Explore Monreale

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.

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.

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.