Piazza Bellini

Arab-Norman and Baroque Churches

Piazza Bellini is a square within the Kalsa quarter in the historic center of Palermo. It's close to Quattro Canti, the intersection at the center of the historic district.

On its south side are two Norman era churches, Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio or the Martorana, and San Cataldo. Both are built in an Arab-Norman style.

On its north side is a Baroque church and monastery, Santa Caterina d'Alessandria.

The two Arab-Norman churches were the highlight of Palermo, in my opinion.

George of Antioch

George of Antioch or Γεώργιος ό Άντιοχεύς was a Syrian Christian admiral and principal advisor and minister of King Roger II of Sicily. He had a major role in making Norman-ruled Sicily into a multi-cultural society and naval power. His palace and surrounding property occupied some of the area of today's Biazza Bellini, and he sponsored the construction of the church now known as Santa Maria dell'Ammiragalio, Holy Mary of the Admiral.

George grew up in Antioch and then left it probably around 1084, when the Seljuk Turks conquered the city. He made his way to Constantinople and came to be employed by Byzantine Emperor Alexios Komnenos.

Around 1087, something happened that caused the Emperor to exile George and his family. They left Constantinople by sea, and their boat was captured by the navy of Tamim ibn al-Muizz, the Emir of Ifriqiya, which spanned today's eastern Algeria, Tunisia, and western Libya.

George worked for the Emir and became governor of the city of Sūsah or Sousse. But the successor Emir killed George's brother, and George and his surviving family fled north to Norman-controlled Sicily. The island had become the County of Sicily in 1017 during the Norman conquest of southern Italy, and then Roger II had founded the Kingdom of Sicily in 1130. George found a position in the court of Roger II.

George's linguistic and administrative skills led to several jobs for the Norman court and a rapid rise in his influence and power. He discredited and took the place of his mentor and was equivalent to a vizier or prime minister, with power over military affairs and finance nearly equal to that of King Roger II.

Under the influence of George, Arabic traditions became part of the Norman rule of Sicily. He became a naval commander, and was known as "admiral of admirals" after he had replaced his mentor. George's position was the source of the word admiral, derived from the Arabic emir al-bar, "chief commander of the sea". George convinced Roger to dress and behave more like an Arab ruler, directed government ministries to write documents in Arabic, and adopted government practices from the Fatimid Caliphate.

George funded the construction of the first church I visited on Piazza Bellini, the Church of Holy Mary of the Admiral. It demonstrates the Arab-Norman-Byzantine culture he helped to establish in Palermo.

Chiesa Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio

Chiesa Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio or the church of Holy Mary of the Admiral is on the south side of the Piazza. It's also known under the much simpler name of Martorana, after a convent that used to be nearby.

The Byzantine dome over the central cupola is to the left when seen from the piazza. To its right is a Baroque façade added when the narthex was extended in the 17th century, and a Romanesque campanile or bell tower built in the 13th century, now forming the entrance to the church.

The foundation document of the church still exists. It was written in Koine Greek and Arabic in 1143. Its initial construction was completed by George's death in 1151–1152, he and his wife were interred in the narthex.

Some of the exterior elements show the influence of Islamic architecture. See the recessed niches around the high windows on the Byzantine section seen above at left. Also, a frieze with a dedicatory inscription runs along the top of the exterior walls. Its text is Greek, but the general form of such a frieze comes from the Islamic architecture of North Africa.

The 12th century Arab traveler Ibn Jubayr had already seen dazzling medieval cities including Baghdad, Cairo, and Córdoba, but he thought that this church was "one of the most marvelous constructions ever to be seen."

You enter through the bell tower.

You enter into what was the narthex and now is the back end of the nave. That more recent extension has Baroque decoration which isn't nearly as interesting as the rest of the interior. Baroque music is wonderful, but Baroque architecture and decoration give me a headache. It's just too much.

Albanian exiles took refuge in southern Italy and Sicily starting in the 15th century, when the Ottoman Empire was persecuting them in today's Albania and the Balkans. These Italo-Albanians are known as the Arbëreshë. This church is a co-cathedral, one of two seats of a bishop in the Italo-Albanian Catholic Church. It does the liturgy according to the Byzantine Rite, using the Koine Greek and Albanian languages.

The church is famous for its 12th century mosaics in the Byzantine style, probably created by craftsmen from Constantinople. Below is the first one you see, on the left side of the former narthex. It's out in the narthex, so it is surrounded by gaudily Baroque decoration.

The mosaic depicts George of Antioch as a supplicant to the Virgin Mary, looking as if he is a pupating caterpillar. He sponsored the church's construction and it was dedicated to her.

The right side of the former narthex has the most important mosaic in terms of history and iconography. It depicts Roger II being crowned by Christ. ΡΟΓΕΡΙΟΣ ΡΗΞ or "King Roger".

The mosaic makes a bold statement. The Holy Roman Emperor and other western kings were crowned by the Pope or one of his representatives. Roger, in the style of the Byzantine Emperors in Constantinople, answers to and is crowned by a higher authority. Take that, crumbling traces of the western Roman Empire! Roger always presented himself as an emperor and was addressed as βασιλεύς or basileus, "king".

Moving forward into the roughly square original interior, the ceiling decoration switches to glittering mosaics. Two rows of columns made from various multicolored stone divide the space into a central nave and side aisles, each with a semicircular apse.

