The earliest nucleus of the palace was an Arab fortress between the Kemonia and Papireto rivers. After the Norman conquest of 1072, the Normans built a castle there as a royal residence and administrative hub. Roger II, William I and William II held court here, and Frederick II and Conrad IV later used it as an imperial seat. The article names no architect.
The Norman core had four towers and workshops, including textile laboratories. The Palatine Chapel, built in 1130 after Roger II's coronation, has mosaics, a fretted and painted wooden roof, and marble on the lower walls and floor. The article calls it the best example of the Norman-Arab-Byzantine style of 12th-century Sicily.
Spanish viceroys added the Fountain Courtyard in 1584 and the Maqueda Courtyard in 1600,. The palace has been the seat of the Sicilian Regional Assembly since 1946. The article gives no dimensions.
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