The Constance of Aragon’s crown, found in the tomb of Frederick II's first wife, was made in the workshop of the Royal Palace in Palermo. Dating from before 1222, the date of the queen's death, the work can be traced back to Norman production due to the refined gold filigree on the cap, the rough ...

The Palatine Chapel is currently located inside the Royal Palace of Palermo. Commissioned by King Roger II, its construction began in 1130 and was consecrated on 28 April 1140 as the private chapel of the sovereign and the royal family. With a central layout and three aisles, it is characterised by ...

Used by the Etruscans and the Romans, ancient porphyry is a variant that came from Ancient Egypt after it was conquered by Augustus following the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. The Egyptians, in fact, used it in their works, associating it with royal power. From the 5th century AD it also became a symbo...

Constance of Hauteville was born in Palermo on November 2, 1154 to Roger II (1095 - 1154) and Beatrice of Rethel (c. 1135 - March 30, 1185). She inherited the Kingdom of Sicily when William II, the last member of the Norman Hauteville dynasty, died in 1189 without an heir. She married Henry VI, son ...

In 1208, when Frederick II was no longer under papal protection, he was crowned king of Sicily in his own right. The following year, it was the Pope himself who organised the marriage between Frederick and Constance of Aragon, daughter of Peter of Aragon and former widow of Emeric of Hungary. Consta...

Giovanni Maria Amato was born on 15 July 1660. Son of the Prince of Galati, Antonio Amato, and Francesca Alliata, of the Princes of Villafranca, he was a philosopher, historian and archaeologist. After taking the habit of the Society of Jesus, in 1728 he wrote “De principe tempio Panormitano”, a...

The large choir chapel, at the time of its creation, merged the environment of the Titulus with the main apse and disconnected that of the Antititulus, isolating the prothesis and the diaconicon. In fact, as is customary, the Titulo and Antititulo were present in the Sanctuary area of the ancient No...

Born in Palermo in 1729, Giuseppe Venanzio Marvuglia trained in his native city and later in Rome, where in 1758 he came second in the Premio Clementino and was greatly influenced by Winckelmann and the Neoclassical movement. He returned to Sicily between 1759 and 1760 and devoted himself to numerou...

The Maramma, or the Fabbrica della Cattedrale (Cathedral Workshop), supervised the construction, restoration and maintenance of the works housed inside the Cathedral. There are also many works commissioned by the organisation, whose symbol was the two-headed eagle. Documents were also stored in the ...

Designed by Antonio Gambara in 1429, the Cathedral’s portico was also built using reused materials. It is contained between two lateral pylons with a triple order in a repeated pattern. Access is gained through three pointed archways resting on reused columns with capitals decorated with plant mot...