Palermo (Italian: [palrmo] ( listen), Sicilian: Palermu, Latin: Panormus,

from Greek: , Panormos, Arabic:

, Balarm; Phoenician , Ziz) is a city in Insular Italy,

the capital of both the autonomous region ofSicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for
its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its
existence; it is over 2,700 years old. Palermo is located in the northwest of the island of Sicily, right
by the Gulf of Palermo in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
The city was founded in 734 BC by the Phoenicians as Ziz ('flower'). Palermo then became a
possession of Carthage, before becoming part of the Roman Republic, the Roman Empire and
eventually part of theByzantine Empire, for over a thousand years. The Greeks named the
city Panormus meaning 'complete port'. From 831 to 1072 it was under Arab rule during the Emirate
of Sicily when it first became a capital. The Arabs corrupted the Greek name into Balarm, the root for
its present-day name. Following the Norman reconquest, Palermo became capital of a new kingdom
(from 1130 to 1816), the Kingdom of Sicily. Eventually it would be united with the Kingdom of
Naples to form the Two Sicilies until the Italian unification of 1860.
The population of Palermo urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 855,285, while its metropolitan
area is the fifth most populated in Italy with around 1.2 million people. In the central area, the city
has a population of around 650,000 people. The inhabitants are known as Palermitans or,
poetically, panormiti. The languages spoken by its inhabitants are the Italian language and
the Sicilian language, in its Palermitan variation.
Palermo is Sicily's cultural, economic and touristic capital. It is a city rich
in history, culture, art, music and food. Numerous tourists are attracted to the city for its
good Mediterranean weather, its renowned gastronomyand restaurants,
its Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque churches, palaces and buildings, and
its nightlife and music.
[1]
Palermo is the main Sicilian industrial and commercial center: the main
industrial sectors includetourism, services, commerce and agriculture.
[2]
Palermo currently has
an international airport, and a significant underground economy.
[citation needed]
In fact, for cultural, artistic
and economic reasons, Palermo was one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean and is now
among the top tourist destinations in both Italy and Europe. The city is also going through careful
redevelopment, preparing to become one of the major cities of the Euro-Mediterranean area.
[3]

Roman Catholicism is highly important in Palermitan culture. The patron saint of the city is Saint
Rosalia. Her feast day on July 15 is perhaps the biggest social event in the city. The area attracts
significant numbers oftourists each year and is widely known for its colourful fruit, vegetable and
fish market at the heart of Palermo, known as the Vucciria.
[4]

Contents
[hide]
1 History
o 1.1 Ancient era
o 1.2 Middle Ages
o 1.3 Two Sicilies
o 1.4 Italian unification and today
2 Geography
o 2.1 Administration
o 2.2 Climate
3 Landmarks
o 3.1 Churches
o 3.2 Palaces and museums
o 3.3 City Walls
o 3.4 Opera houses
o 3.5 Squares
o 3.6 Other sights
4 Demographics
5 Economy
6 Education
7 Sports
8 Infrastructure
o 8.1 Public transportation
o 8.2 Roads
o 8.3 Airports
o 8.4 Port
o 8.5 National rail
9 Patron saints
10 International relations
o 10.1 Twin towns and sister cities
11 Photo gallery
12 See also
13 References
14 Sources
15 External links
History[edit]
Main article: History of Palermo
Ancient era[edit]

Mesolithic cave art at Addaura.
Evidence for human settlement in the area now known as Palermo goes back at least to
the Mesolithic period, perhaps around 8000 BC, when a group of cave drawings at nearby Addaura
represent a new level in the representation of the human figure.
[5]
According to Thucydides,
the Sicani people arrived from the Iberian Peninsula (perhaps Catalonia).
[6][7]
During 734 BC
thePhoenicians, a sea trading peoples from the north of ancient Canaan, built a small settlement on
the natural harbor of Palermo. Some sources suggest they named the settlement "Ziz."
[8]
It became
one of the three main Phoenician colonies of Sicily, along with Motya and Soluntum. The Greeks,
who were the most dominant culture on the island of Sicily due to the powerful city
state of Syracuse to the east, instead called the settlement Panormus (). Its Greek name
means "all-port" (+) and it was named so because of its fine natural harbour.
[8]
Palermo
was then passed on to the Phoenician's descendants and successors, the Carthaginians.
[9]

