Page 96 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Sicily

94  SICIL Y AREA B Y AREA

Exploring Cefalù influence, while the presbytery is
covered with splendid mosaics.
Cefalù is recorded for the first time in 396 BC, in an account On high in the apse is the figure
by Diodorus Siculus, but the town is more famous for its of Christ Pantocrator with the
medieval monuments. Piazza Garibaldi (where you have to Virgin Mary, Archangels and the
leave the car) is a good starting point for a walk around the Apostles; on the choir walls are
saints and prophets, while
town. Follow Corso Ruggero to reach the open space of Piazza cherubs and seraphim decorate
Duomo, home to one of Sicily’s most splendid cathedrals. the vault. A door on the northern
aisle leads to the entrance of the
lovely cloister, which has been
bordered by the Seminario and extensively restored.
the Palazzo Vescovile, while to
the west is the Palazzo del P Corso Ruggero
Municipio (Town Hall), which This avenue goes all the way
incor porates the former Santa across the old town, starting
Caterina monastery. from Piazza Garibaldi, where
the Porta di Terra city gate
R Cathedral once stood. A few steps
Piazza Duomo. Tel 0921-922 021. on your left is Palazzo
Open for opening and Osterio Magno, said
service times check to have been the
website. & (cloister). residence of Roger II,
∑ cattedrale and built in the 13th
dicefalu.com and 14th centuries.
Cefalù Cathedral Almost opposite, a
is one of Sicily’s modern building
major Norman houses the remains
monuments. of the ancient
The medieval façade of the Cathedral Building began in Roman road. Visits
of Cefalù 1131 under Roger II. can be made from
When he died work 9am to 4:30pm.
P Piazza Duomo continued in fits and Continuing to the
This lively square, dominated by starts. The façade has right, you will come
the sheer mass of the Cathedral two rows of blind to Piazzetta Spinola,
and the steep Rocca, is the heart arcades set over the with Santo Stefano
of Cefalù. It is surrounded by three-arch outer (or Delle Anime
buildings constructed in diff erent narthex and is Statue of a bishop, Purganti), its
styles. On the southern side are flanked by two massive Cefalù Cathedral Baroque façade
the Oratorio del Santissimo bell towers with single complemented by
Sacramento; Palazzo Maria, and double lancet windows. On an elegant double staircase.
which was most probably Roger the right-hand side you can see
II’s Domus Regiae (palace; see the interlaced arch motifs of the E Museo Mandralisca
p33), decorated with an ogee three side apses. The nave is Via Mandralisca 13. Tel 0921-421 547.
portal and a Gothic window; divided by arches supported by Open 9am–7pm daily (to 11pm Aug).
and Palazzo Piraino, with its marble columns. The wooden & ∑ fondazionemandralisca.it
late 16th-century ashlar door. ceiling, with its painted beams, This museum was founded by
To the north, the square is shows an obvious Islamic Enrico Piraino, the Baron of
Mandralisca, in the 19th century
and includes fine archaeological,
shell and coin collections. It also
houses an art gallery and a
library with over 9,000 historic
and scientific works, including
incunabulae, 16th-century
books and nautical charts.
Among the most important
paintings are the Portrait of an
unknown Man by Antonello
da Messina, View of Cefalù by
Francesco Bevilacqua, Christ on
Judgment Day by Johannes De
Matta (mid-1500s), and a series
Medieval fishermen’s dwellings lining the seafront of icons on the second floor.
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp202–3 and pp211–13

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Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.6)
Date 12th July 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm