Sunday Visit to Palermo’s Royal Palace and Castrum Superius Exhibit

When we were planning our trip to Sicily last spring, I was told that the Royal Palace, the so-called Palazzo dei Normanni, is not maybe so worthwhile to visit. The royal chapel within the palace, the Cappella Palatina, yes, that is worth seeing, perhaps the most impressive of the Norman Sicilian architecture. The palace, mmmm, not so much. Nevertheless, we wanted to see the palace, and since during the time we were there, the Sicilian parliament was in session (yes, this ancient government building is still used to this day), we could only see the Palace on the weekend. So I bought tickets for a Sunday morning, and away we went.

It’s just a small handful of rooms that are on display, with one, the chamber of the Norman kings I believe, decorated in that amazing sparkling mosaic that we associate with the interiors of the Norman structures. There was a huge crowd blocking the archway into that kings’ chamber, but I waited patiently, and thought the mosaics there were splendid.

In addition to the palace, we were told by our guide Francesca (who had taken us to the Cappella Palatina and Monreale Cathedral earlier in the week) that visiting the new temporary exhibit, called Castrum Superius, was a must. Our time was already growing short – on Sundays, the palace is only open until 12:30p, I believe – but we made our way through it as quickly as we could, trying to take in as much of it as possible. Sure enough, we thought the exhibit was maybe better than seeing the palace – the two marble lions from the royal collection and the tombstone with markings in four languages (from the Castello della Zisa) were quite spectacular.

By now the security guards were ushering everyone out, but we were obnoxious tourists, and pushed the envelope, asking if we might see the Royal Gardens for just a minute. The woman security guard we asked grumbled but agreed we could have one minute. So we only saw a bit of the gardens. And honestly, after one minute we were being rushed out.

Before walking north on Via Vittorio Emanuele toward downtown Palermo (for lunch and more sightseeing), we paused for one moment to admire the incredible Porta Nuova, which is right next to the royal palace. Our visit to the palace may have been short, but in less than 2 hours, I felt like we saw everything we wanted to. And I would have to say, that even if it was just because of the Castrum Superius exhibit, it was definitely a worthwhile visit.

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