Cattedrale di Palermo

The story

The cathedral was founded in 1185 by Archbishop Walter of the Mill on the site of an earlier basilica that the Arabs had turned into a mosque. The Norman layout still shows in the apses and towers, but every century added something: the Gothic-Catalan porch on the south side dates from the 15th century, and the dome was added by Ferdinando Fuga in the late 18th century, when the interior was also remodelled in neoclassical style.

The kings rest inside: Roger II, Henry VI, Constance of Hauteville and Frederick II, in porphyry sarcophagi. Across the floor runs the meridian line laid out in 1801 by the astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi. Since 2015 the cathedral has been part of the UNESCO site “Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale”.

Why it is worth it

Walk around it before going in: the south flank with its porch and the interlaced arches of the apses say more than the front. Inside, look for the royal tombs in the right aisle and the brass strip of the meridian. If you climb to the roofs, you walk between the battlements with Monte Pellegrino ahead and the city changing colour towards evening.