After climbing up 91 steps, we arrived at the Cathedral of Monreale. Although I thought I couldn’t be more impressed by mosaics after Cappella Palatina in Palermo, the Cathedral easily proved me wrong. With thousands upon thousands of square meters of mosaics glittering on the walls, the Cathedral is flawless in any direction you look. Like the Cappella Palatina, the Cathedral was a fusion of Islamic and Christian architectural features like the Christian figures and tree motif. We also had the luck to see the restoration process. The man worked slowly and precisely while choosing, placing, hammering, and cleaning the tesseras. The hammering in particular surprised me, as I thought the tesserae were too delicate for it.

Nearby, the Cloister doesn’t have the sheer grandiose of floor to ceiling mosaics of its neighboring church, but it was far more stunning to me. I could spend days in the Cloister in Monreale just examining each column’s capital, carvings, and mosaics.

The Duomo di Catania stands out in stark contrast to the those of Ragusa, Modica, Noto, and Siracusa. Although the same devastating earthquake forced these cities to rebuild in the similar baroque architecture of the time, Catania was the only city that chose volcanic rock for the project. The grey rock was disjarring after seeing the blindingly white Duomos of the other cities, but the building still has the familiar elaborate Corinthian columns, haloed statues, and curved front. The unique choice of volcanic rock made the Duomo of Catania my favorite of otherwise similar churches.

Afterwards, a couple of us pondered whether an ancient temple made of this rock should be dedicated to Vulcan because of his association with volcanoes, or Pluto because of the aesthetic.