Quattro Canti at first light

Where Palermo's two main streets cross, the seventeenth century cut the corners off the four blocks and rebuilt them as concave facades, each four storeys of fountains, statues and columns. The result is a room with no roof: stand in the middle and buildings surround you on every side.

It is a difficult place to photograph well and a spectacular one when it works. The trick is height and time. The facades face the four compass points, so at any hour some are lit and some are in deep shade — first light is the only moment the whole octagon is soft and even. It is also the only moment the crossroads is empty; from eight it is a working junction with buses and delivery vans.

Work from the middle of the road looking up, with the couple small against the curve of one facade; or step back into Via Maqueda and use the octagon as a background. Everything here is free and permanently open. Two minutes away, Piazza Pretoria with its ring of marble nudes, and the Ballarò and Capo markets waking up, extend an early session naturally in either direction.