Palermo
Palermo (
Palermo in
Italian,
Palermu,
Palemmu,
Paliermu or
Paliemmu in
Sicilian) is the principal city and administrative seat of the autonomous region of
Sicily,
Italy as well as the capital of the
Province of Palermo. Inhabitants of Palermo in Italian are referred to as
Palermitani or poetically
Panormiti.
Palermo was founded in the 8th century BC by
Phoenician tradesmen around a natural harbour on the north-western coast of Sicily. The Phoenician name for the city may have been Zîz, but
Greeks called it
Panormus (see also
List of traditional Greek place names), meaning all-port, because of its fine natural harbour. It should be noted however that the city was never a Greek city-state, but was later part of the Greek speaking
Eastern Roman Empire . Palermo is widely considered to be the most conquered city in the world, as shown in the following article.
Palermo remained a Phoenician city until the
First Punic War (
264-
241 BC), when Sicily fell under
Roman rule. The
Roman period was one of comparative calm, Palermo coming under the provincial administration in
Syracuse. When the
Roman Empire was split, Sicily and Palermo came under the rule of the Eastern
Byzantine Empire.
In the
9th century, Sicily was divided into two prefectures by the Byzantines. The two prefects went to war with each other, and Euphimius, the winner, dreamt of reuniting the Roman empire. However, he lacked an army, so he asked the
Arab Aghlabids rulers of North Africa, at the time the up-and-coming power in the Mediterranean, to lend him theirs. Within a week of the Arabs' arrival in Palermo in 827, Euphimius died mysteriously, and they declined to leave. By 878 all of Sicily, except for a few Byzantine enclaves near
Taormina, was controlled by the Saracens. In 905 they captured those too. The Arab rulers moved Sicily's capital to Palermo where it has been ever since. Under
Muslim's dominion Palermo became an important commercial and cultural center, a flourishing city broadly known in all Arab world - it is said that it had more than 300 mosques. But they were also years of tolerance:
Christians and
Jews were permitted to follow their own credo.
In
1060 the
Normans launched a
crusade against the Muslim
emirate of Sicily, taking Palermo on
January 10 1072 and the whole island by
1091. The resulting blend of Norman and
Arab culture fostered a unique hybrid style of
architecture as can be seen[
1] in the Palatine Chapel, the church San Giovanni degli Eremiti and the Zisa.
Sicily in
1194 fell under the control of the
Holy Roman Empire. Palermo was the preferred city of the Emperor
Frederick II. After an interval of
Angevin rule (
1266-
1282), Sicily came under the house of
Aragon and later, in (
1479), the kingdom of
Spain.
Sicily's unification (
1734) with the
Bourbon-ruled kingdom of
Naples as the kingdom of the
Two Sicilies inflicted a devastating blow on the elite of Palermo, as the city was reduced to just another provincial city, the royal court residing in Naples. Palermo rebelled in
1848 and held out against the
Neapolitan crown until May
1849.
The Italian
Risorgimento and Sicily's annexation (
1860) to the
kingdom of Italy gave Palermo a second chance. It was once again the administrative centre of Sicily, and there was a certain economic and industrial development.
Palermo survived almost the entire
fascist period unscathed, but during the
Allied invasion of Sicily in July
1943 it suffered heavy damage.
The importance of Palermo got another boost when
Sicily became (
1947) an autonomous region with extended self-rule. But any improvement was thwarted by the rising power of the
Mafia, which still today is a dramatic feature of the city, as well as the whole Southern Italy.
Palermo is a city with monumental problems, but is also a city of almost three millennia of history, beautiful palaces and churches, colourful markets, marvelous food and a distinctive cultural identity.
Because
Sicily is not as prosperous as the mainland Italian regions, legal immigrants and guest workers rarely make headway into Palermo but Sicily is a natural port of call for illegal immigrants and especially those from Northern and Inner Africa. Even if the immigrant population is not taken into account, the city is one of the fastest growing in
Italy with those under 14 still outnumbering those over 65.The "Palermitani" are a proud and hard working class.
| Year | Population | | 1450 | c. 30,000 |
| 1650 | c. 135,000 |
| 1800 | 202,800 |
| 1830 | 171,100 |
| 1850 | 178,900 |
| 1880 | 236,300 |
| 1900 | 295,600 |
| 1946 | 416,500 |
| 2005 | 720,000 (urban area: 1,064,000) |
|
The Cathedral of Palermo. |
|
The Porta Nuova ("New Gate") is the monumental access to the centre of the city. |
|
Baroque interior of the Church of the Jesus. |
Palermo has a noteworthy architectural heritage and is notable for its many
Norman buildings.
