The Palazzo dei Normanni, also known as Palazzo Reale, is located in Palermo and is currently the seat of the Sicilian Regional Assembly. The palace is the oldest royal residence in Europe, home of the sovereigns of the Kingdom of Sicily, imperial seat with Frederick II and Corrado IV and the historic Sicilian Parliament. On the first floor of the building is the Palatine Chapel.

It is one of the most visited monuments on the island. Additional tourist services are provided by the Federico II Foundation; the main entrance is on Piazza del Parlamento, the tourist and the driveway are on Piazza Indipendenza.

From 3 July 2015 is part of the World Heritage (Unesco) within the serial site “Palermo Arab-Norman and the cathedrals of Cefalù and Monreale”.

History

Phoenician-Punic Era

The present building incorporates the foundations of the first fortified settlements of Phoenician-Punic origin dating back to the VIII and V centuries BC, whose traces re-emerge in the campaigns of studies in the dungeons and in the basements. These fortifications constituted the social and political nucleus of the primitive settlements that formed the paleopolis, aggregate opposed to the sacred area, destined to pagan worship and burial, located a few hundred meters further NE near the river Papireto. This last area, future neapolis, is today identifiable with the plan of the cathedral, the recognizable bell tower in the high sighting tower set in the walls of the fortified citadel, as well as by a dense network of hypogeum environments consisting of caves, catacombs, crypts, cuniculi and caverns, located in the immediate vicinity.

Greek – Roman period

Paleopolis and Neapolis were included on a long peninsula bordered to the north by the Papireto river and the Kemonia at noon, a strip of land that at the time extended along a route that can be configured with today’s Cassaro, limited to approximately the current church of Sant’Antonio Abate. [4] A vast and branched inlet allowed the landing and shelter of the boats in both streams, just behind the monumental pole, a peculiarity that influenced the name of the place, in Greek times Panormos or City all Harbor. In 254 BC the stronghold of the castrum was conquered by the Romans.

Byzantine-Arabic Era

Flavio Belisario conquered the city and took possession of the fortification in 535, the Byzantine rule lasted for almost three centuries. Under the reign of Constantine IX Monomachus, Constantinopolitan emperor and king of Sicily, the fortification of the kastron assumed the status of a palace with the prefect Giorgio Maniace who embellished it by installing works, artifacts and other spoils of war.

The two bronze rams, expressions of Greek art and the result of looting, in Sicily temporarily adorned the Gothic portal of the Maniace Fortress in Syracuse at the behest of Frederick II of Swabia. Maria di Trastámara for services rendered in the strenuous defense of Syracuse, donated them to Giovanni I Ventimiglia, therefore the artifacts came first in the castle Ventimiglia of Castelbuono and later placed as decoration of the family mausoleum in the church of San Francesco. Due to contrasts with the ruling house and the confiscation of property, the Ventimiglia rams arrived in Palermo. Gaspare Palermo documents their presence in later periods in the Chiaramonte-Steri Palace, in the fortress of Castello a Mare, stolen by a viceroy of Sicily in Naples, returned to the halls of Palazzo Regio. With the destruction of an element of the couple during the Sicilian Revolution of 1848, the surviving specimen was definitively transferred to the collections of the Regional Archaeological Museum “Antonio Salinas”.

The first building with the function of a royal residence called ‘al Qasr or Kasr (Alcassar, the abode of the emirs), is attributed to the period of Islamic domination, a lapse of time of about two centuries where numerous governors or emirs belonged, in order , to the dynasties of the Aghlabids, Fatimids, Kalbites. In 831, after the Arab conquest of the city, the governor, supreme commander and prince of Sicily, called the Castelnuovo construction which contrasted with the building located in the marina called Castellammare and the Castello di Maredolce in the Parco della Favara, the latter favorite dwelling together with all the Arab residences and structures established in nearby Kalsa.Ibn Hawqal documents two medinas or opposing walled cities: the Qasr and the Kalsa. In between, three separate and contiguous satellite villages corresponding to the future rabato (Albergheria, Seralcadio, Conceria), described by Muhammad al-Idrisi in the Norman era.

The decision to transfer the seat of the governor located in the heart of the walled city of the civitas superior to a safer and more military protected place is provided by the tumultuous popular uprising against the Fatimite governor Salīm Ibn Rashid Al Kutāni, put down in the autumn of 937 with the military intervention by Khalil ibn Ishaq. The Aghlabid nucleus is abandoned after having identified near the port, in the vicinity of the arsenal, the new site of the fortified citadel of the Fatimid emirs, much more defensible in the inferior civitas because partially protected by the sea.

