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Aquino, Borgo Fraccia, Borgo Schirò, Cicio di Monreale, Giacalone, Grisì, Monte Caputo, Pietra, Pioppo, Poggio San Francesco, San Martino delle Scale, Sirignano, Sparacia, Tagliavia, Villaciambra
The town developed on a site used by theNorman kings for hunting. They built a royal palace there, hence the nameMons Regalis. The city gained great importance whenking William II of Sicily builtMonreale Cathedral with the adjoiningBenedictine monastery. In 1183, it became the seat of thearchbishop.[5]
After the occupation of Palermo by theArabs (theEmirate of Sicily), theBishop of Palermo was forced to move his seat outside the capital. The role of a cathedral was assigned to a modest little church,Aghia Kiriaki, in a nearby village later known as Monreale. Afterthe Norman conquest in 1072, Christians took backthe former Palermo cathedral. Probably the village's role as a temporary ecclesiastical centre played a part inKing William II's decision to build a cathedral here.[6]
Monreale was a small village for a long time. When theNormanKings of Sicily chose the area as their hunting resort, more people and commerce came to the area after the royalty built a palace (probably identifiable with the modern town hall).
Under King William II, a large monastery ofBenedictines coming fromCava de' Tirreni, with its church, was founded and provided with large assets. The new construction also had an important defensive function. Monreale was the seat of themetropolitanarchbishop of Sicily,[4] which from then on exerted a significant influence over Sicily.
In the 19th century, underage marriages, or those performed without the blessing of the bride's parents, were known as "the marriages of Monreale", according toEliza Lynn Linton. These referred to marriages performed in remote places, where the law was less observed.[7] (seeGretna Green).
The church is a national monument of Italy and one of the most important attractions of Sicily. Its size is 102 metres long and 47 meters wide. The façade is characterized by two large towers (one partially destroyed by lightning in 1807) and a portal withRomanesque bronze doors decorated byBonanno Pisano. The interior is on theLatin cross plan, divided by ogival arcades, and features fresco cycles executed during the reigns of William II andTancred of Sicily (c. 1194). Thecloister has 228 small columns, each with different decorations influenced by Provençal, Burgundian, Arab and Salerno medieval art.
Castellaccio ("Bad Castle"), an example of a fortified convent on the Monte Caputo, at 764 m above sea level. It was built in the 12th century by King William II together with the Cathedral and the annexed monastery. It measures c. 80 x 30 m on an irregular plan with four towers on the western side, a middle tower and an entrance tower on the eastern side.
^Sapere.it."Monreale su Enciclopedia | Sapere.it".www.sapere.it (in Italian). Archived fromthe original on 2025-06-16. Retrieved2025-07-15. [It developed on a site frequented for hunting by the Norman kings, who built a royal palace there from which the name Mons Regalis derived; but the city acquired great importance only when King William II had the cathedral built (1174-89) with the annexed Benedictine monastery; in 1183 it became the seat of an archbishop.]
^Rodo Santoro:Palermo Cathedral, Palermo: 1999, p. 7
^Linton, Eliza Lynn (1885).Some Sicilian Customs (41 ed.). 'The Eclectic Magazine'.The church did not sanction marriage younger than these several ages [20 for men, 18 for women], save in exceptional cases; and anyone who assisted at the marriage of a girl below the age of 18, without the consent of her parents or guardians, was imprisoned for life and forfeited all he had. This law, however, was frequently broken in remote places, and especially about Palermo, where "the marriages of Monreale" have passed into a proverb. When a young girl, say of sixteen, marries and has a good childbirth, they say "She has been to Monreale".
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