Shopping Overview

Sicily is one of the leaders in the Italian ceramics industry, with important factories at Caltagirone, in the interior, and Santo Stefano di Camastra, along the northern coast between Messina and Cefalù. Colorful Sicilian folk pottery can still be bought at bargain prices. Place mats, tablecloths, napkins, and clothing decorated with fine petit point are good buys in Cefalù, Taormina, and Erice, but they are nonetheless not cheap. Collectors have been combing Sicily for years for pieces of the colorful carretti siciliani (Sicilian carts). Before the automobile, these were the major form of transportation in Sicily, decorated in primary colors and in primitive styles.

In Palermo, most shops are open 9-1 and 4 or 4:30-7:30 or 8 and closed Sunday; in addition, most food shops close Wednesday afternoon, while other shops normally close Monday morning. One main shopping area is around the Politeama and Libertà. A second nerve center for shoppers are the two parallel streets connecting modern Palermo with the train station, Via Roma and Via Maqueda, where boutiques and shoe shops become increasingly upmarket as you move from the Quattro Fontane past Teatro Massimo to Via Ruggero Settimo.

North of Piazza Castelnuovo, Via della Libertà and the streets around it represent the luxury end of the scale, with some of Palermo's best-known stores. The area behind the Cattedrale, in the midst of the flea market on Via Papireto and spreading to the next street, Corso Amedeo, is the antiques-store neighborhood.