We are happy, but not surprised, to see Palermo on the top of Guardian's hotlist for 2018. The Sicilian city has been home to a plurality of cultures for millennia. Arabs, Greeks, Romans, and Hebrews have all left their rich cultural mark on the place, often referred to as a cultural mosaic.

Palermo, which was named Italy’s capital of culture for 2018, will host the nomadic art Biennal Manifesta 12 from June the 16th until November the 4th. Activities and exhibitions will take place in stunning historical buildings, gardens and churches across the city. From the 4th to the 8th of October, the Festival of Migrant Literature returns to Palermo, focusing on mobility as a right, and dialogue between faiths.

Reinforcing Palermo's efforts towards a multicultural dialogue, the city will open its first synagogue in 500 years, in the Giudecca, the Jewish quarter. As a gesture of reconciliation, 500 years after the expulsion of the Jewish from Sicily, the Roman Catholic Church in Palermo donated to the Jewish community the oratory of Santa Maria del Sabato, which was built atop the ruins of a medieval synagogue. They also financed the renovation works.

A lot is going on in Palermo this year. Let us take you and your employees to this fascinating destination. In style, of course.

Photo by Sebastian Sebagee

See also https://www.theguardian.com/travel/ng-interactive/2018/jan/06/where-to-go-on-holiday-in-2018-the-hotlist