The Santuario di Santa Rosalia occupies the saint's original hermit cave high on Monte Pellegrino, the limestone massif that closes the Gulf of Palermo to the north. The 17th-century Baroque shrine is built right up against the natural cliff, with water seeping down rock walls inside the chapel — collected as it drips for centuries by sheets of zinc.
The drive up Monte Pellegrino is dramatic, with hairpins through pine and macchia. The shrine itself is small and atmospheric; the panorama from outside takes in the whole bay of the Conca d'Oro. Goethe came up here in 1787 and called the view "one of the most beautiful prospects in the world". Bus 812 runs from the Politeama.