Cefalù

The Cathedral, begun in 1131, in a style of Norman architecture which would be more accurately called Sicilian Romanesque. The exterior is well preserved, and is largely decorated with interlacing pointed arches; the windows also are pointed. On each side of the façade is a massive tower of four stories. The round-headed Norman portal is worthy of note.[16] A semi-circular apse is set into the east end wall. It has a formidable image of Christ Pantacrator (reminiscent of its Byzantine era). Its strengthening counterforts that work like buttresses, are shaped as paired columns to lighten their aspect. The groined vaulting of the roof is visible in the choir and the right transept, while the rest of the church has a wooden roof. Fine cloisters, coeval with the cathedral, adjoin it.[16]

Two strong matching towers flank the cathedral porch, which has three arches (rebuilt around 1400) corresponding to the nave and the two aisles.

Christus Pantokrator in the apsis of the cathedral

Church of St. Stefano.

Cefalù in 1830, by Carl Anton Joseph Rottmann.

The interior of the cathedral was restored in 1559, though the pointed arches of the nave, borne by ancient granite columns, are still visible; and the only mosaics preserved are those of the apse and the last bay of the choir; they are remarkably fine specimens of the Byzantine art of the period (1148) and, though restored in 1859–62, have suffered much less than those at Palermo and Monreale from the process. The figure of the Pantocrator gracing the apse is especially noteworthy.[16]

The cathedral is one of nine structures comprising the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale.[17]

• Santa Maria dell'Odigitria, popularly referred to simply as Itria, its name the rendition in Italian of the Greek Hodegetria, one of the standard iconographic depictions of the Virgin Mary. Probably built over a preexisting Byzantine church of the same name, the current building is from the 16th century. Until 1961 it consisted of two different religious edifices, the second being a chapel devoted to St. Michael Archangel; both were a property of the Confraternity of St. Mary of the Odigitria.
• Santa Oliva (1787). It has a tuff entrance.
• San Sebastiano (probably 1523). It has a single nave with two frescoed niches on every side.
• Sant'Andrea.
• San Leonardo, mentioned from 1159 and, until the restoration of 1558, entitled to St. George. The original portal, now closed behind a wall, has vegetable decorations similar to the Cathedral's ones.
• The Immacolatella (1661).
• The Oratory of the Santissimo Sacramento (1688).
• Chapel of San Biagio (St. Blaise).
• Santo Stefano or Church of Purgatory.
• Santissima Trinità.
• Santissima Annunziata (c. 1511). The façade has a large rose window and a relief with the Annunciation.
• The Monastery of St. Catherine.

Remains of megalithic wall, c. 500–400 BC

Remains of Château de Cefalù wall.

Some remains of the ancient city are still visible, on the summit of the rock; but the nature of the site proves that it could never have been more than a small town, and probably owed its importance only to its almost impregnable position. Fazello speaks of the remains of the walls as still existing in his time, as well as those of a temple of Doric architecture, of which the foundations only are now visible. But the most curious monument still remaining of the ancient city is an edifice, consisting of various apartments, and having the appearance of a palace or domestic residence, but constructed wholly of large irregular blocks of limestone, in the style commonly called polygonal or Cyclopean. Rude mouldings approximating to those of the Doric order, are hewn on the face of the massive blocks. The doorways are of finely-cut stone, and of Greek type, and the date, though uncertain, cannot, from the careful jointing of the blocks, be very early.[16] This building, which is almost unique of its kind, is the more remarkable, from its being the only example of this style of masonry, so common in Central Italy, which occurs in the island of Sicily. It is fully described and figured by Dr. Nott in the Annali dell'Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica, for the year 1831 (vol. iii. p. 270-87).

On the summit of the promontory are extensive remains of a Norman castle. The town's fortifications formerly extended to the shore, on the side where the modern town now is, in the form of two long walls protecting the port. There are remains of a wall of massive rectangular blocks of stone at the modern Porta Garibaldi on the south.[16]

Other sights include:

• The Seminary and the Bishops Palace.
• Palazzo Atenasio Martino (15th century). The court has 16th-century frescoes.
• Palazzo Maria (13th century). The medieval portal and a mullioned window, with Catalan-style vegetable decorations, are still visible.
• Palazzo Piraino (16th century).
• Osterio Magno. According to the tradition, it was built by Roger II as his mansion, but it probably dates from the 14th century. Traces of the medieval tower and decoration can be seen. Excavations held in the interior have showed the presence of ancient edifices and ceramics.
• Ancient Roman baths.
• The remains of the Abbey of Thelema,[18] established by the occultist Aleister Crowley in 1920 as a magical commune before he was ordered to leave by the Benito Mussolini government in 1923. The abbey is now in a state of severe disrepair.

Not far from the town are the sanctuary of Gibilmanna and the Gibilmanna Observatory.

• Museo Mandralisca[19] important regional collection of art and archaeology from ancient Greek and Arab ceramics through sculpture and painting (Antonello da Messina: Portrait of a man) to furniture, porcelain and numismatics, a rich library.

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Ashby, Thomas (1911). "Cefalu". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 595–596.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
• Head, Barclay; et al. (1911). "Zeugitana". Historia Numorum (2nd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 877–882.