Beautiful view

A beautiful view which everybody would enjoy from their own room!

Church of San Cataldo, Palermo.

Was red the original colour of the Norman domes? …actually not!

The domes were originally covered by a waterproof coating called ‘cocciopesto’. The original light pink of the cocciopesto coating became grey due to weathering.

Their present-day red colour is not ‘original’. The domes were painted red after a restoration happened at the end of the 19th century. Then, the architect Giuseppe Patricolo who restored both Saint John of the Hermits and San Cataldo churches, found traces of red plaster and he assumed that the original colour was red.  However since then red domes became one of the most known symbols of Palermo.       

Find out more when you join me on the Arab-Norman Palermo tour!