Agrigento - Cattedrale di San Gerlando

Soon after Agrigento (named Gergent or Girgenti at that time) had been conquered by the Normans, Roger II. founded a bishopric seat here. The Normans erected a castle to control the area and started to erect a cathedral on the top of the highest place in 1087. The church was completed already in 1094. The cathedral got fortified by a tower in the first half of the 12th century. The place was unstable and in 1198 a landslide caused a lot of destruction. It got reconstructed and used by Frederick II as a garrison against Saracen rebels. Due to earthquakes, the church collapsed and had to be rebuilt. Following the reconstruction carried out, it got dedicated to San Gerlando in 1315.

Restauration of the church started end of the 19th century and took many decades. A landslide in 1966 threatened the building and so the ridge on which it was erected had to be consolidated and enforced. The church was closed to the public in 2011 but got reopened again in 2019. The name INFANTIN(I) (?) was carved into the cathedral´s wall probably earlier. At first I suspected the president of the "Fédération Internationale de Football Association" (aka FIFA), but his name is Infantino.