This plaza, only a short walk from Quattro Canti, holds three churches. They are architecturally different, but all are still beautiful. All are historically significant. Allow 60 to 90 minutes if you plan to visit all three.

The nice thing about this ornate little square is that it has 3 churches in the one small space (two of them are World Heritage Sites). This makes sight-seeing very easy. San Cataldo (1154) is the smallest and plainest church with the distinctive 3 pinky-red domes. It was covered in scaffolding when we were there in February. Right next to it is the church of Martorana (1143) which has an unusual blend of Norman and Arabic architecture, striking mosaics and a bell tower. With limited time, we had to decide which one of the churches to go into. We chose Santa Caterina, mainly because we could also see the convent and nuns’ bakery (which is still making biscuits and cakes). NEARBY: Piazza Bellini is connected by a narrow passageway to Piazza Pretoria and the wonderfully named Fountain of Shame. It is only another 2 minutes further on to Quattro Canti.