Church of Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio vs Palatine Chapel
Two churches in Palermo. Church of Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio has 1 ticket or tour to book; Palatine Chapel has 6 tickets and tours to book. The table and the two notes below put them side by side; the full pages have what to see, the ticket and the timing for each.
The Martorana stands on Piazza Bellini in the historic centre of Palermo, beside the little red-domed church of San Cataldo and facing Santa Caterina, and a small admission is charged. It is one of the essential sights of Palermo and part of the UNESCO listing of Arab-Norman Palermo, together with the Palatine Chapel and the cathedrals of Monreale and Cefalu. Walking tours of the old town always include it, usually with the Quattro Canti crossroads and the Pretoria fountain next door.
The chapel is inside the Norman Palace, which is also the Sicilian regional parliament, so the ticket covers the palace and its royal apartments as well; prices differ on days when the assembly sits and parts are closed. Buying online with a time slot is worth it in summer, when the queue in the courtyard is long and shadeless. Guided tours cost two to three times the entry and are useful because the mosaics carry Greek, Latin and Arabic inscriptions that spell out exactly what the building is arguing.
