An Italian Tour Of………. by Gerald Williams, Italian Culture Group Leader
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An Italian Tour of………. By Gerald Williams, Italian Culture Group Leader Cefalù Is a small city on the north coast of Sicily about 43 miles east of Palermo, and is in the Province of Palermo. It is thought that it was settled in 408 BC by Greeks fleeing from the sack by the Carthaginians of Himera to its west. There was probably a fortress on the site previously. The Greek name was derived from its situation on a precipitous rock which sat on a headland leading into the sea - "kephalé" is the Greek word for "head". Between 396 - 254 BC the city had periods of Greek (Syracusan) and Carthaginian rule. At times it was an independent republic. The Carthaginians named the city "Cape Melqart". In 254 BC the city was defeated by the Romans and although Cicero described it as a flourishing town enjoying full municipal privileges it subsequently suffered from the harsh financial treatment by Gaius Verres, a Roman Magistrate notorious for his misgovernment of Sicily. With the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Cefalù reverted to "Greek" rule as part of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire but increasingly there were incursions by Arab raiders and, eventually, in 858 AD after a long siege the city fell to the Arabs (Saraceni) and for the next two hundred years was part of the Emirate of Sicily. And then along came the Normans who captured the city in 1063 AD. In 1131 Ruggero II transferred the city from the more or less inaccessible rock to the headland at the foot of the rock, which provided it with an excellent harbour. Ruggero built the Duomo di Cefalù, the magnificent cathedral still standing today. At this time the population was made up of Greeks, Arabs and Normans. Gradually, Cefalù became part of Sicily and was ruled by the various external rulers, inter alia, Angevins and Spanish Bourbons, who mismanaged the island (largely through neglect) from Naples. Cefalù was in the path of Garibaldi and the Thousand, although many more than that had joined them by the time the army had reached the city, en route from Marsala to Messina. It became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. The Cathedral, begun in 1131, in a Norman architectural style but 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, four stories high. The round-headed Norman portal is worthy of note. A semi- circular apse is set into the east end wall. 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, of the same age of the cathedral, adjoin it. The interior of the cathedral was restored in 1559, though the pointed arches of the nave, supported 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 Pantocratorr gracing the apse is especially noteworthy. The cathedral is one of nine structures comprising the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Arab- Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale. Other Churches (there are 12, which include:) • Santa Maria dell'Odigitria, popularly referred to simply as Itria, its name comes from the Italian for 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 the Archangel; both were a property of the Confraternity of St. Mary of the Odigitria. See Iain Pears' book "Death and Restoration" for a explanation of the importance of the Hodegetria to Constantinople. • Santa Oliva (1787). It has a tufa portal. • San Sebastiano (probably 1523). It has a single nave with two frescoed niches on every side. • San Leonardo, mentioned from 1159 and, until the restoration of 1558, dedicated 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). • Santissima Annunziata (c. 1511). The façade has a large rose window and a relief with the Annunciation. • The Monastery of Santa Caterina. There are remains of the ancient (500 - 400 BC) city wall and extensive remains of the "Saracenic" castle at the top of the promontory. Other places of interest include: • 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, 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. • In Museo Mandralisca is an 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 nummismatics, a rich library. .