The Italian Minister for Beni Culturali and Turismo recently announced that Palermo, Cefalù and Monreale have applied to be included in the Unesco World Heritage. Palermo has been chosen for its Arabic-Norman heritage, background and atmosphere, Cefalù and Monreale for their beautiful cathedrals.

The whole site includes "a collection of monuments with a decorative apparatus of mosaics, paintings and sculptures that resulted from a socio-cultural syncretism which, during the period of Norman domination (1071-1194), gave birth to an extraordinary artistic and architectural heritage of outstanding value".

Experts consider this site unique as it is "an organic whole which at the same time is diverse and multifaceted. Extraordinary of its kind, it represents the highest artistic expression of the Norman kingdom in southern Italy".

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