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Palermo
Palermo
Palermo | |
|---|---|
| Palermo | |
 Gulf of Palermo | |
 Interactive map of Palermo | |
| Coordinates: 38°06′56″N 13°21′41″E / 38.115658°N 13.361262°E | |
| Country | Italy |
| Region | Sicily |
| Metropolitan city | Metropolitan City of Palermo |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Roberto Lagalla (Union of the Centre) |
| Area | |
• Total | 160.59[1] km2 (62.00 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 183[1] m (600 ft) |
| Population (2023) | |
• Total | 629,476 |
| • Density | 3,919.77/km2 (10,152.2/sq mi) |
| Demonym | Palermitan |
| Frazioni |
|
| Patron saint | Saint Rosalia |
| Feast day | July 15 |
| Region code | SIC |
| Website | comune |
Palermo is an Italian city, capital of the autonomous region of Sicily and of the Metropolitan City of Palermo. As of the end of October 2023, it had an estimated population of 629,476 inhabitants.[2]
It possesses a considerable artistic and architectural heritage ranging from Punic remains to art nouveau houses, by way of Arab-style and Norman residences, Baroque churches and Neoclassical theaters.[3] In July 2015, the ensemble "Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedrals of Cefalù and Monreale" was included on the World Heritage list by UNESCO.[4]
Toponymy
The name of the city in Italian is Palermo (IPA: [paˈlɛrmo]); in Sicilian, it is Palemmu ([paˈlɛmmʊ]); and in the local dialect, it is Paliemmu ([paˈljæmmʊ]). In Spanish it is known as Palermo.
History
Antiquity
The plain of Palermo and the mountains surrounding it have been inhabited since prehistoric times. Remains of this presence are the cave paintings found in the Addaura Cave, on Monte Pellegrino, located to the north of the city, which was inhabited during the Paleolithic and the Mesolithic.
Palermo was founded around the 8th century BC, on a natural harbor, by the Phoenicians under the name Ziz ("flower"), and it later passed to the Carthaginians.
The first settlements and foundations were transformed into a city that was given the name Mabbonath, which in Phoenician means "lodgings," that is, an inhabited city. It soon became the most important city of the so-called Phoenician triangle, which included Motya and Solunto, of which Thucydides speaks.
The Phoenicians too were settled all along the coast of Sicily, for they had seized the promontories over the sea and the small islands near the coast with a view to their trade with the Sicels; but when the Greeks began to arrive in great numbers, they abandoned most of their settlements and, drawing together, confined themselves to occupying Motya, Solunto and Panormus, in the neighborhood of the Elymians, both because they trusted in their alliance with them and because that is the place from which the crossing between Carthage and Sicily is shortest
— Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War vi.2.6
Some testimonies of the Phoenician domination remain, such as the ancient walls of the city, which survive in some streets and in the center of the old town, and the Phoenician Foot, made up of the main street, the Vittorio Emanuele Avenue, and a whole series of alleys perpendicular to it. From this period, Phoenician-Punic Palermo has archaeological remains only in the necropolises, which extend between Piazza Indipendenza to the north, the "rock" of Monreale and the area called Papireto.[5]
Between the 8th and 6th centuries BC the Greeks colonized Sicily; they gave it the name Panormus, 'river port' (to emphasize the geographical peculiarity that it was a peninsula surrounded by the mouths of two rivers, and therefore easily defensible, from which the present port derives), and they maintained trade with the Carthaginians, that is, with the people descended from the Phoenicians, who founded a kingdom on the African coasts.
During the First Punic War it was an important stronghold of Carthage. In 254 BC the Romans conquered Palermo and had to defend it from numerous attempts at reconquest by the Carthaginians in 251 BC.
seat of the Sicilian Parliament
The Latin name of Palermo was Panormus. Under the Roman Emperor Augustus, Roman legionaries were stationed in the city. In Antiquity, Sicily was an area whose dominant language was Ancient Greek, above all in its eastern part. Palermo lay on the border with the area where Greek was spoken.
Middle Ages
After the fall of the Roman Empire, when the Vandals founded their empire in 439, with present-day Tunisia as its center and Carthage as its capital, they invaded Sicily several times until they managed to annex Palermo definitively. It was later recovered by the Byzantines, who kept it in their power for three centuries.
