Palermo. A guide to the city and its surroundings

It is the first monograph by Giuseppe Bellafiore, published for the first time in 1956 and later translated into German and English. Today, after 58 years, it is still available for sale in its 7th edition. Known for its easily identifiable red cover it has guided tourists as well as Palermitans around the city, becoming a referential text. The guide is divided into 22 itineraries, leading the reader from the heart of Palermo to its surroundings, Bagheria and Monreale. It includes ink drawings replacing the usual photographic material.

The updated Italian and English editions of 2014, also available in e-book, are edited by Architect Susanna Bellafiore.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Giuseppe Bellafiore (S. Ninfa, 1920 – Palermo, 2012).

He was Professor of History of Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture in Palermo and then Ordinary Professor of Art History at the Faculty of Humanities and Director of the homonymous Institute. For more than 40 years he has been the President of the Association Italia Nostra

He wrote several volumes in which he reconsidered, sometimes radically, the Sicilian history of art.

Among these volumes are:

• Il paesaggio urbano siciliano nelle antiche stampe, Andò, Palermo 1962.
• La civiltà artistica della Sicilia dalla preistoria ad oggi, Le Monnier, Firenze 1962.
• La Maniera italiana in Sicilia. Profilo dell’urbanistica e dell’architettura, Palumbo, Palermo 1962.
• Idea di Palermo Barocca, E.S.A., Palermo, 1971
• Dall’Islam alla Maniera. Profilo dell’architettura in Sicilia dal IX al XVI secolo, Flaccovio, Palermo 1975.
• La cattedrale di Palermo, Flaccovio, Palermo 1976.
• Architettura in Sicilia(1415-1535), Italia Nostra, Palermo 1984.
• Architettura in Sicilia nelle età islamica e normanna (827-1194), Lombardi, Palermo 1990.
• Architettura in Sicilia nell’età sveva(1194-1266), Lombardi, Palermo 1993.
• La Zisa di Palermo, Flaccovio, Palermo 1994.
• Parchi e Giardini della Palermo normanna, Flaccovio, Palermo
• Il centro storico di Palermo, Italia Nostra, Palermo 2003.