After a short week back at school after spring break, we left on Thursday the 12th for Sicily! This was our most difficult trip, requiring four days of travel and a combination of buses and trains through four cities in Sicily. We took an overnight train on Thursday night which took us from Rome to Palermo, the capital of the autonomous region/island of Sicily. Palermo and Siracusa, another major city, traded off as capitals of the island in the past; Palermo, however, has royal buildings left from the Norman rule of the city that Siracusa does not. The Palazzo Normanni, the Norman Palace, and at right, the interior of the famous Cappella Palatina, Palatine Chapel, covered in medieval mosaic. We got to take a tour of the palace, which today is used as a government building by the governing bodies of Sicily. The Cathedral (Duomo) of Palermo and a detail of the carving More details of the duomo, dome and bell towers La Martorana, a church in Palermo with more medieval and By...
Musings on Architecture, Urbanism, and the Built Environment