In 826, disagreements between the Commander of the Byzantine fleet in Sicily, Euphemius of Messina, and the Emperor Michael II led to a struggle for power on the island, in which the Arabs ultimately became involved. They gradually occupied the island during the 9th and 10th centuries. Palermo was conquered in 831 after a long siege, becoming the capital of the Emirate of Sicily, which was nominally under Aghlabid rule. Muslims of Arab origin settled mainly in Palermo, unlike other areas of Sicily where the Berbers formed majorities. With the fall of the Aghlabids, the island obtained greater autonomy, although revolts and internal struggles among Arabs, Berbers and Christians worsened the situation. Only after the consolidation of the Fatimid Caliphate in Ifriqiya did the Caliph Isma'il al-Mansur stabilize the island under his rule, appointing his lieutenant Hasan al-Kalbi emir of the island in 948; he took up residence in Palermo and established his own dynasty, the Kalbid. With peace came an economic flourishing owing to the improvement of agriculture and the growth of commercial and artisanal activity.
The money collected by Isma'il was used to finance public works in the city, where the port was enlarged and a new castle, palaces, gardens and mosques were built (among which the congregational mosque stood out), as well as Palermo's first water conduit, which secured the water supply and supported the demographic growth that is estimated to have reached 300,000 inhabitants in this period. This was due mainly to the migration that arrived from other parts of Sicily and to the foreign merchants who settled in the city. To house this entire population, new neighborhoods arose around the center, which were protected by the construction of a new wall. During this period Palermo was home to Christian and Jewish communities that were able to coexist peacefully with the Muslims, after accepting the payment of the jizya, a tax demanded of non-Muslims (dhimmi). Numerous place names in Palermo are of Arabic origin, as, for example, the names of the city's historic districts.[6]
The Normans led by Roger de Hauteville and his brother Robert Guiscard began the conquest of Sicily in 1061, with papal acquiescence. The first major attack carried out against the City of Palermo took place in 1064, when an expedition of soldiers from Pisa tried unsuccessfully to seize it, causing destruction and pillage in its surroundings and in the port. Finally, after several attempts to take the capital, the Normans began a siege in 1071 that ended the following year with the capitulation of Palermo under the promise that the citizens would be free to practice their religion and be governed by their own laws. In 1194, the city was conquered by the German Emperor Henry VI.[7]
In 1282 the people of Palermo rebelled against the French, in the so-called Sicilian Vespers, which led to the expulsion of Charles and the beginning of Aragonese influence over the island.
Modern Age
The city was occupied by Austrians and Spaniards. Under Spanish rule, the population grew from 30,000 in the mid-15th century to 135,000 inhabitants on the eve of the plague of 1656. In the 16th and 17th centuries, numerous Baroque-style monuments were built in Palermo, many of which remain intact today.
The Bourbons unified Sicily with the Kingdom of Naples in 1734; Palermo then became a mere provincial town, since the royal court moved to Naples. The city and its palaces fell into disuse. On January 12, 1848, Palermo was the scene of the first revolutionary movements in Europe of those years.[8]
Contemporary Age
From 1861 onward, Palermo continued as the administrative center of Sicily. The Florio family brought about a certain economic and industrial growth. At the beginning of the 20th century, Palermo expanded territorially beyond its boundaries, mostly toward the north along the new avenue, the via della Libertà. This road soon featured a large number of art nouveau-style villas. Many of these buildings were built by the famous architect Ernesto Basile. The Grand Hotel Villa Igiea, built by Basile for the Florio family, is a good example of the Palermitan nouveau style. The Teatro Massimo was built in the same period by Basile and his son, and was inaugurated in 1897.
During the Second World War, Palermo remained practically untouched until the Allies began to advance into Italy after the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943. In July, the port and the surrounding districts were heavily bombed by the Allied forces and were destroyed. Six decades later the city center had still not been fully rebuilt, and it was still common to see collapsed walls and devastated buildings. In 1946 the city was declared the seat of the regional Parliament, as the capital of a State of the Special Region (1947), whose seat is in the Palazzo dei Normanni. The future of Palermo seemed bright. Unfortunately, the city let the following decades slip away, owing to incompetence, incapacity, corruption and abuse of power.
The general keynote of the contemporary period was, and continues to be, the struggle against the mafia and bandits such as Salvatore Giuliano, who controlled the neighboring area of Montelepre. The Italian State had to share effective control, both economic and administrative, of the territory with the mafia families.
The so-called "Sack of Palermo" was one of the main visible faces of this problem. The declining importance of agriculture in the Sicilian economy led to mass migration to the cities, especially to Palermo, which grew considerably in size. Instead of rebuilding the city center, a frenzied expansion toward the north was launched, where practically a new city was raised. The zoning plan for the expansion was largely ignored. New parts of the city appeared almost out of nowhere, but without parks, schools, public buildings, adequate roads or the other amenities that characterize a modern city. The mafia played a large role in this process, which was an important element in the mafia's transition from a mainly rural phenomenon to a criminal organization in the big city. The mafia took advantage of the corruption of city officials (a former mayor of Palermo, Vito Ciancimino, was convicted of bribery) and of protection coming from the Italian central government itself.