Norman Era

The Norman sovereigns distinguished the Castrum superius or Palatium novum placed on the high ground from the Castrum inferius or Palatium vetus located downstream, settling upon their arrival at the latter already home of the Arab court. The Parcus Vetus indicated the establishment of the Arab center of power, the adjective Vetus (old, ancient, primitive, ancient) extended as much to the area as to the abode of the primitive camp. Camp became residence of the emirs and object of conquest by the Norman armies, who in the siege of Palermo immediately planted their base camp before launching attacks on the Kalsa and the fortified Cassaro. In fact, from the south-eastern floodplain of the coast, gateway to the city coming from the east, marked by the Dattereto next to the Oreto river and the Castle of Yahya, the reconquest of the city started. Over the years they expanded and transformed the upstream building from Middle Eastern features into a complex and multi-purpose center that expressed all the power of the monarchy, thus creating a building structure. Roberto il Guiscardo enlarged it, equipping it with the Chapel of Jerusalem, the great Count Ruggero built the Greek Tower, the quarters for factories and armigers. Only after his death, the queen regent Adelasia del Vasto and the heir to the throne moved from Messina, a city that served as a base for the Normans to extend their rule to Palermo. In the capital, the Altavillas first settled in the residence of Palazzo della Favara before moving to the Palatium novum.

In 1132 Roger II of Sicily built the middle part of the building, the very large apartment that today takes its name, or that portion of a building formerly intended for a silk factory, the Palatine Chapel and the Joharia Tower. The place of worship dedicated to St. Peter the Apostle supplanted the primitive mosque built on the prisons and dungeons of the palace. From William I and William II of Sicily were added the wings for the services of the eunuchs, according to the Arab custom, the apartments of the ladies of the court, matrons, maidens, servants, the harem and in the northern part the «menagerie of the slaves», the Pisana or Santa Ninfa and Chirimbi towers, were aggregated. Coeva is the realization of the “Via Coperta”, a protected walkway that from the Pisan Tower and the Green Room through the district of Guilla led to the primitive Archiepiscopal Palace with the final destination of the primatial metropolitan cathedral of the Holy Virgin Mary.

In this long process of transformation, the ancient Palazzo degli Emiri took on the name of Palazzo dei Normanni only in recent times, a pole soon destined to become the center of European culture and art between the 12th and 13th centuries.

In these sumptuous and refined environments, in fact, the most important European culture of the time developed: here the emperors gathered the greatest scientists and poets, musicians and painters of the time. Inside the building the factories and textile laboratories were maintained to produce artifacts of rare beauty while maintaining the tradition, knowledge, culture and knowledge introduced by the Eastern rulers, the Mint, the goldsmith laboratories and the Tiraz, the factory for the manufacture of precious fabrics. Adjacent to the royal palace stood the Galca (the ring), the royal quarter that developed towards the east enclosed by walls, housed buildings of various types related to the functionality of the palace.

Muhammad al-Idrisi in 1150, Ibn Jubayr in 1184, Ugo Falcando described in their works the magnificences and the events connected to the palace. The most significant of the episodes occurred in the years 1160 – 1161 sees the Royal Palace theater of the revolt of the barons matured following the conspiracy hatched by Matteo Bonello, during which the halls of the palace were sacked and set on fire with the destruction of an irreplaceable heritage book and art.

External of Norman Palace

The aggregate of the buildings takes the form of an upside-down fork, the two southern arms of the bifurcation intersect the artifacts of the Palatine Chapel which give rise to two large inner courtyards. Multiple styles merge on the various orders and the many facets of the various perspectives. The Romanesque, Byzantine, Arab, Norman, Neo-Gothic, Chiaramonte, Renaissance, Baroque styles mix elements such as splayings, ribs, oculi, reliefs, arches, ogives, ashlars, single-lancet windows and false mullioned windows, tuff combined with inlaid lava, interlacing, stone alive, moldings, battlements, string courses, arches, tympanums with a strong sensory and emotional impact.

Of the four original Norman towers: the Greek, the Chirimbi, the Pisana, the Joaria, today only the last two remain, of a quadrangular contemporary coeval with the Cappella Palatina. There are more internal courtyards, two of them equipped with loggias and porticos: the Cortile Maqueda, entirely porticoed with two orders of Renaissance-style loggias, and the Cortile della Fontana placed at a higher level than the first. The various levels are connected to each other by monumental staircases. The Cortile Maqueda is the crossroads of the main environments, wings and artifacts:

