Much of the culture of southern Italy in the Norman period was of monastic origin. The courts of the Norman lords were centres of artistic production, first and foremost the royal court of Palermo. Montecassino, Salerno and Palermo formed the melting-pot in which the four cultural components of Norman Italy - Lombard, Byzantine, Islamic and French - were fused together.
Medicine was particularly advanced : firstly at Montecassino, then, with important results, at the school of medicine in Salerno. The literary output was also notable : in particular, there were numerous translations of scientific texts from Arabic and Greek. There was also a flourishing school of book illumination.

In the field of architecture, Norman patronage led to the construction of a series of ecclesiastical buildings in which the pre-existing traditions ('Cassinese', Byzantine and Arabizing) tended to coexist with the imported Benedictine-Cluniac style. Although little attention was paid to painting, the Norman kings commissioned a series of truly outstanding mosaic cycles (Monreale, the Cappella Palatina in Palermo), which today are perhaps the most splendid memorial to their era.

Medical culture : the legacy of oriental science

Literary works : history-writing

Court of Palermo : a cultural and scientific center

The book and illumination

Religious architecture

Mosaics

Painting and large decorations