During this period it was a centre of commerce; however a power struggle between the Greeks and
the Carthaginians broke out in the form of the Sicilian Wars, causing unrest. It was from Palermo
that Hamilcar's fleet (which was defeated at theBattle of Himera) was launched.
[9]
Palermo for a short
time became a Greek possession when Pyrrhus of Epirus gained it during the Pyrrhic War period in
276 BC.,
[10]
but was quickly retaken by Carthage. However, as the Romans flooded into Sicily during
the First Punic War, the city came under Roman rule during the First Punic War, only three decades
later. The period of Roman rule was quite a calm time for Palermo, which grew into an
important Roman trade centre.
Middle Ages[edit]

San Giovanni degli Eremiti, a church showing elements of Byzantine, Arabic and Norman architecture.
See also: Byzantine Empire, Emirate of Sicily and Kingdom of Sicily
As the Roman Empire was falling apart, Palermo fell under the control of several Germanic tribes.
The first were the Vandals in 440 AD under the rule of their king Geiseric. The Vandals had occupied
all the Roman provinces in North Africa by 455 establishing themselves as a significant force.
[11]
They
acquired Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily shortly afterwards. However, they soon lost these newly
acquired possessions to the Ostrogoths. The Ostrogothic conquest under Theodoric the
Great began in 488; although the Goths were Germanic, Theodoric supported Roman culture and
government instead.
[12]
The Gothic War took place between the Ostrogoths and the Eastern Roman
Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire. Sicily was the first part of Italy to be taken under
control of General Belisarius who was commissioned by Eastern Emperor Justinian I who solidified
his rule in the following years.
[13][14]


Cappella Palatina, decorated with Byzantine, Arabic and Norman elements.
After the Byzantines were betrayed by Admiral Euphemius, who fled to Tunisia and begged
the Aghlabid leader Ziyadat Allah to help him, there was a Muslim conquest of Sicily in 831, which
took until 904 against fierce resistance. The Emirate of Sicily was established.
[15]
The Muslims rule
within the whole island lasted for about 120 years. Palermo (Balarm during Arab rule) displaced
Syracuse as the prime city of Sicily. It was said to have then begun to compete
with Crdoba and Cairo in terms of importance and splendor.
[16]
For more than one hundred years
Palermo was the capital of a flourishing emirate.
[17]
The Arabs also introduced many agricultural items
which remain a mainstay of Sicilian cuisine.
[11]

After dynastic quarrels however, there was a Christian reconquest in 1072. The family who returned
the city to Christianity were called the Hautevilles, including Robert Guiscard and his army, who is
regarded as a hero by the natives.
[15][18]
It was under Roger II of Sicily that Norman holdings in Sicily
and the southern part of the Italian Peninsula were promoted from the County of Sicily into
the Kingdom of Sicily. The kingdom was ruled from Palermo as its capital, with the king's court held
at Palazzo dei Normanni. Much construction was undertaken during this period, such as the building
of the Palermo Cathedral. The Kingdom of Sicily became one of the wealthiest states in Europe, as
wealthy as the fellow Norman state, the Kingdom of England.
[19]

Sicily, in 1194, fell under the control of the Holy Roman Empire. Palermo was the preferred city of
the Emperor Frederick II. Muslims of Palermo emigrated and were expelled during Holy Roman rule.
After an interval of Angevin rule (12661282), Sicily came under control
of Aragon and Barcelona dynasty. By 1330, Palermo's population had declined to 51,000.
[20]
From
1479, it was ruled by the Kingdom of Spain until 1713 and between 1717 and 1718. Palermo was
also managed by Savoy between 1713 and 1717 and 17181720 as result of the Treaty of Utrecht.
And by Austria between 1720 and 1734.
Two Sicilies[edit]
After the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), Sicily was handed over to the Savoia, but by 1734 it was again
a Bourbon possession. Charles III chose Palermo for his coronation as King of Sicily. Charles had
new houses built for the increased population, while trade and industry grew as well. However,
Palermo was now just another provincial city as the royal court resided in Naples. Charles'
son Ferdinand, though disliked by the population, took refuge in Palermo after the French
Revolution in 1798. His son Alberto died on the way to Palermo and is buried in the city.

