Cefalù sightseeing

What to see and do in Cefalù—Strolling the town; climbing the mountain

Tourist info:
www.cefalu.it

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Cefalù guide
• Intro
• Sights
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• Planning FAQ

Corso Ruggiero is the pedestrianized main drag of Cefalù, awash with the passeggiata and lined with shops and modest palazzi.

The striking cathedral of Cefalù

A leisurely stroll down Corso Ruggiero leads to Piazza Duomo, a palm-shaded cafe-lined square that serves as a stage for the monumental twin-towered facade of the Duomo (tel. +39-0921-922-021), magnificently set against the foot of the towering rocca cliffs.

Roger II built this first of Sicily's great Norman cathedrals in 1131, supposedly in thanks after his ship found shelter here during a violent sea storm. By 1166, they’d put the finishing touches on the altar-end mosaics, fantastic Greek-Byzantine creations featuring a mighty Christ Pancrator in the curve of the apse with outstretched hands and a kindly look on His face.

The baroque accretions that once decorated the nave have been "restored" out of the picture to return the body of the church to its plain, medieval appearance.

It's open daily 8am to noon, 3:15pm to 8pm.

Small museum with a big little painting

From the edge of the Duomo square, Via Mandralisca leads down to the Museo Mandralisca at no. 13 (tel. +39-0921-421-547, www.museomandralisca.it), a small museum whose treasures are a 4th-century BC vase showing a tuna vendor and customer haggling, and Antonella da Messina's smirking Portrait of a Man (1460s). It's open daily 9am to 1pm and 3 to 7pm (in summer, they stay open 9am to 7pm—to 11pm in August). (Adm)

Photo ops in a fishing town

Continue down via Mandralisca to Via V. Emanuele and turn left. Discesa Fiume leads right down to the Lavatoio, a medieval Laundromat complete with stone washing and rinsing basins and wedge-shaped scrubbing slabs.

Head the other way down Via Vittorio Emanuele to glimpse into the dock-front rooms on the left where fishermen mend their nets, and finally spill left into the little fishing wharf itself, where the pebbly beach is filled with sun-bleached wooden boats and (in summer) suntanned swimmers. The famous, uneven row of waterfront boathouses with their yawning Gothic arches was used for scenes in the film Cinema Paradiso.

Hiking to the ancient temple the mountaintop

If you've got about three hours (early morning is best), you can take a bracing hike 917 feet up the Rocca.

About halfway up, the path splits. Steps to the right lead the long way up to the overgrown foundations of a 13th-century Byzantine fortress at the very top of the mountain.

The path to the left leads past ancient cisterns and remnants of medieval houses (and a long, picturesquely crenellated wall), to the so-called Temple of Diana, a small, 5th-century BC temple made of huge stones fitted together with a few doorways surviving. A path to the right above the temple then leads steeply to that mountaintop fortress.

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This material was last updated October 2009. All information was accurate at the time.

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