Stazione Centrale

The story

Palermo Centrale was inaugurated in 1886, when the railway was changing how Sicily was connected. Its eclectic façade faces piazza Giulio Cesare and closes, in monumental fashion, the vista of via Roma, opened in the following decades to link it with the centre.

From here trains leave for Punta Raisi airport, for Cefalù and the Tyrrhenian coast, for Bagheria, Termini Imerese and Messina, as well as the lines to Agrigento and Catania. Regional coaches and the airport shuttle stop beside the station.

There is no train to Monreale: you take bus 389 from piazza Indipendenza, behind the Palazzo dei Normanni, about a twenty-minute walk from the station.

Why it is worth it

It is worth looking up: the iron-and-glass canopy over the platforms and the 19th-century façade tell of a time when arriving in Palermo by train was an event. Outside, piazza Giulio Cesare with its palms and traffic is the gateway to the city. From here via Roma runs straight towards San Domenico and the Vucciria, and the Kalsa is ten minutes on foot.