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| Airport Parking | Airport Hotels & Parking | Airport Lounges | Car Hire | Cheap Travel Insurance |
 Car Hire & Driving in Palermo, ItalyWelcome to Palermo Car Hire, Sicily Island, Italy; available at Palermo Airport.Sicily Island Car HireOn a crossroad in the Mediterranean, part of Europe and Africa, yet belonging to neither, Sicily was tramped across by half the ancient civilised world. As conquerors came and went on Sicily, they left behind a rich and varied cultural deposit that makes the Sicily you visit in your hire car what it is today. This has also resulted in the diverse architecture that you can see on Sicily in your hire car. Palermo Car Hire Sicily IslandNestling on the protective flank of Monte Pellegrino with Monte to the east in your hire car, Palermo lies in a natural amphitheatre called the Conca d’Oro or Golden Shall, which you can explore in your hire car while in Palermo. Against La Cala harbour, the setting is beautiful and Palermo, a mix of oriental and European, is without equal despite reduced circumstances, as you can discover in your hire car while in Palermo. The architecture in Palermo ranges in style from Arabic to Norman, Baroque and Art Nouveau, and is without comparison in Sicily, making Palermo an exotic place to explore in your hire car. Palermo has plenty of places of interest which you can explore in your hire car, starting with the San Giovanni degli Eremiti which you will find on Via dei Benedettini in your hire car. Reflecting Islamic architectural traditions with bulbous domes, corner arches and filigreed windows, this deconsecrated Norman church was built in the grounds of a mosque in Palermo around 1140. The Palazzo Reale, which you will find on Piazza Indipendenza in your hire car in Palermo, has been the focus of power in Palermo since the days of Byzantine rule and is now home to Sicily’s regional government. In the Piazza Casa Professa in your hire car you will find the Gesu, an important Baroque church built around 1600. Also known as the church of the Casa Professa, the interior is an excellent example of the virtiosity of Sicillian craftsmen. Palermo’s Duomo lies on Via Vittorio Emanuele and is worth a visit in your hire car. Founded in 1184 by the Archbishop of Palermo, the Duomo displays many architectural styles which you can explore on a visit there in your hire car. The Santa Caterina, which you will find on Piazza Bellini in your hire car, is a unique church dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, and a powerful example of the Palermitan Baroque. The church is flanked by Piazza Pretorio, which is dominated by the monumental Mannerist Fontana Pretorio, erected here in Palermo in 1544, which you can also visit in your hire car. East of the Quattro Canti of Palermo, where Via Maqueda and Corso Vittorio Emanuele meet, Palermo is sprinkled with ornate palaces and more churches which you can visit in your hire car. Squeezed behind them are labyrinthine medieval quarters where ancient buildings with crumbling fabric still survive and can be visited in your hire car while in Palermo. La Martorana is one of these places, which you will find on Piazza Bellini in your hire car. Also called Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio, this church was built in Palermo around 1140 and its encompassing designs derived from Norman and Islamic traditions. The Vucciria, which you will find on Via Roma in your hire car, is another great place of interest to visit while in Palermo. Nowhere is Palermo’s Arabic past more apparent than in this medieval casbah-style market, which burrows through the ruinous Loggia district below Via Roma. The tiny 16th century chapel of Oratorio del Rosario di San Domenico, which you will find on Via Bambinai in your hire car, has an interior which displays elegant Baroque decoration by the master of stucco, Giacomo Serpotta. Another church to visit in your hire car while in Palermo is the San Domenico, which you will find on Piazza San Domenico in your hire car. Although the present building was begun in 1640, there has been a Dominican church on the site since the 14th century. Housed in a former monastery in Palermo, the Museo Archeologico Regionale, which you will find on Piazza Olivella in your hire car is Siciliy’s most important museum, containing sculptures, architectural fragments and ceramics, bronzes, glassware, jewellery, weapons and terracotta. The small chapel of Oratorio del Rosario di Santa Cita, which you will find on Via Valverde in your hire car in Palermo, is dedicated to the Virgin of the Rosary after her miraculous intervention at the Battle of Lepanto. The walls of the tiny Oratorio di San Lorenzo, which you will find of Via Immacolatella in your hire car, are incredible stucco scenes from the lives of St Francis and St Lawrence and definitely worth a visit while in Palermo. Another place to visit in Palermo is the Palazzo Abetellis, which you will find on Via Alloro in your hire car. Matteo Carnelivari built this palace combining Spanish late Gothic and Italian Renaissance styles in the 15th century. It is also home to the Galleria Regionale di Sicilia which houses Antonelo da Messina’s Vergine Annuziate (1476), Francesco Laurana’s marble head of Eleanor of Aragon (15th century) and sculptures by the Gagini, all equally worth a look on a visit to the gallery in your hire car while in Palermo. At La Magione, which you will find on Via Magione in your hire car, restorations have revealed the ancient structure of this church which was badly damaged in World War II. With its simple, tall nave flanked by fine Gothic columns, La Magione is a major feature of any tour of Palermo and Norman Sicily in your hire car. Also worth a visit in your hire car while in Palermo is the Villa Giulia, which you will find on Via Abramo Lincoln in your hire car. The formal gardens of the villa were established in the 18th century. Once, with their statues and fountains, they exotically evoked the antique world. Nowadays, the tropical flora and faded grandeur make them a delightful setting for walks and a rest from touring Palermo in your hire car. Finally the Parco della Favorita, the entrance of which you will find on Piazza Leoni and Piazza Generale Cascino in your hire car, is another interesting place to visit while in Palermo. This park, laid out as a hunting ground in 1799 by the Bourbon Ferdinand IV, was surrounded by summer villas of the aristocracy, one of these; the Palazzina Cinese is in a Chinese style and worth a visit while in Palermo. You can also visit the Museo Etnografico Siciliano Pitre while at the park in your hire car. The museum is located in the stables of the Palazzina Cinese and has an outstanding collection of objects from life on Sicily. The Palermo tourist information centre can be located on Piazza Castelnuovo in your h ire car and can help provide you with advice on what to see and do in your hire car while in Palermo and Sicily. Italy Car HireHome of opera, Ferrari and designers like Giorgio Armani, Prada and Gucci; Italy is a place of diversity and culture, all free to be explored in your hire car. From the snow capped peaks of the Alpes in the north, through to the unique and magical city of Venice in the northeast of Italy, whose streets are full of water, the central Tuscany region of Italy, full of evocative landscapes; peaceful and timeless, and the main wine making region of Italy; Florence, its capital, is a great art centre. Italy’s capital Rome is home of one of the greatest amphitheatres, the Colosseum, which was commissioned in AD 72, you will also find the Vatican City here in your hire car, the world capital of Catholicism and the world’s smallest state, occupying just 43ha (106 acres). The south of Italy is rich in archaeological remains, such as the famous Pompeii. Italy also includes the beautiful islands of Sicily and Sardinia, equally worth a visit in your hire car. See our links to Venice Car Hire, Florence Car Hire, Rome Car Hire, Naples Car Hire, together with Alghero, Cagliari, Olbia for Sardinia Car Hire and Catania and Palermo for Sicily Car Hire, for details of what you may see on a trip to these places in your hire car while exploring Italy.
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