Palermo Cathedral

Why go

Palermo Cathedral is the city's Catholic cathedral and the parish church of Maria Santissima Assunta. The cathedral's history page says the present building, wanted by Archbishop Gualtiero Offamilio, was consecrated to the Virgin of the Assumption in 1185, and that a major restoration to a design by Ferdinando Fuga began in 1781. The cathedral's visit page divides the interior for tourist visits into two parts: the basilica, which is entered freely, and a ticketed Monumental Area, with tickets sold at the ticket office or online and no booking scheme; its pages list the treasury, the crypt and the roofs among the Monumental Area's parts. The cathedral's site says it is part of the Arab-Norman itinerary inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2015; this record is the cathedral, not that serial property.