PALERMO - MONREALE - CEFALU'
(Arab-Norman-Baroque Itinerary)

Itinerary No. 5 - One day excursions programme

We leave Patti to Palermo, the Capital of Sicily that for its outstanding artistic and historical heritage it is one of the foremost art cities in Italy. Visits include:
San Giovanni degli Eremiti: this Church is one Palermo's most famous Norman building, built by Rogers II in 1142 near a mosque.
La Martorana: one of the most beautiful and interesting of Sicily's smaller Church. Founded in 1143, this norman Church is an extraordinary synthesis of Norman, Byzantine and Arabic style.
San Cataldo: built by Normans in 1160, this Church is the best example of the fusion of the Norman and Arabic style in Palermo.

The Palatine Chapel: in the Palace of the Normans, housing the Sicilian Parliament, this beautiful Chapel of the Norman kings is the finest and most harmonious example of Norman art in the whole city. Built between 1132-40, it possesses a mosaic interior of outstanding beauty, one of finest creation of Bizantine art.
The Cathedral: built in the second half of the 12th century on the site of an earlier Basilica converted into a mosque by the Arabs, it is an impressive building of many different style. It houses the six Royal and Imperial tombs.

The Chiesa del Gesų: (also called Casa Professa) built in 1564, it is a magnificence example of Sicilian baroque.
San Giuseppe dei Teatini: an early 17th c. Church with a splendid interior decorated by the leading artistis of baroque epoch.
The Oratorio di Santa Zita: built in the 17th c., it was completed covered with stucco decorations by Giacomo Serpotta who took 32 years to complete the commission. Lunch in a restaurant.

After lunch visit to the Cathedral of Monreale which is acknowledged as the finest example of Norman Church architecture in Sicily.
On the way back to Patti we stop at Cefalų which is one of the unsually situated of Sicily's costal towns.
It was the Normans who gave Cefalų its most impressive building, the graceful twin-towerd Cathedral which it is one of the only three Norman Cathedral in Sicily.