Castello della Zisa

The story

The Zisa was begun by William I around 1165 and completed by his son William II. The name comes from the Arabic al-Aziz, “the splendid”: it was a pleasure palace outside the walls, at the centre of the Genoard, the great royal park with gardens, fishponds and pavilions.

Arab craftsmen designed it as a machine for staying cool: thick walls, carefully placed openings, a water channel running through the Fountain Hall, which is decorated with mosaics, muqarnas and niches. It is one of the most accomplished examples of Fatimid-inspired architecture outside North Africa.

Reduced almost to ruin in the 20th century, it partly collapsed in 1971 and was restored and reopened in 1991. It houses a collection of Islamic art and has been part of the Arab-Norman UNESCO site since 2015.

Why it is worth it

You step into the Fountain Hall and feel at once that someone, nine centuries ago, had worked out how to live through a Sicilian summer: water runs in a channel in the floor, the air moves, the light is filtered. Look up at the mosaics with peacocks and archers, then at the muqarnas niches. Climb to the upper floors and look out towards the city, imagining the park that once ran all the way to the sea.