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On the far side of the Palazzo dei Normanni, on the other side of Corso Vittorio Emanuele, the early sixteenth-century Porta Nuova was built to commemorate Charles V victories in Tunisia and marked the old boundary of the city. On Corso Vittorio Emanuele, back towards the city centre, you can find the massive cathedral that is a more significant as a Norman testimonial than the royal palace. It's an strange structure that began life as a Romanesque but has succumbed to many alterations throughout the ages, positively with the addition of the beautiful front but negatively with the addition of the of an eighteenth century dome. Some of the original features remain such as twelfth century towers and a decent amount of carving. The main features inside are the royal tombs six sarcophagi, containing the mortal remains of Sicily's most famous monarchs. Here you can find Frederick II and his wife Constance, his father Henry VI, Roger II, his daughter Empress Constance, Constance of Aragon and her son Frederick. In the chapel to the right of the choir is the silver sarcophagus of St. Rosalia who is the Palermo's patron saint. The cathedral leads onto one of the oldest areas of Palermo through narrow streets to the Piazza del Monte where you can find the church of Sant'Agostino. It was built in the thirteenth century and features a gorgeous latticework rose window and a sculpted fifteenth-century doorway attributed to Domenico Gagini. These doors exit onto a street market that lead to the ever expanding streets to the neoclassical nineteenth century Teatro Massimo who main claim to fame is that it is reputedly the largest theatre in Italy. |