Why this ride
From Monreale it runs 433 km to Monreale; allow about 6 h 24 of riding. It goes by way of Cefalù Cathedral, Villa Romana del Casale and back through Cefalù Cathedral. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Monreale Cathedral and Villa Romana del Casale
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 433 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 24
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Sicily Madonie Mountain Road
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 108 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 138 km
- Named road
- Sicily Madonie Mountain Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Monreale Cathedral
Monreale sits on the slope of Monte Caputo, a few kilometres above Palermo, and on a clear day you can see the whole Conca d'Oro basin laid out below you, with the city and its harbour at the far end. The Normans put a king's ambition up here in the 1170s: William II built a cathedral meant to rival anything in Palermo and, not incidentally, to tweak the archbishop down in the city. Inside, the walls are covered in gold mosaic, thousands of square metres of it, with a huge Christ Pantocrator filling the apse. Byzantine craftsmen did the work, and the whole story of the Bible runs around the nave like a very slow comic strip. Go in with your helmet in hand and nothing else on your mind.
Read the complete Monreale Cathedral write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Monreale Cathedral is where the day begins. Next is Cefalù Cathedral.
2. Cefalù Cathedral
Cefalù is where Sicily squeezes a medieval town between a rock and a beach. The Rocca, a limestone crag, rises a steep couple of hundred metres straight behind the old centre, and the cathedral sits at its foot, a heavy, golden-grey Norman building with two square towers that you can see from the coastal highway long before you reach the town. According to tradition King Roger II promised to build it after surviving a storm at sea, and work began in 1131. Whatever the truth of the vow, the church is a statement of power by a Norman king who ruled Sicily and wanted it to look Mediterranean, not merely northern.
Read the complete Cefalù Cathedral write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cefalù Cathedral comes up about 78 km into the recorded legs. Next is Villa Romana del Casale.
3. Villa Romana del Casale
Somewhere in the fourth century AD, a very rich Roman, perhaps a senator or an imperial official, built a country villa in the hills of central Sicily and covered its floors with mosaics. The Villa Romana del Casale, just outside Piazza Armerina, has some of the finest and most extensive Roman floor mosaics anywhere, around 3,500 square metres, inscribed on the UNESCO list in 1997. Buried by a landslide in the Middle Ages, the villa was rediscovered and excavated mainly in the twentieth century, and the mosaics were preserved remarkably well.
Read the complete Villa Romana del Casale write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 216 km into the recorded legs you reach Villa Romana del Casale. Next is back through Cefalù Cathedral.
4. back through Cefalù Cathedral
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cefalù Cathedral write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cefalù Cathedral, late in the day. Next is Monreale Cathedral.
5. Monreale Cathedral
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Monreale Cathedral write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Monreale Cathedral. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Monreale Cathedral to Cefalù Cathedral
Monreale Cathedral → Cefalù Cathedral is 78 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Cefalù Cathedral to Villa Romana del Casale
Cefalù Cathedral → Villa Romana del Casale is 138 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Villa Romana del Casale to back through Cefalù Cathedral
Villa Romana del Casale → back through Cefalù Cathedral is 142 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Cefalù Cathedral to Monreale Cathedral
back through Cefalù Cathedral → Monreale Cathedral is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.