Sicily’s majestic medieval villages provide aesthetic salve for the hair-raising journey

Palermo is a hard place to love – unless you’re a panel beater. Half the cars in Sicily’s traffic-choked capital are covered in dents and scrapes. I arrive expecting the humid Mediterranean breeze to carry the scent of lemons. Instead it smells of petrol.

The old saying “When in Rome, drive like the Romans but in other countries it could get you arrested,” also applies to Sicily. It’s not only erratic driving that’s to blame for the number of prangs, though. There are too many cars because public transport is almost non-existent.

My base at the beachside resort of Cinisi is 30 minutes from Palermo yet buses to Italy’s fifth largest city depart only every three hours. In Hong Kong there would be one every 90 seconds. I reluctantly accept that criss-crossing the island by bus is out of the question. Instead, I throw myself at the mercy of a car-hire firm that pairs me with a shiny new Fiat without a scratch on it. I’ve never looked more like a tourist.

Beneath its gruff exterior, Palermo has pockets of unvarnished charm. A honey­comb of side streets leads past laundry-clogged balconies, peeling façades and shabby couscous restaurants. Arab and African faces are a reminder that scholars consider Palermo to be the most conquered city in the world.

It’s the cathedral I’ve come to see and I head to the tourist office to check the open­ing times. Unfortunately, the woman on duty doesn’t speak English. A man offers to help but his sentences sound like they’re being filtered through beta translation soft­ware. When I track it down, the cathedral turns out to be a magnificent muddle of Norman and Islamic architectural styles but, after two days negotiating Palermo’s chaotic roads, it’s time to clear my lungs.