Taking a look, from below, at the imposing and compact profile of the cathedral towers, which dominate the landscape of the city, the original defensive function of the area entrusted to them becomes evident. Only apparently symmetrical, they close off the western façade of the centuries-old buildi...

At first glance, the western façade of the Cathedral has a compositional structure that is independent from the rest of the building, functioning as a transverse link to the two towers accessible from different heights.The massive vertical momentum of the latter and the fact that they belong to the...

The building stands out on a platform on the imposing [approfondimenti id="51048" testo_link="rocky mass"] stretching out towards the sea, embraced by the jagged peaks of the Sicilian Apennines between the Nebrodi and the Madonie mountains. It represents the completion of a grand programme, not with...

For the organisation of space in religious architecture, the year 1000 marked a period of revision of the solutions already initiated in the Carolingian era. The need for a renewed use of the liturgy took on not only symbolic but also rational importance, so much so as to modify the design of the sa...

Even before his coronation, Roger II went to the Abbey of St Mary and the Twelve Apostles in Bagnara to place the [approfondimenti id="51040" testo_link="Diocese of Cefalù"] under the control of the [approfondimenti id="51041" testo_link="Augustinian canons"], the order favoured by the king and the...

The diploma for the foundation of the Cefalù Cathedral reflects important aspects of the personality of the Norman sovereign and his thoughts. Legend has it that the construction of the Cathedral, dedicated to the Holy Saviour, followed the near-death of Roger II and his crew, who were caught at se...

The climate of political, social and cultural renewal that had distinguished the reign of the Hauteville family was interrupted, at the end of the monarchy, by disagreements between Emperor [approfondimenti id="51014" testo_link="Frederick of Swabia"] and the Church of Cefalù. This caused a slowdow...

The particular position of Cefalù, situated on the most important passes between the [approfondimenti id="50529" testo_link="Val di Mazara and the Val Demone"], as well as being a decisive transit area for the Madonie and Nebrodi valleys, became the basis on which the sovereign began the rebuilding...

We must go back in time, to the 5th and 4th centuries B.C., to go back to the original city. It was a fortress surrounded by the expanse of the sea and enclosed within powerful walls placed on top of a rock, which still marks the perimeter of what was a military outpost, known as [approfondimenti id...