Page 147 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

suburbs and up the valley, and takes around twenty minutes.

By taxi A taxi from Palermo costs around €30 each way.

By car Parking is restricted in Monreale’s old town and visitors are advised to use
one of the signposted car parks – there’s one on Via Cappuccini, below the Duomo
and belvedere (from where a pedestrian way leads up past souvenir stalls into the
town) and another (Parcheggio Duomo) down Via D’Acquisto to the side of the

Palazzo Communale. Parking costs €1 an hour, and it’s free overnight after 8pm.

ACCOMMODATION, EATING AND DRINKING

There’s only a limited number of hotels actually in town, but there are charming
B&Bs and “rooms” places much nearer the Duomo, especially in the tangle of alleys

by the Duomo’s apse. There are plenty of restaurants, though prices are generally on
the high side.

Bricco & Bacco Via B. D’Acquisto 13 091 641 7773. A definite cut above the
family tourist restaurants in town, this brasserie is serious about its meat. Steaks,
chops and lamb grills are €10–15, and the Angus beef is also available with a classy
balsamic vinegar and honey salsa. Lunch & dinner: summer Mon–Sat; winter Tues–

Sun.

La Ciambra Via Sanchez 23 091 640 9565 or 335 842 5865, laciambra.com. A
quaint, family-run place wedged into a plant-filled alley, with a great view of the
apse. The two rooms here sleep up to four people. No credit cards. €70

Peppino Via B. Civiletti 12 091 640 7770. Popular local pizzeria tucked away

down on a side street off Via Roma, past San Giuseppe church. It has a shady summer
terrace, some antipasti to start and crisp pizzas (€5–12). Try one of the versions with
mozzarella di bufala. Mon & Wed–Sun lunch & dinner.

< Back to Palermo and around

Bagheria and around

The Palermitan nobility of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries chose to sit out the
enervating summer heat in their Baroque country villas scattered around the small
town of BAGHERIA, 14km east of the city. Here – as described by Dacia Maraini in

her memoir Bagheria – they enjoyed “the atmosphere of a summer garden enriched by
lemon groves and olive trees, poised between the hills, cooled by the salt winds”.
Some of the villas are open for visits, and Bagheria still has the air of a summer
retreat. Give yourself a full day and you can also see the ancient ruins of Solus at

Solunto and the working fishing port of Porticello, the latter boasting a boutique hotel