Museo Diocesiano

Lonely Planet review

The Museo Diocesiano houses an important and rather extensive collection of artworks from the cathedral and churches destroyed during WWII; these include paintings, and marble, fresco and mosaic fragments. There's a friendly guide who will explain the significance of each piece (they are largely unmarked), though she speaks Italian and French only.

The ground floor holds 15th-century frescoes, along with Byzantine paintings and icons, among which the most beautiful is the 1171 Madonna della Perla, rescued from the now-no-more church of San Nicoló Reale.

Seek out the room dedicated to the 17th-century Sicilian painter Pietro Novelli (1603-47), who was one of the region's finest and served as a court painter to Spain's ruler, Philip IV. Much influenced by Anthony Van Dyck and Raphael, Novelli often appears in his chiaroscuro paintings. The museum's basement level is a mixture of sculpture, finds from destroyed churches, and paintings of Palermo.