Destination Highlights

Museums & Galleries

The meeting point between countless cultures – part Phoenician, part Carthaginian, part Roman, Vandal, Byzantine, Arab and many more across the ages – each of Sicily’s ruling and visiting nations left its mark. No more is this clear than in the island’s arts, and no better is this exhibited than in Palermo’s galleries and museums. While a visitor could spend weeks exploring Italy’s former Capital of Culture, a shorter trip must take in: Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, or the Riso Contemporary Art Museum, an eminent contemporary collection held in the exquisite Palazzo Riso; Gothic-Catalan Palazzo Abatellis’ Galleria Regionale della Sicilia, a treasure trove of important regional art; the incredible collection of Carthaginian and Greek archaeology at the Museo Archeologico Regionale Antonino Salinas, housed in a former monastery; and the Galleria d’Arte Moderna, a Franciscan convent transformed into a historic collection of art from the past two centuries.