The story of Monreale is intimately connected to that of nearby Palermo. Today the municipal area has a large extension, which, however, does not match a corresponding development of the economy. Agriculture was the basic activity of the economy of Monreale, and large industry and the public service sector were absent, settling in neighboring Palermo and absorbing labor. The craft, consisting mainly ceramists, mosaic makers, basket weavers and tailors are still present, albeit with all the limitations of a really depressed and characterized by the presence of the Mafia. Tourism, however, while very large and spread across all seasons, is transit tourism and, lacking adequate accommodation complexes, leaves no sign from the economic point of view. However Monreale, Sicily as a whole, was a meeting point of different cultures and the rich artistic heritage has generated, over the centuries, a reality made up of schools, workshops, artists and technical value. E 'in this context that they play their game the workshops of mosaic and ceramic, rooted in the area around the Cathedral and exploiting the attraction of unique tourist destination. Near the Cathedral of Monreale, in fact, abound craft shops, points of reference for the artistic and cultural life of the town, in whose heart are two of the busiest squares in Italy by tourists from around the world: Piazza Guglielmo II and Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II. In these places, the patchwork, cleverly used to Palermo in Monreale as during the rule of the Arab-Norman, is one of the strongest cultural ties with the tradition and the memory of art history in the area, with which modern knowledge is related and from which It is conditioned and fed. Mosaic art is, even today, living as an expression, always able to fulfill its original function of expression, but renovated in the materials that modern society can make available.