Gerlando, Bishop of Agrigento, and the Grand Count of Sicily Roger of Hauteville built the Cathedral at the highest point of the hill of Agrigento, in six years, from 1093 to 1099.
Almost nothing has been preserved of the Norman Cathedral and its decorative elements, which likely had a limited development, in line with other building projects of the comital age.
Few testimonies remain of the Norman Cathedral and its decorative elements. The first nucleus likely consisted of a three-nave plan, not very developed in length, with three altars dedicated to Saint Mary Assumed into Heaven, the Apostle James, and the Holy Sacrament, two towers in the transept, a bell tower. A model of a fortified church was chosen for Agrigento as well, in a land of crusaders.
Today, the only portion left visibly exposed is the tower oriented to the south, commonly known as the “clock tower,” which preserves, although in many points altered, the wall cladding in well-squared medium-sized blocks along the southern face.
Of the two towers in the transept, today only the one oriented to the south remains, commonly known as the “clock tower” with its military control walkway. Among the sculptural testimonies, we remember a small stone elephant, one of the two elephants that supported the first episcopal chair, today preserved in the Diocesan Museum, as well as the marble panel depicting the Mystical Lamb, of Jerusalem manufacture, once part of the screen that adorned the Norman-Swabian Cathedral, also preserved in the Diocesan Museum.
On March 20, 1159, during the reign of William I, Bishop Gentile solemnly transferred the body of Gerlando, who died in the odor of sanctity, from the crypt to the upper part of the Cathedral, between two altars, that of the Holy Sacrament and the Madonna. In these years, the devotion to the proto-bishop was legitimized, solidifying the bond with the church, thus transforming the Cathedral into a sanctuary, the custodian of the saint’s relics.
Enemy incursions continued uninterruptedly, even under the empire of Roger II. Bishop Gualtiero promoted the construction of a new defense tower that was to safeguard not only the Cathedral but also the entire city, built in three years, with large squared stone blocks, transported from the ancient Greek city located in the valley, with the help of many buffaloes.
After the transition in the Kingdom of Sicily from the Normans to the Swabians (which occurred with the marriage between Constance of Hauteville, daughter of Roger II, and Henry of Swabia, son of Frederick I Barbarossa), Saracen attacks continued. In 1220, the Muslims occupied the Cathedral, the bell tower, and the Episcopal Palace.
Even Bishop Rainaldo D’Acquaviva (1240-1264), chosen by Frederick II, considered the Cathedral and the Episcopal Palace his first concern and committed himself to rebuild it in a more beautiful form. Bishop Rinaldo is credited with the first examination of the body of Saint Gerlando, during which all the physical remains, fragments of the garment, and a staff were found, and placed in a painted wooden ark by Magister Vincenzo. In 1281, on the south side, the chapel commissioned by Bishop Goberto of S. Quintino in honor of Saint John the Baptist, Eligius, and Nicholas was executed.
