The imposing mass of the rock looms over the inhabited area and over the comings and goings of humans, who, however, seem to consider this presence more a protection than a threat – at least judging by how the houses and streets of the old city center cluster along its slopes and climb along its base, like a bunch of little children who try to climb on their mother's lap. It is not a coincidence that the Norman town has been compared to a snail, the town its fragile body and la Rocca the great protective shell. And the horns? The horns would be the two towers of the Cathedral.
The fact that Cefalù and la Rocca constitute an unicum inseparable is under the eyes of all: when you ride down the main road coming from Palermo and get the first view of the city, just stop for a moment and try to imagine one without the other; Cefalù without its eternal guardian, the Cathedral without its rocky background, and you'll find that very little would remain of the extraordinary appeal emanating from this place. Part of this charm is given by the peculiar contraposition between the wilderness of la Rocca and that precious fruit of art and creativity that is the Cathedral of Cefalù; a contraposition (and in this case perfect fusion) between the random works of nature and the conscious effort of humans, between nature and civilization.
Other things could be said about la Rocca, its ancient history, and strange events which it may have witnessed, but we'll talk about this in a future occasion.
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