With the Norman conquest of Sicily in the 11th century, the Normans started building magnificent cathedrals, abbeys and castles, as they did in Normandy and everywhere else. And so, the Norman King William II, called the Good, commissioned the massive Monreale Cathedral on a hill above Palermo in 1174. His reasons were also strategic. He wanted to display royal authority over the ambitious Archbishop of Palermo, Walter Ophamil, formerly the young king’s tutor, following political rivalry and a dispute over a royal burial. William II wanted Monreale to be a grand royal pantheon and a powerful religious centre directly tied to the crown, reducing Palermo’s influence. And indeed, Pope Lucius III elevated Monreale to a metropolitan archdiocese in 1183, giving it authority over territory previously controlled by Palermo. And so there are two magnificent cathedrals in and above Palermo to admire today.