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Our charming little town stretches over a mountainous projection of the Tyrrhenian coast. It lies in the shadow of a tremendous rock called Rocca which is also the town's symbol. The favourable climate combindes with the beauty of the landscape and the historical treasures make Cefalù one of the most attractive
touristic highlights in all of Palermo's province. Besides tourism, agriculture and fishing are the two major important lines of business. Little is known about the origin of Cefalù. |
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It must have begun as a fortified outpost,
almost certainly Greek, towards the end of the feet of the Rocca, where
today the well-preoserved. historic centre of Cefalù is located. The area
is still girded by a wall of megalithic construction, a good part
of which is still original. The name Cefalù may derive either from the Greek
Kephaloidion or the Punic Kefa, both mean head and refer to the shape
of the Rocca which resembels a small head. Situated on the Rocca is the celebrated
megalithic structure known as the "Temple of Diana". |
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The temple dates back from the end of the fifth to the beginning of the fourth centuries B.C. and was built around a cistern. The cistern was used for water rituals and proves together with two grottos at the Eastern side of
the Rocca, that people had settled up on the hill long before the city was founded.
During the Byzantine era, the town, like many others along the coast, was relocated for reasons of security on the Rocca. Here are visible substantial remains (embattled walls, cisterns, chapels, barracks, and a row of ovens) which are datable to the early
Middle Ages. |
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A polychrome mosaic, which also dates from this period (sixth century A.D.), has been recently discovered under the entrance-portico of the cathedral. It is the most ancient testimony of a early Christian community at Cefalù. |
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In 858 Cefalù was conquered by the Arabs and annexed to the emirate of Palermo. It was then liberated by the Norman when Count Roger took possession of it in 1063. After 1131 Roger II rebuilt the town on the coast. To this period belong the renowned monuments which earn Cefalù the title of the
"Norman town". These include the Church of St. George and the wash-house (belonging perhaps to an earlier period), both located on Via Vittorio Emanuele, the cathedral, the cloister, and the
Palazzo Maria (perhaps the domus regia), on Cathedral Square (Piazza Duomo), and the Osterio Magno with its interesting three-mullioned window, in corso Ruggero. |
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The most important monument in Cefalù is without a doubt the Norman-Arab cathedral. According to tradition the cathedral was erected at the fulfilment of a vow by Roger II who reached safety on the coast of Cefalù after being shipwrecked. The legend, however, was almost certainly invented to hide his true military and political motives.
One's suspicions are all but confirmed by the fortress-like features of the cathedral, |
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with its two imposing embattled towers and great structural mass which looms over all other buildings in the vicinity. Work on it began in 1131 on a site already occupied by an
earlier Christian structure (q.v. the polychrome mosaic), and from then on continued, with numerous and often large-scale changes in plans, for several decades, and even today the building is still incomplete.
The cathedral is one of the largest in Sicily and was built in the Norman style. Many of the local craftsmen who worked on it were of Arab and
Byzantine extraction, |
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and the cathedral bears strong testimony to these two cultural components.The pointed arches and the paintings on the roof are characteristically Arab, and the mosaic decoration is Byzantine. Of particular interest are the mosaics in the apse portraying Christ as the judge of mankind (the Pantocrator). This same motif was later to be used in the
Cathedral of Monreale and in the Palatine chapel in Palermo. Annexed to the cathedral is the outstanding cloister, embellished with small twin columns topped by remarkable sculptured capitals.
A stay in Cefalù is not complete without a stop at the Museo Mandralisca. |
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Here one can visit a valuable archaeological collection and a small picture gallery which houses a true masterpiece: the "Portrait of a Man"
by Antonello da Messina (1470-1472).The museum also includes a shell collection.
An Excursion to the Shrine of Gibilmanna (Santuario di Gibilmanna) is also recommended. It is located only 15 km from Cefalù on a knoll of
Monte Sant'Angelo, amidst a dense and verdant grove of chest ut trees and holm oaks. Gibilmanna is one of Sicily's most important pilgrimages.
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