Why this ride
From Palermo it runs 424 km to Palermo; allow about 6 h 14 of riding. On the way it passes Cefalù Cathedral, Villa Romana del Casale and back through Cefalù Cathedral. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Royal Palace and Palatine Chapel and Villa Romana del Casale
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 424 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 14
- 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
Royal Palace and Palatine Chapel → Cefalù Cathedral
76 km on Royal Palace and Palatine Chapel → Cefalù Cathedral.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 76 km
Sicily Madonie Mountain Road
108 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it. Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 138 km
- Named road
- Sicily Madonie Mountain Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Royal Palace and Palatine Chapel
The Palazzo dei Normanni, the Norman Palace, is the oldest royal residence in Europe, and it has been continuously in use for about a thousand years. The Arabs built a fortress on this rise above Palermo, and the Norman kings of the twelfth century made it their palace, adding towers, halls and a chapel. After them it passed to the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick II, who held a court of poets, scientists and translators here, and the early Italian lyric is said to have started in this circle. Today the Sicilian Regional Assembly meets in the building, which makes it a working parliament as well as a monument.
Read the complete Royal Palace and Palatine Chapel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Royal Palace and Palatine Chapel 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 76 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 214 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 Royal Palace and Palatine Chapel.
5. Royal Palace and Palatine Chapel
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Royal Palace and Palatine Chapel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Royal Palace and Palatine Chapel. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Royal Palace and Palatine Chapel to Cefalù Cathedral
Royal Palace and Palatine Chapel → Cefalù Cathedral is 76 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 Royal Palace and Palatine Chapel
back through Cefalù Cathedral → Royal Palace and Palatine Chapel is 68 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.