cindyjo

Hello, we are renting an apartment for our 7 night stay in Palermo. It is located on Vicola San Carlo.
It is several blocks off Via Roma and an 8 minute walk to the Ballero Market.

We are going in March and understand it will be still be an early dusk. Is this a safe area to walk to major and minor sights of interest? We are used to walking in big cities and always take the usual precautions......

Thanks.

massimop

I think you will be fine. Palermo is a very transparent, open city, and you almost need to go out of your way to walk down dark, blind alleys (the city was heavily bombed in WW2), plus 90 percent of Palermo's dark alleys aren't dangerous anyway. The "dicier" parts of town are not near the area where your apartment is, which has many upscale features. You are a stone's throw from a Michelin restaurant and Palermo's modern art museum. The via Alloro is a well traveled residential street.

I stayed in Palermo in January in a more downscale neighborhood (and went looking for pizza in neighborhoods filled with dark alle!) I walked back and forth from there to the many sights and restaurants close to where you are staying, including after late nights in restaurants, and was unfazed and unbothered by anybody. You will of course see poor people, dark-skinned migrants, prostitutes and beggars in Palermo , but you will see them in the nicest neighborhoods too, in broad daylight. Like I said, Palermo is very open & fluid. You'll quickly get a feel for the city, which is rather laid-back.

massimop

If you don't already have Santa Maria dello Spasimo on your list of sights to see, might want to put it on since it is so close to where you are staying. If you are interested in painting, the collection of Sicilian painting in Palazzo Abatellis is fascinating & unique Also, the fascist-built post office in the via Roma -- which is quite a sight, especially at night -- has a series of futurismo frescoes inside but I am not sure that area of the post office is open to the public. (I saw them at a museum in NYC during a special exhibit). But if you are walking by when it is open and you are interested, you might try to see them.

You might want to see Palazzo Chiaramonte, also quite close to your apartment, which has many unique features. And finally, I'll make a pitch for La Zisa, since you will be in Palermo for 7 days, although it's not close at all to your apartment, and taking the guided tour of Palermo's grand opera house is quite interesting if that sort of thing interests you!

cindyjo

Thank you Massimop. I am reassured! Also appreciate the tips for adding to our to do list...

massimop

Sure. There is a B&B on the same "vicolo" and you can read reviews on booking.com. You'll see everybody likes the location and no one says anything negative about the neighborhood -- and tourists usually will if they didn't like it or were nervous.

https://www.booking.com/hotel/it/al-....html#tab-main

I've generally found it helpful when booking apartments to use google maps to see if there is a hotel or b&b nearby, and then I look that up on TripAdvisor or Booking.com to read reviews, just to see what I can learn.