One night in 1171, King William II, known as “the Good,” was resting from the burdens of war and governance, as was customary for Norman kings, in an ancient Arab village called Balharā. In a dream, the Virgin Mary appeared to him and revealed the location of an immense treasure—a war booty hidden by his father, William I, known as “the Bad.”

She instructed him to use it to build a temple in her honor. Under a large carob tree, he found the treasure and immediately began the construction of what would become the magnificent Cathedral of Monreale. At the foot of Mount Caputo, 300 meters above sea level and near Palermo, a fortified citadel arose.