Palazzo dei Normanni and Cappella Palatina

The Palazzo dei Normanni, also called the Palazzo Reale, stands at Piazza Indipendenza 1 at the western edge of Palermo's old centre, in the Sicily region of Italy. The site was fortified in antiquity, rebuilt by the Arab emirs who ruled Palermo from the 9th century, and then transformed after the Norman conquest of 1072 into the seat of the Kingdom of Sicily. Under Roger II, crowned king in 1130, the palace became the administrative and cultural centre of a court in which Latin, Greek and Arab scholars and craftsmen worked side by side. The most celebrated part of the complex is the Cappella Palatina, the palatine chapel consecrated in 1140. Its nave is covered with gold-ground Byzantine mosaics showing scenes from Genesis and the lives of Saints Peter and Paul, while the carved and painted muqarnas ceiling is the work of Islamic artisans and the floor is laid in inlaid marble. Upstairs, the Sala di Ruggero (Roger's Room) is decorated with 12th-century mosaics of hunting scenes, palms, leopards and peacocks, a rare surviving secular programme from the Norman period. The Royal Apartments also include rooms reworked in later centuries, and the palace has been the seat of the Sicilian Regional Assembly since the post-war period, so part of the building remains in political use. Architecturally the building is layered: Norman towers and walls sit beside Spanish-era courtyards and 17th-century reworkings, and the Torre Pisana preserves the oldest fabric. The visit is largely a walk through the chapel, the royal rooms and a courtyard loggia, with the chapel mosaics the principal draw. The Cappella Palatina and the palace are among the nine components of the UNESCO World Heritage site Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale, inscribed in 2015. The mosaics have undergone several restorations, and the chapel is generally in a good state of preservation, although visitor numbers and access to the royal rooms are managed because of the fragility of the decoration. The palace is managed by the Fondazione Federico II, which publishes opening hours and tickets.