The revolution in Palermo (12 January 1848).
From 1820 to 1848 all Sicily was shaken by upheavals, which culminated on January 12, 1848, with
a popular insurrection, the first one in Europe that year, led by Giuseppe La Masa. A parliament and
constitution were proclaimed. The first president was Ruggero Settimo. The Bourbons soon
reconquered Palermo (May 1849), which remained under their rule until the appearance of Giuseppe
Garibaldi. This famous general entered Palermo with his troops (the Thousands) on May 27, 1860.
After the plebiscite later that year Palermo and the whole of Sicily became part of the new Kingdom
of Italy (1861).
Italian unification and today[edit]

Giuseppe Garibaldi entering Palermo on May 27, 1860
From that year onwards, Palermo followed the history of Italy as the administrative centre of Sicily. A
new cultural, economic and industrial growth was spurred by more families, like the Florio, the
Ducrot, the Rutelli, the Sandron, the Whitaker, the Utveggio, and others. In the early twentieth
century Palermo expanded outside the old city walls, mostly to the north along the new boulevards,
the Via Roma, Via Dante, Via Notarbartolo, and Viale della Libert. This roads would soon boast a
huge number of villas in the Art Nouveau style or Stile Liberty as it is known in Italy. Many of these
were designed by the famous architect Ernesto Basile. The Grand Hotel Villa Igiea, designed
by Ernesto Basile for the Florio family, is a good example of Palermitan Liberty Style. The very
large Teatro Massimo was designed in the same period by Giovan Battista Filippo Basile, and built
by the Rutelli & Mach building firm of the industrial and old Rutelli Italian family in Palermo, and was
opened in 1897.
During World War II, Palermo was untouched until the Allies began to advance up Italy after
the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943. In July, the harbour and the surrounding quarters were heavily
bombed by the allied forces and were all but destroyed. Six decades later the city centre has still not
been fully rebuilt, and hollow walls and devastated buildings can still be found.
In 1946 the city was declared the seat of the Regional Parliament, as capital of a Special Status
Region (1947) whose seat is in the Palazzo dei Normanni. Palermo's future seemed to look bright
again. Many opportunities were lost in the coming decades, owing to incompetence,
incapacity, corruption and abuse of power
[citation needed]
.
The main topic of the modern age is the struggle against the Mafia and bandits like Salvatore
Giuliano, who controlled the neighbouring area of Montelepre. The Italian State had to share
effective control of the territory, economic as well as administrative, with the Mafia families.
The so-called "Sack of Palermo" is one of the major visible faces of this problem. The term is used
today to indicate the heavy building speculations that filled the city with poor buildings. The reduced
importance of agriculture in the Sicilian economy had led to a massive migration to the cities,
especially Palermo, which swelled in size. Instead of rebuilding the city centre the town was thrown
into a frantic expansion towards the north, where practically a new town was built. The regulatory
plan for the expansion was largely ignored. New parts of town appeared almost out of nowhere, but
without parks, schools, public buildings, proper roads and the other amenities that characterise a
modern city. The Mafia played a huge role in this process, which was an important element in the
Mafia's transition from a mostly rural phenomenon into a modern criminal organisation. The Mafia
took advantage of corrupt city officials (a former mayor of Palermo, Vito Ciancimino, has been
condemned for his bribery with Mafiosi) and protection coming from the Italian central government
itself.
Many civil servants lost their lives in the struggle against the criminal organisations of Palermo and
Sicily. These include the Carabinieri general Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, the regions
president Piersanti Mattarella, Padre Pino Puglisi, a priest who had fought for the young people
living in the suburbs, and courageous magistrates such as Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.
Palermo is connected to the mainland by an international airport and an increasing number of
maritime links. However, land connections remain poor. This and other reasons have until now
thwarted the development of tourism. This has been identified as the main resource to exploit for the
city's recovery, the legacy of three millennia of history and folklore.