The Church of San Giovanni degli Eremiti, with its five pink domes, is one of the symbolic monuments of the Unesco Arab-Norman Palermo itinerary.
It is a magnificent example of a Christian building, built according to Islamic architectural models.
Its appearance, created with a succession of cubes surmounted by domes, has a strong symbolic value.
The area where the Church of San Giovanni degli Eremiti stands has always performed a sacred function, during the Muslim rule of the island there was a mosque here.
The construction of a Benedictine monastery dates back to the years between 1130 and 1148.
During the sixteenth century, the church underwent considerable transformations and was incorporated into a new building.
A restoration project in 1880 demolished the sixteenth-century extensions and brought the building back to its original appearance.
Of the structure of the ancient Benedictine monastery, only the thirteenth-century cloister has survived.
