Cefalù

Our lovely city stands on a strip of land stretching out towards the Tyrrhenian Sea, at the foot of the mighty cliff, the Rocca, which dominates it and which has become its symbol. Thanks to the mild climate and the superb artistic and naturalistic beauties, the city is considered one of the pearls of Sicily. Little is known about the origins of Cefalù.

The city probably arose around the 5th century. BCas a fortified outpost, almost certainly Greek, right at the foot of the Rock, where the historic center is still located today, enclosed within a mighty city wall known asMegalithic Walls. Not only the megalithic walls and, in part, the urban fabric, but also some interesting evidence that recent archaeological research has brought to light date back to Hellenistic-Roman Cefalù.

Between the end of the 5th and the beginning of the 4th century. B.C. the Temple of Dianamust be dated, a megalithic building located on the Rock, built around a proto-historic cistern which, created as the seat of a water cult, testifies, together with two caves on the east side of the Rock, the presence of a human settlement in the area even before the birth of the urban center by the sea.

In the Byzantine period the city, like many other coastal locations, was moved to the Rock to better defend itself from pirate attacks. Here, significant remains of medieval structures are still visible (crenellated walls, cisterns, churches, barracks and a series of ovens). The polychrome mosaic (6th century) can also be ascribed to this same period.