The city lived through a veritable hell during the 1980s and 1990s, when many public officials lost their lives in the fight against the criminal organizations of Sicily and Palermo. These murders included those of the carabinieri general Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, the regional President Piersanti Mattarella, Father Pino Puglisi, a priest who had fought for the young people living in the suburbs, and the magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.
Demographics
In 2007 there were 666,552 inhabitants in Palermo (one million people were concentrated in the Greater Palermo area), of whom 52.4% were women and 47.6% men. The population under 18 years of age represented 21.64% of the total inhabitants, while the retired population registered a smaller percentage, 16.54%. These figures contrast with the Italian national average, where the percentages are reversed, with those under 18 representing 18.06% and retirees 19.94%. The average age of the inhabitants of Palermo was 37, younger than the Italian average, at 42. Between 2002 and 2007 the city's population fell by 2.92%, while Italy recorded an increase of 3.56%. The reasons for this decline lie in the emigration of the population to the suburbs and to northern Italy. The birth rate was 10.75 births per 1,000 inhabitants, somewhat higher than the national average, which stood at 9.45.[9]
In 2006, 97.79% of the population was of Italian origin. Inhabitants from Southeast Asia, mainly Sri Lankans, made up the main minority, with 0.80% of the population, followed by Europeans (mostly Serbs and Poles), with 0.30%, and North Africans (mainly Tunisians), with 0.28%.[10]
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1861 | 199,911 | — |
| 1871 | 223,689 | +11.9% |
| 1881 | 244,898 | +9.5% |
| 1901 | 309,566 | +26.4% |
| 1911 | 339,465 | +9.7% |
| 1921 | 397,486 | +17.1% |
| 1931 | 379,905 | −4.4% |
| 1936 | 411,879 | +8.4% |
| 1951 | 490,692 | +19.1% |
| 1961 | 587,985 | +19.8% |
| 1971 | 642,814 | +9.3% |
| 1981 | 701,782 | +9.2% |
| 1991 | 698,556 | −0.5% |
| 2001 | 686,722 | −1.7% |
| 2006 | 666,542 | −2.9% |
| 2023 | 629,576 | −5.5% |
| Source: ISTAT | ||
Monuments and places of interest
Palermo has preserved the testimony of the culture of all its conquerors: Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans (with their Norman architecture), Spaniards and Austrians all left their mark on the city.
Different artistic styles converge in Palermo: medieval, Baroque, North African, Northern European and many others. Despite all these different influences, it is a city that has preserved its own identity. Of great historical and artistic importance is the Palazzo Natoli, which contains the frescoes of the heroic legends of the millenary princely Natoli dynasty.
In July 2015, the ensemble "Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedrals of Cefalù and Monreale" was included on the World Heritage list by UNESCO,[4] expressly encompassing seven individual properties in the city: the Palazzo dei Normanni and Cappella Palatina, San Giovanni degli Eremiti, the Church of the Martorana, the Church of San Cataldo, Palermo Cathedral, the Zisa Palace and the Ponte dell'Ammiraglio.
Also of tourist interest are the Capuchin Catacombs, with mummies preserved to varying degrees; the Church of Saint Ignatius, the Church of Saint Eulalia of the Catalans, Saint Francis of Assisi, San Giuseppe dei Teatini and the Casa Professa; the Oratories, among which those decorated by Giacomo Serpotta stand out; the Quattro Canti; the Fontana Pretoria; the Politeama and Massimo theaters; and the beautiful Mondello beach. Among the most important museums of Palermo are the Archaeological Museum (which holds the so-called Palermo Stone), the Regional Gallery of Sicily (Palazzo Abatellis), and the International Puppet Museum. The Teatro Massimo is the largest opera house in Italy and the third largest in Europe. It is dedicated to King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy.
