Monreale Cathedral

Monreale Cathedral, 8 km up the slope above Palermo, is the supreme survival of Norman-Sicilian architecture and the single most important medieval mosaic interior in Italy. The cathedral itself is rectangular, dressed externally with bands of grey and gold stone; inside, almost every square inch of wall is covered in gold-ground mosaic.

The cloister beside the cathedral, with its 228 paired colonnettes, each one carved differently and several inlaid with mosaic, is the most beautiful cloister in southern Italy. The whole complex is UNESCO-listed and a half-day visit at minimum. Bus 389 from Piazza Indipendenza in Palermo runs every 30 minutes.

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A story
William II of Sicily built Monreale Cathedral in the 1170s explicitly to outdo the cathedral of Palermo, whose archbishop was his political rival. The mosaic cycle inside — the largest medieval mosaic ensemble in Italy — covers 6,300 square metres and was executed by Byzantine masters in only ten years. The cost of the project nearly bankrupted the kingdom.