Why this ride
A 426 km round trip from Palermo - roughly 6 h 20 in the saddle. On the way it passes 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
Zisa Palace and Villa Romana del Casale
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 426 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 20
- 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
Zisa Palace → Cefalù Cathedral
76 km on Zisa Palace → 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. Zisa Palace
The Zisa is a Norman palace in Palermo that looks Arab, and that is the whole point. Begun around 1165 under King William I and finished by his son, William II, it was built as a summer pleasure house outside the city walls, set in a walled park with pools and orchards that has long since vanished. The name comes from the Arabic al-Aziz, meaning the splendid, and the building is a tall, severe block of golden stone with blind arches and a long inscription in Arabic script, designed by craftsmen from across the Mediterranean working for Christian kings. It is part of the Arab-Norman Palermo group that UNESCO listed in 2015.
Read the complete Zisa Palace write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Zisa Palace 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 Zisa Palace.
5. Zisa Palace
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Zisa Palace write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Zisa Palace. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Zisa Palace to Cefalù Cathedral
Zisa Palace → 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 Zisa Palace
back through Cefalù Cathedral → Zisa Palace is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.