Palermo's cathedral was built by Frederick II who was both Holy Roman Emperor and sovran of the Kingdom of Sicily. He was known as stupor mundi or wonder of the world for his intellect, broad mindedness and great culture. The birth of the Renaissance can be traced to Sicily. His court gave birth to the scuola siciliana, the Sicilian school that was the first literary movement in Italy. The sonnet BTW, was first developed by Jacopo Lentini an early Italian poet who along with Cielo D'Alcamo and others established this prolific school that was the true beginning of the Italian language. A century before Dante who called Sicilians the true fathers of Italian and the first. But Frederick had a great foe, the Papacy. Because of geography, the papal states were now surrounded both north and south so the Pope felt trapped. His answer was to have Frederick poisoned while he was hunting in Puglia. What can I say. Nevertheless this splendid church is where our greatest leader is buried. He loved Palermo and made it a truly cosmopolitan city of learning and culture. Sicily was the only place where Christians of the Eastern and western churches, Jews and Arabs all lived together and got along splendidly. This is something that we Sicilians still have in our culture. At any rate, this church should be visited if one is ever in Palermo.
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