The term “Normans” refers to a population of northern Europe, which lived around 1000 years ago. They landed in Messina, Sicily in 1061, when Sicily was ruled by the Arabs.
They built several castles and fortresses throughout Sicily, and their rule ended in 1198 with the death of the last member of the Altavilla family of Sicily, Costanza.
It was the Normans who proclaimed the Kingdom of Sicily under Roger II of Altavilla, a kingdom characterised by the coexistence of various ethnic groups and religious faiths and by a first Parliament.
