Western Sicily is the messy, magnificent half most tourists skip for Taormina. Their loss. Palermo's street food is the best in Italy.
Build this itinerary →Ballarò market first. Panelle (€1), sfincione (€1.50), stigghiola (€2). Cappella Palatina (€12): the most extraordinary Byzantine mosaics outside Istanbul — gold tessera, 1140. Catacombs of the Capuchins (€3): 8,000 preserved corpses. Day 2: bus to Monreale (30 min, €1.70) — Cathedral mosaics cover 6,340 sqm, largest Byzantine cycle in Italy. Cloister (€6): 228 twin columns, each pair different. Evening: pasta con le sarde at Trattoria ai Cascinari.
Car recommended (€30/day). Segesta (1h from Palermo): Doric temple 420 BC, never finished, standing alone. €7 entry. Trapani salt flats (free): pink pools, windmills, sunset. Marsala: Florio and Pellegrino tastings (€8–15) — not cooking stuff, but aged Superiore Riserva rivaling sherry. Selinunte: largest archaeological park in Europe (€6), eight Greek temples by the sea.
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