Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1 Albergheria
Southwest of the Quattro Canti is Albergheria, a rather shabby, run-down district once in-
habited by Norman court officials, now home to a growing number of immigrants who are
attempting to revitalise its dusty backstreets. The top tourist draws here are the Palazzo
dei Normanni (Norman Palace) and its exquisite chapel, both at the neighbourhood's far
western edge.
Cappella Palatina
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CHAPEL
(Palatine Chapel; adult €8.50, EU citizen 18-25yr €6.50, EU citizen 65+ €5, EU citizen under 18yr free;
8.15am-5pm Mon-Sat, 8.15-9.45am & 11.15am-12.15pm Sun) On the middle level of the Norman
Palace's three-tiered loggia, this mosaic-clad jewel of a chapel, designed by Roger II in
1130, is Palermo's premier tourist attraction. Gleaming from a painstaking five-year res-
toration, its aesthetic harmony is further enhanced by the inlaid marble floors and wooden
muqarnas ceiling, a masterpiece of Arabic-style honeycomb carving that reflects Norman
Sicily's cultural complexity.
Palazzo dei Normanni
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PALACE
(Palazzo Reale; Piazza Indipendenza 1; incl Cappella Palatina adult €8.50, youth 18-25yr €6.50, senior 65+
€5, child under 18yr free; 8.15am-5pm Fri, Sat & Mon, to 12.15pm Sun) On weekends, when
Palermo's venerable Palazzo dei Normanni isn't being used by Sicily's parliament, visit-
ors can take a self-guided tour of several upstairs rooms, including the gorgeous blue Sala
Pompeiana , with its Venus & Eros frescoes, the Sala dei Venti , adorned with mosaics of
geese, papyrus, lions, leopards and palms, and the Sala di Ruggero II , King Roger's
mosaic-decorated bedroom.
Chiesa di San
Giovanni degli Eremiti
( 091 651 50 19; Via dei Benedettini 16; adult/reduced €6/3; 9am-6:30pm Tue-Sat, 9am-1pm Sun &
Mon) This remarkable, five-domed remnant of Arab-Norman architecture occupies a ma-
gical little hillside in the middle of an otherwise rather squalid neighborhood. Surrounded
by a garden of citrus trees, palms, cactus and ruined walls, it's built atop a mosque that it-
CHURCH
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