MONREALE GUIDED VISIT

If you are in Palermo you cannot miss a guided tour of Monreale! A beautiful medieval town, with its “golden” cathedral, which became a World Heritage Site in 2015. This quiet town is located approximately 10 km from Palermo, at an altitude of 310 m above sea level. Its elevated position allows visitors to enjoy unique views. The town, in fact, overlooks the so-called ‘Conca d’oro’, a vast plain of 100 square kilometres, covered with citrus groves in ancient times. When the trees were loaded with fruit, especially lemons, the predominant colour gave the impression, for those who looked from above, to see a vast golden valley. Looking a little further, it will be possible to see the Gulf of Palermo and the whole city too.

The origins of Monreale date back to the medieval period. The town developed around its beautiful cathedral, built in the ’70s – ’80s of the 12th century. Commissioner and founder of the church was the third Norman king William II, nicknamed ‘the Good’, enlightened monarch and patron of the arts of the time. The grandiose interior of Monreale Cathedral houses almost 6500 square metres of mosaic tiles depicting episodes from the Old and New Testaments. What is literally astounding is the sight of the pure gold tesserae covering the entire walls of the building, hence the name “golden temple”.

The adjoining Benedictine cloister is another beautiful place with 228 small columns with astonishing capitals, surrounding a garden with plants of deep symbolic meaning.