Explorer Monreale

Monreale Cathedral is the Norman cathedral of Monreale, on a hillside above Palermo, begun in 1174 by King William II of Sicily. Its interior is lined with gold-ground mosaics of Bible scenes under a Christ Pantocrator in the apse, and beside it lies the Benedictine cloister with carved paired columns. It is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Capuchin Catacombs are burial corridors beneath the Capuchin friary of Palermo, dug from the late 16th century; the first friar was placed there in 1599. About 8,000 mummified and skeletal bodies of friars and townspeople, still in their clothes, line the walls in sections for men, women, priests and professionals.

The Zisa Palace is a Norman summer palace begun around 1165 under King William I and finished under William II, built by Arab craftsmen outside the walls of medieval Palermo. Its name comes from the Arabic al-Aziza. Inside, the Fountain Hall keeps its muqarnas vault and mosaics, and the upper rooms house a museum of Islamic art.

The Palazzo dei Normanni was the royal palace of the Norman kings of Sicily, built on the highest point of the old city over earlier Arab fortifications; since 1946 it has been the seat of the Sicilian Regional Assembly. Visitors see the Cappella Palatina, consecrated in 1140 and lined with Byzantine mosaics, the royal apartments and the gardens.

Palermo Cathedral was built from 1185 under Archbishop Walter Ophamil on the site of an earlier basilica that had served as a mosque. Its exterior mixes Norman, Gothic and Catalan work, while the dome and the interior come from the remodelling of 1781–1801 led by Ferdinando Fuga. The royal tombs, crypt, treasury and roof are visited on a separate ticket.

Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele is the opera house on Piazza Verdi, designed by Giovan Battista Filippo Basile and completed by his son Ernesto Basile; it opened in 1897. Covering about 7,700 square metres, it is the largest opera house in Italy. The theatre is open for guided visits, to which a visit backstage can be added.

Quattro Canti, officially Piazza Vigliena, is the octagonal Baroque crossroads of Via Maqueda and Corso Vittorio Emanuele, laid out between 1608 and 1620 by Giulio Lasso and Mariano Smiriglio. Its four curved corner façades carry fountains and statues of the seasons, of Spanish kings and of the patron saints of the four historic quarters.

The Church of San Cataldo on Piazza Bellini was built around 1154 for Maio of Bari, chancellor of King William I, as the private chapel of his palace. Its plain stone cube with blind arches and three red domes is a work of Arab-Norman architecture. Since 1937 it has belonged to the Order of the Holy Sepulchre.

Fontana Pretoria is a monumental fountain in Piazza Pretoria, beside the city hall and the church of Santa Caterina. Francesco Camilliani carved it in Florence in the mid-16th century for a private garden; the city of Palermo bought it and reassembled it here from 1574. Tiers of basins are ringed by nude statues of gods, nymphs and monsters behind a railing.

The Martorana, or Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio, is a church on Piazza Bellini founded in 1143 by George of Antioch, admiral of King Roger II. Behind its Baroque front and Norman bell tower, the interior keeps 12th-century Byzantine mosaics. It is a co-cathedral of the Italo-Albanian Byzantine-rite Eparchy of Piana degli Albanesi.

Palazzo Bonocore stands on Piazza Pretoria in Palermo, facing the Fontana Pretoria. Built in the late 16th century and given a neoclassical upper facade in the 19th, it takes its name from the banker Salvatore Bonocore, who bought it in 1875. Its frescoed piano nobile holds Palermo Felicissima, a multimedia exhibition on the city's Belle Époque.

Santa Caterina is a church and former Dominican convent between Piazza Bellini and Piazza Pretoria, founded in 1310 and rebuilt between 1566 and 1596. Its interior is lined with Baroque marble inlay. Nuns lived here until 2014; since 2017 visitors can see the church, the cloister and the roof terraces, and the convent bakery sells sweets made to old recipes.

Palermo Botanical Garden is the University of Palermo's garden, founded in 1789 and opened in 1795 beside the Villa Giulia park. Its neoclassical Gymnasium, Tepidarium and Calidarium were designed by the French architect Léon Dufourny. About ten hectares hold Mediterranean and tropical plants, the Aquarium pool and the Serra Carolina winter garden.

Palazzo Chiaramonte-Steri is a fortified Gothic palace on Piazza Marina, begun around 1307 for the Chiaramonte family. From 1604 to 1782 it was the seat of the Inquisition in Palermo, whose prison cells keep the graffiti of prisoners. Guided tours show the painted wooden ceiling of the Sala Magna and Renato Guttuso's painting La Vucciria.

Palazzo Abatellis is a late 15th-century Gothic-Catalan palace in the Kalsa quarter, designed by Matteo Carnilivari for the port master Francesco Abatellis. Since 1954 it houses the Galleria Regionale della Sicilia, installed by Carlo Scarpa, with the fresco Triumph of Death, Antonello da Messina's Annunciata and Francesco Laurana's bust of Eleonora of Aragon.