PALAZZO DEI NORMANNI E CAPELLA PALATINA

Useful information. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, the Royal Apartments are closed to the public for parliamentary activities, while the Palatine Chapel remains open. So be sure to visit on other days if you can. A temporary exhibition is on display in another wing of the palace.

Palace of the Normans. This is the current seat of the Sicilian Regional Assembly. First a Punic fortress in the ^7th century BC, then after the Roman conquest in 254 BC, it became a centre of power during three centuries of Byzantine occupation, from the reign of Belisarius in 535. But it was the Arabs who built the present palace in the ^9th century, enlarged by the Normans in the ^12th century. It knew then its hours of glory and it is to this Arab-Norman architecture that it owes its classification as a Unesco World Heritage Site. But it is between the end of the ^16th century and the beginning of the ^17th, during the Spanish viceroyalty, that its imposing facade was built. Inside, which is accessed through a beautiful ^17th century courtyard adorned with arcades and loggias, we visit the royal apartments (currently the seat of Parliament). The room of Hercules is decorated with the twelve labors but the room of King Roger is by far the most interesting. The walls and especially the ceiling are decorated with superb Byzantine mosaics of the ^twelfth century. On a dazzling golden background and friezes of Arab inspiration, peacocks, lions, cheetahs, swans, a clawed eagle clutching a rabbit alongside centaurs and mythological griffins. A scene of deer hunting in the middle of exotic palm trees could take up the theme of the "earthly paradise" of Islam.

Palatine Chapel. Located on the second floor of the Norman Palace, it is dedicated to the apostles Peter and Paul. Built by King Roger II between 1132 and 1140, this chapel is the most harmonious example of Byzantine and Norman art that we have ever seen: "the most surprising jewel dreamed by human thought" said Maupassant. The interior, dazzling, combines Norman architecture and Arab-Byzantine mosaic decoration. The result is splendid. A marble transenne surrounds the sanctuary, raised by steps. The central nave is covered with a magnificent coffered ceiling, made in 1143 by Arab workers. The floor in mosaic of porphyry and marble, decorated with arabesques, is perfectly intact. The walls are covered with marble while on the upper part unfolds, on a golden background, a superb cycle of mosaics made by Byzantine artists during the ^twelfth century and renovated in the ^eighteenth. They represent the stories of St. Peter and St. Paul on the sides, while in the central nave are scenes from the Old Testament, accompanied by Latin inscriptions of 1154. Christ Pantocrator, the dominant figure of the sanctuary, stands in the vault in blue and gold tones, a tribute to the sky and the sun of Sicily. The sacred furnishings in Norman marble are of great beauty, and of particular note is the royal throne, with its mosaic ornaments, located in the central nave. A visit not to be missed.

Garden of the Palace. It is open to the visit since July 2018. You can see banyan trees (exotic ficus) with giant roots. The price of the visit is high for the small tour inside: you will admire the banyan trees on the other side of the fence for free as well...