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Cefalù is an ancient city in the province of Palermo, located on the northern coast of Sicily, Italy on the Tyrrhenian Sea about 75 km east from the provincial capital and 185 km west of Messina. The town has about 14,000 inhabitants, and is one of the major tourist attractions in the region. Cefalù is one of the Mediterranean's undiscovered jewels. The epitome of picturesque grandeur. Good descriptions of this captivating seaside town beneath a steep mountain. Cefalù has a beach, winding, narrow, medieval streets, and delightful restaurants overlooking a rocky coast. All under the everpresent gaze of the Norman-Arab-Byzantine cathedral, one of the greatest churches of southern Europe. Nestled between the Madonie Mountains and the sea, Cefalù's mountain boasts the ruins of a large fortress and an ancient Sicanian-Greek temple. The view from the summit is inspiring.
On the northern coast, 75 kilometers east of Palermo, from which it is about forty-five minutes by car, a bit longer on an express train, Cefalù (with the accent on the last syllable) is a medieval town built on the site of an ancient Sicanian and Greek settlement. In fact, its name derives from the Greek word for a cape; the ancient city was called Cephaloedion.
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