Museums in Palermo

La Zisa (from the Arabic al-Azīza, 'the splendid') is a 12th-century pleasure palace built for the Norman King William I. Its Fatimid-inspired architecture, muqarnas vaults, and water features make it one of the finest surviving examples of Arab-Norman art.

The Museo Archeologico Regionale Antonio Salinas is one of Italy's richest archaeological collections, housed in a 17th-century former monastery. Its prize exhibits are the monumental metopes from the Greek temples of Selinunte.

Palazzo Abatellis houses the Galleria Regionale della Sicilia, the island's most important collection of medieval and Renaissance art, inside a late-Gothic palazzo. The star piece is Antonello da Messina's luminous Annunziata.

Palazzo Chiaramonte-Steri is a 14th-century fortified palace in Piazza Marina that served successively as a baronial residence, seat of the Spanish Inquisition, and now houses the University of Palermo's rectorate. Its painted wooden ceiling and Inquisition graffiti cells are haunting highlights.

The Museo Internazionale delle Marionette Antonio Pasqualino houses the most comprehensive collection of Sicilian Opera dei Pupi puppets in the world, alongside puppets and shadow figures from across Asia and Europe. The Opera dei Pupi is a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Palazzo Mirto is one of the few aristocratic palazzi in Palermo still preserving its original 18th- and 19th-century interiors. Donated to the Sicilian Region by the Filangeri princes, it offers a vivid glimpse into the life of Palermo's nobility.