Palermo

The city of Palermo is the principal city as well as the administrative seat of Sicily, Italy and is an autonomous region in which it is also the capital of the Province of Palermo. Inhabitants of Palermo in Italian are referred to as Palermitani or poetically Panormiti.

Founded in during the 8th century BC by a group of Phoenician tradesmen, Palermo is located on the north-west coast of Sicily and is seated around the perimeter of a natural harbour. Although the original name of the city which was chosen by the group of Phoenician traders who called it Zîz, but latter, when the surrounding region was under Greeks control the name of Palermo known as Panormus which means all-port due to the fact that it is a natural harbour. Palermo, however, was never a Greek city-state nor under the Greek control, but it was later to become part of the Eastern Roman Empire which was Greek speaking.

Palermo is considered to be the most conquered city in the whole world in which it at first remained under Phoenician control until the First Punic War, when Sicily had fallen under Roman rule and when the Roman Empire was split up, Sicily as well as Palermo fell under the Eastern Byzantine Empire’s rule. Then in the 9th century, the Byzantines divided Sicily in to two parts that ended up going to war with each other and so one part asked for help from the North African Arab Aghlabids who arrived in the region in 827 and declined to leave. Then by 905 the Arab rulers made Palermo, Sicily’s capital where it has since stayed.

Then in 1060 Palermo was taken over when the Normans launched their crusades against the Muslim Empire and took control of Palermo in. But by 1194 the Sicily region once again changed hands when they were to fall under the Holy Roman Empire’s control where it remained until1266 when the city fell under Angevin and then again in 1479 Palermo as well as the entire Sicilian region was taken over by Spain.

In 1734, under the Bourbon rule, Palermo was destroyed and was reduced to a provincial city where the Palermo people rebelled against the court in Naples in 1848 where they were able to be under their own control for 1 year when Neapolitan crown then took over in 1949. Palermo was given a second chance in 1860 to be part of the Italian Risorgimento. Palermo was destroyed again in 1943 when allied forces attacked the area but they would not achieve there current autonomous state until 1947 when Sicily became an autonomous government.

With over 3,000 years of history and a large plethora of problems over that time period, Palermo has managed to become a very beautiful place to visit thanks to it many colorful churches, beautiful palaces as well as a large selection of magnificent food choices and a very distinctive identity, cultural wise, that can be considered unrivaled in the region.

Thanks to the many years of history, you are now able to see a large selection of noteworthy architectural buildings such as The Cathedral of Palermo, San Giovanni dei Lebbrosi, San Giovanni degli Eremiti, Martorana ,San Cataldo, Santa Maria della Gangia,
San Giuseppe dei Teatini, Oratorio di San Lorenzo and Oratorio del Rosario.

The Santa Teresa alla Kalsa which derived its name from Al-Khalisa which is an Arab term for elected is a church that was constructed around 1686-1706 and is an outstanding example of the Sicilian Baroque.

The Santa Maria dello Spasimo which was built in 1506 as a church was later converted to a hospital, in this old church you would have found the famous Sicilia’s Spasimo, which was painted by Raphael but it has since been relocated to the Museo del Prado in Madrid.

The Church of the Jesus which was built by the Jesuits in 1564 can be found in the center of the city. The church, however, was damaged due to the allied forces bombings in 1943 which had destroyed most of the church’s frescoes.

The church of St. Francis of Assisi was built around 1255 to 1277 and was renovated in the 15th, 16th, 18th as well as the 19th centuries then once more after a large earthquake shook the region.

The Church of the Holy Trinity was built using Norman architecture in 1191 by Matteo d’Ajello, who then decided to donate the church to Cistercian monks.

The Palazzo dei Normanni can be considered as one of the most beautiful palaces in Italy and is also another example of the Norman architecture.

The Palazzo Abatellis was built around the end of the 15th and is considered to have an elegant construction which is typical to the Catalan Gothic architecture.

One of the main Italian museums can also be found in Palermo, the Museo Archeologico Regionale which features a number of remains from the Etruscan, Roman, Carthaginian as well as Hellenistic civilizations.

The Greatest Theatre which is called the Teatro Massimo opened in 1897 and then closed due to receive a 23 year renovation from 1974 until 1997.

Palermos’ Gallery of Modern Art can be found in the Teatro Politeama which was built around 1867 to 1874.

A large festival every year would be the "Festino" which is celebrated in honor of the patron saint Santa Rosalia on July14th which is also considered by the people of Palermo to be the most important event of the year. Prior to1624 Palermo had four patron saints in which one was for each of the city’s four major sections. These patron saints were Saint Agatha, Saint Ninfa, Saint Christina and Saint Olivia.

The Palermo International Airport which is known as the Falcone-Borsellino Airport was dedicated to Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone who were anti-mafia judges that were killed in early 1990′s.