in history."
"When you stand here, you are looking at a physical map of the cultures that ruled Sicily in."
"You are standing in a place that has seen nearly 1,200 years of power shifts."
"You're standing in front of the largest theatre in Italy."
"This Baroque square is the heart of Palermo's historic quarters."
Curated orders through the city. Or build your own and press Play All.
A short stroll through Palermo's ancient heart taking in its grand cathedral, Renaissance palaces and a string of baroque churches along the way.
A hilltop excursion above the city that pairs the breathtaking gold mosaics of Monreale Cathedral with the ancient tranquillity of San Martino delle Scale.
Starting from the glittering Cappella Palatina inside the Norman Palace, this walk winds through a cluster of medieval and baroque churches at the old western edge of the city.
Beginning at Italy's largest opera house, this route moves through a neighbourhood of ornate piazzas, Augustinian cloisters and little known oratories near the Capo market.
A compact loop around the famous Quattro Canti intersection that visits Palermo's most celebrated fountains, piazzas and theatine churches in barely half a kilometre.
A tight circuit through the Kalsa and Albergheria linking the Arab Norman Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio and the jewel box of San Cataldo with the opulent Jesuit Gesu.
Every stop is narrated. Walk them in any order, or follow a route. Open a category to see what is inside.