Tour della Cattedrale di Palermo e Monreale

The most beautiful church in the world with its Byzantine altar of millions of pieces. easy to park and half an hour from Palermo

If you are in Palermo do not miss visiting the Cathedral of Monreale, it is one of the most beautiful cathedrals I have seen. The village where it is located is small, what you have to see is only the cathedral. If you don't hire a guide, I recommend reading the story before you go.

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At the recommendation of a friend, my wife and I had visited Monreale Cathedral in 2010, and had viewed the splendid mosaics inside in both the nave and the apse. While the apse mosaic of Christ is impressive, it was the whole experience of the nave together with the apse that make this cathedral so spectacular. In 2010 the whole church - both nave and apse - were lit up so that you could clearly see the Biblical scenes portrayed in the nave. Two weeks ago on April 30, when we paid admission to see the entirety of the mosaics, the nave scenes were in darkness. This despite what was reported to have been a major upgrade of the lights of this UNESCO World Heritage Site completed by December 2024, 4 months prior to our visit. We asked 3 different Cathedral attendants why the lights were out, and got a uniform response from each of them: "I don't know". This was an appalling and unacceptable response: that a recently rehabilitated lighting system was not on for 4/5 of the church, the Bible scenes all in darkness. Such a huge disappointment: we, knowing the beauty that was there from a prior visit, unable to see most of the stunning and important scenes and details. And no one who worked knew why??!! A very poor reflection on investment of the upgrade funds. Do not bother going if the lights are not ALL on.