CEFALU (anc. Cephaloedium), a seaport and episcopal see of the province of Palermo, Sicily, 42 m. E. of Palermo by rail. Pop. (1931) 9,763 (town), 1o,610 (commune). The ancient town is named from the headland (Gr. KE.OaX7'7, head) upon which it stood (1,233 ft.) ; its fortifications extended to the shore, on the side where the modern town now is, in the form of two long walls protecting the port. There are remains of a wall of massive rectangular blocks of stone at the modern Porta Garibaldi on the south. It does not appear in history before 396 B.C., and seems to have owed its importance mainly to its naturally strong posi tion. A small ancient building in good polygonal work (a style of construction very rare in Sicily), consists of a passage on each side of which a chamber opens. The doorways are of finely-cut stone, and of Greek type. On the summit of the promontory are extensive remains of a Saracenic castle. The new town was founded at the foot of the mountain, by the shore, by Roger II. in 1131, and the cathedral was begun in the same year. The ex terior is well preserved, and is largely decorated with interlacing pointed arches ; the windows also are pointed. On each side of the facade is a massive tower of four storeys. The round-headed Norman portal is worthy of note. The interior was restored in though the pointed arches of the nave, borne by ancient granite columns, are still visible : and the only mosaics preserved are those of the apse and the last bay of the choir: they are re markably fine specimens of the art of the period (1148) and were carefully restored in 1859-62. Fine cloisters, coeval with the cathedral, adjoin it.