Cefalù: the castle on the Rocca and the famous temple of Diana
The castle ruins, the temple of Diana, the crenellated walls: these are the three things that the Rocca of Cefalù, near Palermo, reserves for its viewers. With its 268 meters above sea level, this place is not only a beautiful scenery but also a valuable testimony of the history and the culture of this city.
On top of the Rocca, there are the remains of the castle of Cefalù: dating to the Thirteenth-Fourteenth Century, the remains of the castle allow us to draw the floor plan of a building consisting of two towers and a central body composed of twelve rooms.
A castle that was protected by sizeable city walls: these crenellated walls give to the Rocca its characteristic appearance; the eastern part of these fortifications are being rebuilt, while the portion erected near the natural cliff is better preserved.
And probably, the most striking element of the entire Rocca of Cefalù is the temple of Diana: it is a megalithic building that was built around the Ninth Century BC; this was a sacred place, especially linked to the worship of Water; and the importance of the temple was later confirmed in the Byzantine era, when on the rest of the temple was erected a Christian church.
Image source: flickr.com/photos/normanno
Posted in: Ideas for a weekend on 21-06-2012