On the highest point of the ancient city stands the oldest royal residence in Europe, palace of the Norman kings and today the seat of the Sicilian Parliament. Your treasure map leads you to its most precious heart: the Cappella Palatina, the Palatine Chapel.
The palace began as a fortified residence of the Arab emirs and under the Normans became the centre of the Kingdom of Sicily. King Roger II had the Cappella Palatina built there, consecrated in 1140: a basilica with a nave and two aisles in which gold-ground Byzantine mosaics, wooden ceilings by Islamic artists and Norman architecture merge into a single masterpiece. After a long decline, the Spanish viceroys made it their residence, enlarging it with arcaded courtyards and state rooms; today the Sicilian Regional Assembly meets here. Since 2015 it has been part of the UNESCO site «Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale». The visitor entrance, with the ticket office, is on piazza del Parlamento.
