Duomo di Monreale

The story

William II founded Monreale cathedral in 1174, on the hills above the Conca d’Oro, and wanted it so rich that it would rival the cathedral of Palermo, seat of Archbishop Walter, his political adversary. Legend has it that the Virgin showed him in a dream where to find the treasure to build it.

The interior is covered with over six thousand square metres of mosaics on a gold ground, made in just a few years by Byzantine and local craftsmen: cycles from the Old and New Testaments and, in the apse, Christ Pantocrator. The bronze doors are by Bonanno Pisano, dated 1186, and by Barisano da Trani.

The Benedictine cloister, with 228 paired columns and carved capitals, is among the most celebrated of the European Middle Ages. William I and William II are buried here. A UNESCO site since 2015.

Why it is worth it

You walk in and for a few seconds you do not know where to look: gold covers every wall, and the Bible stories run on like comic strips ten metres high. Then your gaze rises to the Pantocrator in the apse, enormous and calm, who seems to follow you wherever you stand in the nave. In the cloister everything changes: silence, columns each different from the next, the Arab fountain in the corner. Give yourself time for both.