Churches
* The
Cathedral of Palermo (a former mosque turned into a church from
1185).
*
San Giovanni degli Eremiti (
1132).
*
Martorana (Santa Maria dell'Ammiragliato,
1143).
*
San Cataldo (
12th century).
*
Santa Maria della Gangia.
*
San Giuseppe dei Teatini.
*
Oratorio di San Lorenzo.
*
Oratorio del Rosario.
*
Santa Teresa alla Kalsa derives its name from an
Arab term meaning
elected. The church, constructed in
1686-
1706 over the former emir's residence, is one of the most outstanding examples of
Sicilian Baroque. It has a single, airy nave, with stucco decorations from the early
18th century.
*
Santa Maria dello Spasimo was built in
1506 and later turned into a hospital. For this temple
Raphael painted his famous
Sicilia's Spasimo, now in the
Museo del Prado of Madrid. The church today is a fascinating air-open ruin, which occasionally houses exhibitions and musical shows.
*the
Church of the Jesus (
Chiesa del Gesù) was built by the Jesuits in the centre of the city from 1564, over a pre-existing convent of Basilian monks. The edifice was further enlarged starting from 1591, becoming one of the most relevant examples of
Sicilian Baroque, though retaining some severe late Renaissance fashion. The church was heavily damaged after the 1943 bombings, which destroyed most of the frescoes. The interior has a Latin cross plan with a nave and two aisles, characterized by a particularly rich decoration of marbles, tarsias and stuccoes, especially in the St. Anne chapel. At the right is the
Casa Professa, with a 1685 portal and a precious 18th century cloister. The Church of the Jesus is home to the Municipal Library, placede here in 1775.
*The church of
St. Francis of Assisi, erected in what was once the market district of the city. It was built between 1255 and 1277 in the site of two pre-existing churches, and was largely renovated in the 15th, 16th, 18th and 19th centuries, the latter after an earthquake. After the 1943 bombings, the church was restored to its Mediaeval appearance, which now includes part of the original building such as part of the right side, the apses and the Gothic portal in the façade. The interior has a typical Gothic flavour, with a nave and two aisles separated by two rows of cylindrical pilasters. Some of the chapels are in Renaissance style, as well as the late 16th century side portals. The church includes precious sculptures by
Antonio and
Giacomo Gagini, and
Francesco Laurana, plus a noteworthy wooden choir dating from the 16th century. Of note are also the allegorical statues by Giacomo Serpotta (1723), also author of the stucco decoration.
*The church of the
Magione (officially church of the
Holy Trinity), an ancient example of Norman architecture. The church was founded in 1191 by Matteo d'Ajello, who donated it to the Cistercian monks. However, six years later the conquering German Emperor Henry VI gave it to the
Teutonic Order, which detained it until the 15th century. The edifice has mantained the sober austerity of the origins, mainly thanks to the restoration that followed the 1943 bombardments. The façade show a precious series of small blind arcades with double lintels, which are repeated to parallel the triple apse structure. The nave and the two aisles are separated by marble columns supporting ogival arcades; the floor houses the tombstone of members of the Teutonic Order. Interesting is also the 12th century cloister, with small double columns with very fine capitals which were allegedly executed by the same craftsem which were later responsible of that of the
Cathedral of Monreale.
Palaces and museums
*
Palazzo dei Normanni, one of the most beautiful Italian palaces and a notable example of
Norman architecture, probably built over an Arab fortress. It house the famous
Cappella Palatina.
*
Zisa (
1160)
*
Cuba *
Palazzo Chiaramonte*
Palazzo Abatellis, with the
Regional Gallery. It was built at the end of the
15th century for the prefect of the city, Francesco Abatellis. It is a lassive though elegant construction, in typical
Catalan Gothic style, with
Renaissance influences. The Gallery houses an Elenora of Aragon bust by
Francesco Laurana (
1471) and the
Malvagna Tryptich (c. 1510), by
Jan Gossaert and the famous
Annunziata by
Antonello da Messina.
* The
Museo Archeologico Regionale is one the main museums of Italy: it includes numerous remains from
Etruscan,
Carthaginian,
Roman and
Hellenistic civilizations.
Theatres
*The
Teatro Massimo ("Greatest Theatre") was opened in 1897. Closed for renovation from 1974 until 1997, it is now carefully restored and has an active schedule.
