Palermo in the First Week of November 2026, Le Vie dei Tesori Sites From 3 Euros and a Free Baroque Concert

Palermo's week starts with the Festa dei Morti on November 2, when the city's children wake up to presents said to come from their dead relatives. It ends with two nights of after-dark visits to buildings that are usually locked. In between, the calendar is thinner than you'd expect. There's no opera this week. The best of what's on costs €3 or nothing.

Le Vie dei Tesori, €3 a Door

Le Vie dei Tesori, the festival that opens Palermo's locked churches and palaces, is in its 20th year and down to its last two weekends. Sites open Friday to Sunday only, until November 15: 116 of them this year, plus walks and workshops.

A single visit costs €3, four cost €10 and ten cost €18. Walks are €8. Coupons aren't personal, so two people can share a ten-visit pack. Buy them at leviedeitesori.com or at the festival's info points and book a slot, because walk-ins get in only when there's room.

The one to see is the Ponte delle Teste Mozze, a three-arch stone bridge from 1577. It was buried in the late 1930s, when the Oreto river was diverted, and turned up again during the tram works; it now sits under the tram viaduct near the Norman Ponte dell'Ammiraglio, open 10:00 to 17:30. The name means bridge of the severed heads, after a stone marker used to display the heads of the executed, which was moved here in the 1700s. The Chiesa dei Decollati nearby, built around devotion to people condemned to death, is on the program at weekends.

Two more are worth the coupon. The Teatro Finocchiaro, in the festival for the first time, has a roof that opens and Jugendstil decoration. Villino Florio, Ernesto Basile's villa for the Florio family, takes €4 guided groups on the hour from 9:00 to 13:00.

On Saturday 7 and Sunday 8, the Notte Bianca dei Tesori opens eight sites in the evening.

The Rest of the Week

The Festival di Musica Barocca closes on Saturday 7 at 21:00 in San Francesco Saverio, a Baroque church in the Albergheria, with a choir and the Ensemble Ars Antiqua. Entry is free until the seats run out, so arrive early.

From Thursday 5, the Festival di Morgana, run by the city's puppet museum, fills the Kalsa for three weekends, until November 22, with shows, books and workshops built this year around the body and Pinocchio. The Fiera d'Autunno on Via Magliocco, with traditional food and games, lasts until Sunday 8, and the Efebo d'Oro film festival opens on Saturday 7.

What isn't on: the Teatro Massimo has no performances until its season opens on November 22 with Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila, though guided tours run. The Botero show at Palazzo Riso closed on October 31, and the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana's next concert at the Politeama is on November 19.

If You Stay Another Week

The Palermo Marathon starts from Piazza Ruggero Settimo on Sunday, November 15. On November 14 and 15, the Borsa del Turismo Extralberghiero, a trade show for B&Bs and holiday rentals, takes over the cruise terminal.

For the city itself, start with this Palermo must-see guide. For this week, Saturday is the day: the bridge and the Decollati church in the morning, San Francesco Saverio at nine.