Page 66 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Sicily

64  P ALERMO AREA B Y AREA

Street-by-Street: Around
Piazza della Vittoria
The monument
Piazza della Vittoria, opposite the Palazzo dei Normanni, to Philip V, in the
is one of the city’s major squares. Since the time of the middle of Piazza della
Vittoria, was built of
Roman castrum superius (military camp), the Arab Al marble in 1662.
Qasar and the Norman Palace, this area has been the
military, political and administrative heart of Sicily,
and religious prestige was added in the 12th century
when the Cathedral was built nearby. In the 17th and
18th centuries the square was the venue for public The former hospital
festivities. It became a public garden in the early 1900s, of San Giacomo
surrounded by important monuments such as Porta
Nuova, Palazzo Sclafani and Palazzo Arcivescovile.

Porta Nuova was built in
1569 to commemorate
Charles V’s arrival in
Palermo in 1535.
C O R S O V I T T O R I O E M A N U E L E

2 Palazzo dei Normanni
This has always been the palace of the city’s
rulers. Traces of the original Arab-Norman
architecture can still be seen on the exterior.

P
I A Z Z A

3 . Cappella
D E L P A R L A M E N T O
Palatina
Founded in 1130 V I A D E L B A S T I O N E
by the Norman
king Roger II, the
chapel boasts an
extraordinary cycle
of mosaics.

4 . San Giovanni degli Eremiti
This church, surrounded by a
luxuriant garden, is one of the most
important monuments in Palermo,
partly because of its unique Arab-
Norman architecture.
For hotels and restaurants in this area see p202 and pp210–11

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