Enrico Caruso sang in a performance of
La Gioconda during the opening season, returning for
Rigoletto at the very end of his career.
*The
Teatro Politeama was built between 1867 and 1874. Nowadays, the town's Gallery of Modern Art is accommodated here.
Places
*
Quattro Canti is a small place at the crossing of the ancient main roads (now: Corso Vittorio Emanuele and Via Maqueda) dividing the town into its quarters. The palaces at the corner have diagonal baroque facades so that the place gets an almost octogonal form.
*
Piazza Pretoria was planified in the
16th century near der Quattro Canti as a place for a manieristic fountain by Francesco Camilliani, the Fontana Pretoria.
Other interesting sights
|
San Giovanni degli Eremiti. |
|
Façade of the Church of the Magione. |
|
Harbour with Monte Pellegrino. |
The Cathedral has a
heliometer (solar "observatory") of 1690, one of a number built in Italy in the 17th and 18th centuries. The device itself is quite simple: a tiny hole in one of the minor domes acts as
Pinhole camera, projecting an image of the sun onto the floor at solar noon (12:00 in winter, 13:00 in summer). There is a bronze line,
la Meridiana on the floor, running precisely N/S. The ends of the line mark the positions as at the summer and winter solstices; signs of the zodiac show the various other dates throughout the year.
The purpose of the instrument was to standardise the measurement of
time and the
calendar. The convention in Sicily had been that the (24 hour) day was measured from the moment of sun-rise, which of course meant that no two locations had the same time and, more importantly, did not have the same time as in
St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. It was also important to know when the
Vernal Equinox occurred, to provide the correct date for
Easter.
The
Orto Botanico of Palermo, founded in
1785, is the largest in Italy with a surface of 10 ha.
One site of interest is the
Capuchin Catacombs, with many
mummified corpses in varying degrees of preservation.
Close to the city is 600 meter high
Monte Pellegrino, with spectacular views of the city, its surrounding mountains and the ocean. In his book, "Travels in Italy",
Goethe described Monte Pellegrino as the most beautiful promontory in the world.
Palermo has its
own football team playing in Italian
Serie A and in
UEFA Cup. The chairman is
Maurizio Zamparini and the coach is
Francesco Guidolin (appointed on
January 29, 2006).
The patron saint of Palermo is
Santa Rosalia, who is still widely venerated.On the 14th of July, people in Palermo celebrate the "Festino", which is the most important religious event of the year. The Festino is a procession in the main street of Palermo to remember the miracle attributed to Santa Rosalia who, it is believed, freed the city from the
Black Death in 1624. The cave where the bones of Santa Rosalia were discovered is on Monte Pellegrino (see above): when her relics were carried around the city three times, the plague was lifted. There is a Santuario marking the spot and can be reached via a scenic bus ride from the city below.
Before
1624 Palermo had four
patron saints, one for each of the four major parts of the city. They were
Saint Agatha,
Saint Christina,
Saint Ninfa and
Saint Olivia.
Saint Lucy is also honoured with a peculiar celebration, during which inhabitants of Palermo don't eat anything made with flour (usually replaced with rice), and prepare a special dish called
cuccia.
Palermo International Airport, also known as
Falcone-Borsellino Airport,
Punta Raisi Airport: dedicated to
Giovanni Falcone and
Paolo Borsellino, two anti-mafia judges killed by the mafia in early 90s, is located 32 km (19 miles) west of Palermo (Punta Raisi). Buses depart roughly every 30 minutes from the central railway station (via Piazza Ruggero Settimo) to the airport, and can sometimes during rush hour take more than an hour. It can also be reached by trains departing from Centrale, Notarbartolo and Francia stations.
*
List of mayors of Palermo*Other towns in the province:
Termini Imerese,
Monreale,
Bagheria,
Cefalù*Other major towns in
Sicily:
Marsala,
Agrigento,
Siracusa (Syracuse),
Catania,
Taormina,
Messina*Patrizia Fabbri,
Palermo e Monreale, Bonechi, Florence, 2005.
*
The City Council website*
Palermo: everything about the town of Palermo: history, pictures, curiosities, family names, travel, tourism, books, transportation, local products*
Palermo in Buenos Aires*
Hotels in Palermo*
Official tourism website for the city*
A paper from University of Bologna describing Heliometers in Italian Cathedrals*
The official website of Palermo's Serie A soccer team*
ItalianVisits.com