Geography
Palermo is located on the northern coast of the island of Sicily, on the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Climate
According to the data in the table below and the criteria of the modified Köppen climate classification,[11] Palermo-Boccadifalco Airport (located on the outskirts of the city at an altitude of 117 m above sea level) has a Mediterranean climate of type Csa ("temperate with dry, hot summer").
| Climate data for Palermo/Boccadifalco (1971-2000) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 14.7 (58.5) |
14.5 (58.1) |
16.4 (61.5) |
18.7 (65.7) |
23.3 (73.9) |
27.2 (81.0) |
29.8 (85.6) |
30.5 (86.9) |
27.5 (81.5) |
23.5 (74.3) |
19.0 (66.2) |
15.8 (60.4) |
21.7 (71.1) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 11.8 (53.2) |
11.5 (52.7) |
13.0 (55.4) |
15.1 (59.2) |
19.3 (66.7) |
23.2 (73.8) |
25.8 (78.4) |
26.6 (79.9) |
23.8 (74.8) |
20.1 (68.2) |
16.0 (60.8) |
13.0 (55.4) |
18.3 (64.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 8.9 (48.0) |
8.5 (47.3) |
9.6 (49.3) |
11.4 (52.5) |
15.3 (59.5) |
19.2 (66.6) |
21.7 (71.1) |
22.7 (72.9) |
20.1 (68.2) |
16.7 (62.1) |
12.9 (55.2) |
10.2 (50.4) |
14.8 (58.6) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 97.5 (3.84) |
109.9 (4.33) |
78.2 (3.08) |
65.1 (2.56) |
36.2 (1.43) |
17.9 (0.70) |
6.7 (0.26) |
31.8 (1.25) |
65.3 (2.57) |
105.6 (4.16) |
117.5 (4.63) |
123.7 (4.87) |
855.4 (33.68) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 1 mm) | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 81 |
| Source: Servizio meteorologico dell'Aeronautica Militare Italiana[12] | |||||||||||||
Districts
In 1976 the City Council divided the city into 55 first-level units, corresponding to very distinct socio-urban planning areas of the urban fabric. On the same occasion, the 55 first-level units were grouped into 25 neighborhoods, a division that remained in force until the mid-1990s, when, through resolutions of 1995 and 1997, the Council adopted a new division of the territory into eight districts.[13]
| District | Neighborhoods[14] |
|---|---|
| I | Tribunali-Castellamare, Palazzo Reale, Monte di Pietà. |
| II | Brancaccio-Ciaculli, Settecannoli, Oreto Stazione (part) |
| III | Villagrazia, Falsomiele, Oreto Stazione (part) |
| IV | Cuba, S. Rosalia, Altarello, Mezzomonreale, Boccadifalco |
| V | Zisa, Uditore Passo di Rigano, Borgo Nuovo, Noce |
| VI | San Giovanni Apostolo, Resuttana, San Lorenzo |
| VII | Arenella, Vergine Maria, Pallavicino, Tommaso Natale, Sferracavallo, Partanna-Mondello, Mondello |
| VIII | Politeama, Libertà, Montepellegrino, Malaspina-Palagonia |
Sports
The city is home to the football club Palermo FC, which from the 2022-23 season will compete in Serie B, the second tier of Italian football. The team plays its home matches at the Renzo Barbera Stadium, also known as La Favorita. It has a capacity of 37,000 spectators and was one of the venues of the 1990 World Cup; in addition, it has hosted various matches, both friendly and official, of the Italian national team.
Transportation
Railways
Palermo Central Station is the main railway station. It handles a flow of 52 thousand passengers a day and a total of some 19 million a year.[15] It is an important railway hub for the whole Sicilian region: it is the terminus of the Palermo-Catania and Palermo-Agrigento lines; it is also on the Messina-Palermo and Palermo-Trapani lines. It serves long-distance Intercity (IC) and night Intercity (ICN) trains running directly to Naples, Rome and Milan, and it connects with the Palermo metropolitan railway service.
Other stations in the city are: Notarbartolo, Palazzo Reale-Orleans, Lolli, Tommaso Natale, Brancaccio, San Lorenzo Colli, Francia, Giachery and Vespri.
The Metropolitan railway service consists of two lines, the main one of which is part of the national network. It has 14 stations and runs from northeast to southwest. The second has 4 stations and provides a single-track ring route around the central area of the city.
Maritime
In Palermo and its surroundings there are several ports for sailboats, passengers and fishing. The Porto Civile is the largest passenger and cargo port in Italy, reaching 2,400,000 passengers in 2007. It has connections to the entire Mediterranean Sea, ranking as the sixth Italian port in cruise operations, with 470,000 visitors arriving this way in 2007.[16] The port of La Cala is one of the oldest in the world, with its origins dating back to the 8th century BC, when the natural inlet of the sea on the city's coast was used to anchor vessels during the city's period of development. It has now been remodeled and is in the process of decontamination so that it can be used as a tourist port for small vessels. Other important ports in the area are Arenella, Acquasanta, Sferracavallo, Mondello, Fossa del Gallo and Porto dell'Addaura.
