CHIESA SAN GIOVANNI DEGLI EREMITI

Listed by Unesco as a World Heritage Site along with the other Arab-Norman sites of Palermo and Monreale, this church is one of the city's most emblematic. With its five Arab-style red domes, it's a real eye-catcher. Built over an older church (^6th century) during the Arab domination around 1136, it was not converted into a mosque, but was originally dedicated to Catholic worship. Commissioned by Roger II of Sicily in the ^12th century and inspired by Arab-Byzantine architecture, it was built next to an Arab mosque of which little remains, and was used as a funeral chapel by court dignitaries. It was restored in 1880 by the architect Giuseppe Patricolo, who, among other things, removed the interior stuccowork and later medieval constructions. Its red domes stand out against the harmonious square volumes visible from the outside. The interior is in the form of a Latin cross with a single nave. To the right of the choir, you enter a hall divided by pillars that were once part of the mosque. Next door, in the midst of a pretty garden with exuberant vegetation, stands an elegant ^13th-century cloister, with pointed arches supported by handsome geminated columns and historiated capitals in Gothic style. Palm trees, agaves, orange trees, Chinese mandarin trees and bougainvillea vie for the limelight. A haven of peace amidst the hustle and bustle of the city.