In people imagination Italy is associated to “Bella Vita”, monuments, churches, culture, beaches and, of course, food. Yes, Italy presents all these aspects, but not only. Italy has a long history of contrasts for independence, autonomy and freedom, and hosted a lot of people who spent their lives studying and gaining important results in all branches of knowledge and art.

The most important characteristic of Italy, above all, is the variety. Italy has the shape of a boot which extends from Africa till the Alps. Thanks to this shape, Italy presents a lot of climates: from the Continental in the North regions till the Mediterranean one in the coastal areas and in the south, with all intermediate climate facets. This condition influenced characters, ways of thinking, habits, traditions and all other aspects of life. So you find along Italy very different people, from the “Polentoni” (this is the way we call people form the north, Polenta is the typical corn meal porridge of this regions) till “Terroni” (persons from the south. The term is an epithetic for farmers). In people imagination the first ones work hardly all day, are distant with other people and pay taxes for all the country! Instead Terroni refers to people who spend time in finding solution for not working, live in a “low” way, are friendly and waste time eating (traditional meals could last several hours!). But despite these stereotypes, the best of Italy is that you can find all kinds of people, climates, monuments, arts, food and much more. Thanks to this variety and diversity, Italian people are very tolerant and open minded and everyone is welcomed!

Palermo is the capital of Sicily, the biggest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located in the northern coast of the island, in an amazing bay. Palermo presents the signs of many cultures which have succeeded over the years: Roman, Arab, Norman, French, and Spanish. In the city centre there are many churches with different architecture influences, monuments and 3 street markets very similar the Arabic Souk. This combination of cultures, arts and people led Palermo to be one of the most interesting and hospitable city in Italy.