Panormus is on the top floor of a palazzo on via Roma, one of the main streets of Palermo, and is about 200 yards from Stazione Centrale. We only ended up staying there because there were "plumbing difficulties" in our room at the Hotel Letizia and they arranged a room at Panormus for us. The B+B has four rooms.

This B+B has only been open for about nine months. It's run by a lovely young chap who renovated it himself. He's very proud of it, and justifiably so. It's decorated in beautiful, restful Art Nouveau colours and has a calm, comfortable atmosphere.

The rooms do not have bathrooms in them [as it would have meant spoiling the beautiful tiled floors, and reducing the size of the rooms], so there is a "toilet block" down the corridor where there is a private [spotless] bathroom for every room. I've never stayed in a room without a bathroom before, but in practice it wasn't a problem.

There is also a cosy and elegant dining room for breakfast.

Our room faced onto via Roma. It was noisy, as one would expect, so if you like a quiet room and are not used to sleeping with traffic noise I would ask for one of the rooms that don't face onto the street.

All in all, this B+B is cheap, clean, stylish and comfortable, and the owner is extremely friendly and a mine of information regarding the surrounding area to boot. We would definitley stay here again.

Their e-mail is info@panormus.com, website [--]

Paul Venables