Palazzo Pretorio (Palazzo delle Aquile)

The story

The Palazzo Pretorio has been Palermo’s city hall since the late 15th century. Palermitans call it the Palazzo delle Aquile after the eagles on the façade and inside: the eagle is the city’s emblem.

The building grew out of earlier houses and was reworked several times; its present appearance, with the front on the square, comes largely from 19th-century work.

It looks onto the Fontana Pretoria, which the palace found on its doorstep when the fountain was bought and reassembled in the square in the 16th century.

Why it is worth it

It is the town hall, but the square is where the tangle of civic power, church and baroque spectacle becomes clear: the palace on one side, the fountain with its naked statues in the middle, Santa Caterina and San Giuseppe around it. Look at the eagles over the doorway, then sit on the steps and watch the city go past.