The cathedral stands on the highest point of Piazza Armerina and is seen from the whole valley. It is dedicated to the Madonna of the Victories, and her cult was born from a banner: tradition says count Roger received it from the pope during the Norman conquest of Sicily, with the image of the Virgin, and the town later obtained the honour of keeping it.
What to see
The present building is of the seventeenth century, with the great dome added later, but the bell tower belongs to the earlier church and keeps its windows in Catalan taste, a legacy of Aragonese rule. Inside, the icon of the Madonna stands above the high altar, and it is the object around which the whole church and the town's feast are organised.
The story of that banner is the extraordinary part. In 1161, fearing the king would take it to Palermo, the notables shut it in a wooden chest and buried it secretly in a hermitage outside the town. Shortly afterwards, in 1163, the Norman settlement was burned and razed by the royal troops, and the town was rebuilt some miles away.
Visiting
The cathedral is in piazza Duomo, at the top of the old town; free entry, with hours tied to services and closing in the early afternoon. From the square in front you see the whole valley, and in August the town's palio is held here. Half an hour.
Our editors' tip
Looking at the icon, bear in mind that it lay buried in a chest for almost two centuries: it was found again during the plague of 1348, following dreams and indications, and carried in procession. Those who hid it never saw it again, and in the meantime the town that had hidden it had been burned and rebuilt elsewhere.