The first picture below looks from right to left across the rear of the original nave. Baroque paintings cover the ceiling to the left, toward the rear. This central arch has a Nativity scene.

The right or southern aisle, seen above, has Saint Anne, Mary's mother, in its apse. Above her in the arch are Παυλος and Ηακοβος, Paul and Jacob, and closer yet, appearing upside-down above, Σιμον and Βαρθολομεος, Simon and Bartholomew. The first picture below looks toward the rear in that arch, with the figures' positions reversed.

The central dome above the nave has the traditional Byzantine Khristos Pantokrátor or Χριστὀς Παντοκράτωρ surrounded by the archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel. Below that are the eight prophets of the Hebrew Bible, and in the pendentives, the niches forming the dome's base, the four evangelists or Gospel authors.

A ring of wooden beams forms the base of the dome, decorated with an Arabic inscription in white script on a dark blue background. The text is derived from the Greek liturgy, the Great Doxology and the "Hymn of Victory" or Epiníkios Hýmnos, Ἐπινίκιος Ὕμνος, sung by the choir during the portion of the Eucharist in which the elements of bread and wine are consecrated.

Joachim, Mary's father, is in the apse of the left or north apse. In the arch are Αδρεας and Πετρος, Andrew and Peter.

Looking the other way, it's Θομας and Φιλιππος, Thomas and Philip.

The opposite side of the arch with the Nativity depicts the Κοίμησις or Koimesis, broadly known as the Dormition, as in "Falling Asleep". The Orthodox churches believe that Mary died a natural death and that her soul was received by Christ. That's what we're seeing here — she is lying on her deathbed, surrounded by the apostles, and Jesus is holding her soul in the form of a baby.

The altar and sanctuary area in the central apse was redone in a very Baroque style in the early 1600s.

The rear arch beneath the central dome shows the Annunciation, with Gabriel at left and Mary at right.

Chiesa San Cataldo

The Church of Saint Cataldo is directly in front of Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio. It was built starting in 1154 in the Arab-Norman style.

It has three cubole or red hemispherical domes, an Arab style merlon or crenellated parapet, and blind arches on the external walls.

George of Antioch died in 1151–1152, and the position of Admiral lapsed briefly. King Roger II died and was succeeded by William I, who re-established the title and awarded it to Maio of Bari, who founded this church.

Conspiracy theories arose. Maio's enemies spread rumors that he was planning to assassinate the king and seize the throne. Maio had chosen Matthew Bonnellus to marry his daughter. But Bonnellus had fallen in love with another woman, and he joined the Archbishop of Palermo in the conspiracy to assassinate Maio.

Bonnellus assassinated Maio of Bari in 1160, and so the interior of this church was never finished.

The columns and their Corinthian capitals are spolia, material removed from earlier structures and reused. They came from different structures and no two are alike.

The columns divide the space into a nave and two aisles. The mosaic floor and altar are original.

The church was converted to a post office at the beginning of the 19th century, then restored into a church in 1882–1885.

Chiesa Santa Caterina d'Alessandria

In 1310, a wealthy widow endowed the establishment of a Dominican convent dedicated to Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Egypt. The convent was on the former site of the palazzo of George of Antioch.

In 1532 the convent decided to enlarge their church, eventually. The construction and renovation work was done in 1566–1596.

The result, Chiesa Santa Caterina d'Alessandria or the Church of Saint Catherine of Alexandria is on the north side of the piazza, directly opposite Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio. Its façade is in the Renaissance style, linear and relatively plain.

Inside, however, the church is decorated in the Baroque style. Paintings, frescoes, statues, carved stucco, colored marble, gilding, and more. Like Renaissance architecture but distorted — higher, grander, more decorated, more dramatic. "More" is the theme of Baroque.

The Baroque style was originally introduced by the Catholic church in Italy, especially by the Jesuits. It was intended as a shock-and-awe weapon against the Reformation and the Protestant church, a new architecture to attract the common people. Pope Urban VIII, who ruled 1623 to 1644, became the most influential patron of the Baroque style.

Chapels line the sides of the nave. One has a crucifix on a cabinet of reliquaries.

The Rococo style was developed in the 1730s in France. Sometimes called Late Baroque, think of it as "Baroque But Even More So."

The altar area is decorated with porphyry, lapis lazuli, and other colored stones. The statues are gilded with silver and gold.

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The convent structure is even larger than the church. It site to the east of the church, to its right as you look at the church façade from the piazza.

The convent laundry made me think of a scene in The Three Musketeers. The real movie, from 1973, not the inferior remakes.

Fontana Pretoria

Piazza Pretoria is filled with a High Renaissance fountain built in 1554–1555, when Palermo and Messina were competing to be the island's top city with the fanciest fountain.

The fountain was originally designed for the Tuscan garden of Peter of Toledo, father-in-law to Cosimo de'Medici. It was installed there, then disassembled and moved to Palermo in 1573–1574. It's quite large, filling the piazza with fifty white Carrera marble statues of monsters, sirens, harpies, and tritons.

These pictures are from my first day in Palermo, when it was unusually dark and cloudy. However, I returned on later days and found that I could barely see the statues — everything was blindingly bright white in the sun.

The semi-nude and fully nude statues were all the style up around Florence. However, they scandalized the more pious people of Palermo, who promptly named it Fontana della Vergogna or the Fountain of Shame.