• Below the level of the patio are the Sale of the Duke of Montalto, now locations for exhibitions and displays, which in turn are accessed through underground excavations.
• The patio leads to the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie.
• At the first level there is the entrance to the Palatine Chapel.
• North elevation. The wing of the building is delimited by Porta Nuova, a new access gate built by Charles V to celebrate the Conquest of Tunis in place of the ancient door called Bab ar ryad or Porta dei giardini. Via Vittorio Emanuele or Cassaro with the extension of Corso Calatafimi separates the two districts, in particular it distinguishes the Albergaria from the Monte di Pietà or Seralcadi. With the gradual transformation of Galca (Jalca), and its fusion with the rest of the city, the church of Santa Maria Maddalena, very close to Porta Nuova, was incorporated into the neighborhood of San Giacomo dei Militari or degli Spagnoli, whose vast area extended from the Cassaro to the Papireto, since 1622 it had been used by the Spanish troops stationed in the city for the garrison and defense of the palace.
• Estetto Est. The palace overlooks Piazza del Parlamento, which in turn merges with Piazza Vittoria and the park of Villa Bonanno, the three areas constituted the primitive Piano di Palazzo. On the Pisan Tower you can admire the original Norman facade decorated with splayed and blind arches. Further south, the Renaissance-style façade occupies a large part of the entire elevation. At the center is a large portal that constitutes the main entrance. The Renaissance wing houses the Sala degli Armigeri on the lower floor and the so-called Parliamentary Plan on the upper floor where the Sala d’Ercole, the current parliamentary hall of the Sicilian Regional Assembly, the Sala Gialla, the Sala Rossa, and the Sala Verde are located. the Viceroy Hall.
• South elevation. On Via del Bastione and on the west side of Piazza Indipendenza, parts of the building rest on mighty foundations above street level facing the rebuilt church of Santa Maria dell’Itria called «la Pinta».
• West elevation. On Piazza Indipendenza there is the driveway and the tourist access, in front of Palazzo d’Orleans, seat of the presidency of the Sicilian Region.

Internal of Norman Palace

Torre Pisana

The keep, otherwise known as Torre Santa Ninfa, was a building destined for the custody of treasures, an artifact built by William II of Sicily with the contribution of Pisan craftsmen. According to tradition, in the Swabian era with Frederick II, the tower was probably one of the meeting places of the Sicilian poetic school and a place frequented by the same sovereign. The Viceroy Francesco d’Aquino di Caramanico had the astronomical observatory built in 1790.

Externally it appears devoid of decorations, but it is legitimate to suppose from the visible traces that, in the areas where lofts were added by the Spaniards, it was entirely mosaic with probably battle scenes, following canons that imposed a strong symmetry between the scenes depicted. It included the Treasure Room, with a double doorway, surrounded by round walkways covered with majestic vaults and the four jars walled up in the floor that could contain countless pieces of gold coins.

The eastern façade is the result of an important restoration of neo-Gothic restoration by the architect Nicolò Puglia in 1835. Puglia itself was the author of the neo-Gothic decoration project of the western elevations around 1842. The interiors include the Sala in the parliamentary plan of Federico, the Chinese Room and the Pompeian Room, from the first half of the nineteenth century, decorated with paintings by Giuseppe Patania and Giovanni Patricolo, rooms that made up the private apartments of Queen Marina Carolina of Bourbon.

Hall of the viceroys

The name of the environment derives from the presence of 21 portraits placed on the walls depicting respectively: viceroy of Sicily, lieutenants and presidents of the Bourbon kingdom of Sicily and the Two Sicilies, first king Charles III of Bourbon. Otherwise known as the Transatlantic.

In the same way as the collections of the Paço da Ribeira Palace in Lisbon, the Descalzas Reales Monastery in Madrid, the Palacio del Real in Valencia, the Real Alcázar in Madrid, the Escorial Monastery in Madrid, the Royal Palace of El Pardo in Madrid, of Villa Gallia by Paolo Giovio in Borgovico, of the Palace of Margaret of Austria of Malines, of the residence of Binche, also the viceroys and governors of the house of Habsburg began to furnish, from the end of the sixteenth century the galleries of royal palace of Milan, royal palace of Naples and Palermo.

The layout of the portraits in the gallery made by the Manuel de Benavides y Aragón, Count of Santisteban, dates back to the time of the Bernardino de Cardenas y Portugal, Duke of Maqueda, and included thirty-seven portraits of Viceroy, from Fernando de Acuña y de Herrera, count of Buendía, up to the same Manuel de Benavides y Aragón.

The original decoration of the early seventeenth century was probably substituted, as suggested by the description of the wedding ceremony of woman Joan of Austria, daughter of John of Austria and grandson of Charles V of Habsburg, with Francesco Branciforte, prince of Pietraperzia. Later in 1640 the environment presented a cycle of frescoes depicting the Stories from the life of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Anthony of Padua, works by Pietro Novelli, [1] whose surviving fragments, transferred to canvas, are kept in the Regional Gallery of Palazzo Abatellis. Among the few vintage representations of the Gallery, the table inserted in the illustrated code “Geographical Theater antiguo y moderna of the Reyno de Sicilia”, completed May 1, 1686 showing the gallery room at the time of the Viceroy Count of Santisteban.

The crowning ceremony of Charles III of Bourbon in Palermo in 1735 documented by Antonio Mongitore, contemplates in the Gallery the portraits of the sovereigns from Roger II to Charles II, while he relegates the portraits of the Habsburg viceroys in the remaining halls of the palace. The noble Palermo Francesco Maria Emanuele Gaetani, marquis of Villabianca, reports that the antechamber portraits are the originals collected by Manuel de Benavides y Aragón. The present cycle of the Gallery was renewed in 1738 by Charles of Bourbon who entrusted the task of realization to the Flemish painter Guglielmo Borremans.