I flew to Palermo. Palermo airport is small and I easily found the bus service for 5 euro that takes you to downtown (and several other stops on the way)

It was about 9:00 pm when I arrived at the train station. According to my map, the B&B was close and I asked a couple of bus riders where Via Girabaldi was. It is actually one block east (towards the water), up Via A. Lincoln from the station. Via Girabaldi is marked on the left side of the street and on the right side it’s called Corso dei Mille. There is a flashing yellow light that would make you think there is a pedestrian crossing, but Ped Xings do no exist in Palermo, you just cross the street where ever you want and keep an eye on the traffic. Turn Left/north.

It was dark as I dragged my bag down Via Girabaldi, I though of all the stories of crime I’d been hearing (You're going to Palermo alone?) but I had no problem, hardly no one was out.. The street numbers start to get lower, then go higher. I just ignored it and kept walking and almost passed Hotel Dimora Del Genio. It is on the west side of the narrow street.

Dimora del Genio is a private residence of a woman whom I will call The Artist. She has photos and paintings all over the residence, which is up about 45 steps from the street (no elevator).

The residence is located in a multi-story building (the whole street is that way) across from a business that sells hats/berets. It looks like several of the buildings are in the process of getting long overdue facelifts. The entrance is two very large very old wooden doors that actually open to an enclosed garage for the building. You need to buzz to be let in so I would suggest you call ahead of time so The Artist will know when you are coming. In my case I had flight issues and arrived late and stood outside buzzing for about 15 min. when a man (a friend of The Artist’s) arrived to let me in. She arrived about 15-20 minutes later. The Artist does not speak English but it appears she is trying to learn. She a man that helps her out, Richardo, and he speaks decent english.

The residence is beautiful. The high vaulted ceilings are wood beamed and all painted, some of it original to the building. You first enter a large room with two large parlours containing period furniture; and a large dining room to the right. My room was through the further parlour. My room was large and contained three single beds and a French door that opened to a small balcony that over looked the street. The view is not that much but the breeze was nice and the street noise did not bother me. The only thing I did not like was that there was no private bath in this room (other rooms have baths) but I had exclusive use of a bathroom with shower that was located just past the kitchen.

Breakfast was the typical Italian breakfast: juice, bread, a coffee cake, etc.

The area is good for access to the buses and trains. I picked up one of those hop on/off buses and used a city bus to get to Piazza Indipendenza. If I walked north, I found a couple of restaurants that were good. There is a tourist Info booth in the Piazza of the train/bus station (N/E corner) and they have good maps.

The Artist has you pay when you leave. If you leave your bags to explore the city a little more before leaving, I would suggest you pay the night before or that morning.

Things to see in Palermo: Norman castle (especially the chapel if it is not covered in scaffolding and drop cloths, Monreale Cathedral (worth the trip alone. Absolutely beautiful) and the Cappuchin catacombs – a must!!!!

The place was nice, the made friendly and the breakfast good BUT it was impossibile to sleep because the water pump was dreadfully noisy and each time someone in the house opended a tap the noise was very loud ..we were very stressed ..so DON'TGO! Moreover the price was to high for the offer.

Found this b&b on (-) but booked directly with the B&B. They also have their own website (-) Everything looks lovely on their website and there is no mention of maybe having to stay in a different building and in a very different accommodation altogether.... We arrived and rang the doorbell and once the door was opened for us (the host did not come to the door / gate) we had to walk in through a not so nice entrance and stairs to the 3rd floor of a shabby building. The owner (a middle aged woman) didn't even let us in the door of the apartment where the B&B is located and led us back out accross the street to an even shabbier building with a shabbier entrance.She took us to an attick space - it wasn't too bad if this is what you would have been expecting but this is not what we had booked. And the worst of it was - to get to that room in the attick we had to walk through her mother's apartment and her kitchen every time we came or went! And none of them spoke english. The shower didn't work very well in the morning - the water would go cold constantly. We had to go to have our breakfast in the other building where the actual B&B was and there wasn't much left for us even though we were not late. I then spoke to the owner and asked were there no rooms available in the B&B itself and she said that she had made a mistake and that the B&B was fully booked for the duration of our stay. We also told her about the problem with the shower.But because she had very bad english she said that her husband and herself would come over at 7pm to our place to sort out the problem. We waited until 7.50pm and there was no sign of them. We then went over to the B&B. She didn't even apologise and instead of her husband she had asked one of the B&B guests (an italian woman who spoke very good english) to translate. She basically said that she had made a mistake with the booking and that we could go and check out another B&B that her friend owns, which we did straigh away and decided to move into the next day. The next morning when we went to pay she was expecting us to pay the full price and because she couldn't speak english very well she dragged that poor italian girl in to translate again who was stuck in the middle of an argument. We were adamant that she should give us a discount. She wasn't happy and proceeded to lie - she said that the price she quoted us when booking was for the attick room and not for the B&B cause the prices there are higher. This was a complete lie and she never mentioned anything about this when we booked it. After an unpleasant argument we ended up giving her less than she had quoted but she treated us very badly and if we wouldn't have said anything she wouldn't have said anything herself about making a mistake with the booking etc. And she never apologised once! Only for the host, and provided you would get a room in the actual B&B this would be a nice place to stay. But it is in the poorest part of the town - not the best location in Palermo to say the least. So my advice would be to make sure you clarify that you get a room in the actual B&B and not in the attick room above her mother's apartment accross the street.....It seemed to me that she was doing this regularly to her guests pretending she made a mistake but in actual fact she just did it out of greed not to turn anyone away, because the italian girl who was translating for us said that she had to stay in the attick room for her first night as well...