During the summer season, which lasts from the beginning of June to the end of September, Palermo livens up and opens its squares and streets to musical shows of all kinds, traveling theater shows, folklore events and lots of other events too.

In the summer, the Teatro Massimo closes and transfers to the open-air to continue its program of musical shows in the "Teatro di Verdura" in Viale del Fante that has 2,200 seats.

For four centuries in the month of July, Palermo has celebrated Santa Rosalia, who saved the city from a terrible plague in 1600 and thus became the city's patron saint. The festival lasts for a week, a period in which the city is invaded by traveling theatrical and musical shows, all linked to the life of the saint. The height of the celebrations is the charming procession of the monumental cart that crosses the Cassaro as far as the Marina. At the end of the religious procession, there is an amazing fireworks display.

The Teatro Massimo season in Palermo opens in October and includes ballet, opera and concerts with appearances by international artists.

Each year in Palermo since 1985, the Festival di Morgana has been organized, a celebration of the art of the pupi that is organized by the Association for the Preservation of Folk Traditions at the International Puppet Museum Antonio Pasqualino. The Festival is made up of a run of shows in which the historical Sicilian "Pupari" families appear, theatrical companies that continue the tradition that UNESCO has proclaimed a "masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity".

Every year, all the world famous windsurfing champions come to Sicily to take part in the prestigious Merit Cup Windsurf World Festival. In the month of May, the wonderful beach at Mondello becomes the setting for these top-level exhibitions.