Air
Air transportation is provided by two airports; the main one is Palermo International Airport-Falcone and Borsellino, located at Punta Raisi. It lies some 35 kilometers west of the city and is quickly reached via the Autostrada A29 and line A of the Palermo Metro. The other airport in the area is Palermo-Boccadifalco Airport, a former air base converted into a civil airfield in 2005. Because of its size it is used for regional flights.
Twin towns
The twin towns of Palermo are the following:
- Bizerte (Tunisia)[17][18]
- Bukavu (Democratic Republic of the Congo)[19][18]
- Chengdu (China)[19][18]
- Gdańsk (Poland)[20]
- Hanoi (Vietnam)[18]
- Khan Yunis (Palestinian National Authority)[18]
- Lecce (Italy)[citation needed]
- Miami (United States)[18]
- Monterey (United States)[19]
- Palermo (Colombia)[18]
- Santiago de Cuba (Cuba)[19][18]
- Sestu (Italy)[18]
- Tbilisi (Georgia)[19][18]
- Timișoara (Romania)[21]
- Yaroslavl (Russia)[19][18]
- Mérida (Mexico)
Notable people
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Altitud de los municipios". Instituto Nacional de Estadística (ISTAT) (in español). Retrieved December 25, 2023.
- ↑ "Población residente al 31 de octubre de 2023". Instituto Nacional de Estadística (ISTAT) (in español). Retrieved December 25, 2023.
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "24 nuevos sitios inscritos en la Lista del Patrimonio Mundial de la UNESCO en 2015". Unesco (in español).
- ↑ The Papireto or Dainisini Stream was a torrential river that flowed through Palermo.
- ↑ Comune di Palermo (1997). "Breve storia di Palermo" (in italiano). Archived from the original on December 18, 2008. Retrieved December 3, 2008.
- ↑ Montes, Armando (November 20, 2023). "Efemérides de hoy: qué se celebra este 20 de noviembre". Infobae (in español). Archived from the original on November 24, 2024. Retrieved November 24, 2024.
- ↑ Correnti, Santo: A Short History of Sicily, Les Editions Musae, Montreal (2002); Scianò, Giuseppe: Sicilia, Sicilia, Sicilia!, Edizione Anteprima, Palermo (2004); sources cited in Sicilian revolution of independence of 1848
- ↑ demo.istat.it (December 31, 2007). "Bilancio demografico anno 2007 e popolazione residente al 31 Dicembre" (in italiano). Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ↑ demo.istat.it (December 31, 2006). "Cittadini Stranieri: Bilancio demografico anno 2006 e popolazione residente al 31 Dicembre" (in italiano). Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ↑ Critchfield, H.J. (1983). University of Idaho (ed.). "Criteria for classification of major climatic types in modified Köppen system". General Climatology (4 ed.). Prentice Hall. Archived from the original on September 30, 2009. Retrieved November 29, 2012.
- ↑ "Palermo/Boccadifalco (117 msnm)" (PDF) (in italiano). Servizio meteorologico dell'Aeronautica Militare Italiana (AMI). Retrieved February 14, 2014.
- ↑ "Las circunscripciones". Ciudad de Palermo (in español). Retrieved December 25, 2023.
- ↑ "Las circunscripciones municipales". Ciudad de Palermo (in español). Retrieved December 25, 2023.
- ↑ "Datos de grandistazioni.it" (in italiano). Retrieved October 18, 2019.
- ↑ "Traffico Portuale di Palermo" (in italiano).[dead link]
- ↑ Comune di Palermo (September 26, 2000). "Città di Palermo - Comunicati Stampa del 26 settembre 2000" (in italiano). Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Retrieved December 2, 2008.
- ↑ 18.00 18.01 18.02 18.03 18.04 18.05 18.06 18.07 18.08 18.09 18.10 Comuni-Italiani. "Comune di Palermo (PA) - Italia: Informazioni" (in italiano). Retrieved December 2, 2008.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 19.5 Comune di Palermo (April 11, 2000). "Città di Palermo - Comunicati Stampa del 11 aprile 2000" (in italiano). Archived from the original on January 18, 2009. Retrieved December 2, 2008.
- ↑ Italia·Polonia (March 4, 2005). "Gemellagi" (in italiano). Retrieved December 2, 2008.
- ↑ Isabella Napoli (October 8, 2005). "Migliore aprirà un ipermercato a Marrakech" (in italiano). La Repubblica. Retrieved December 2, 2008.
External links
- Palermo on Wiktionary
- Official website of the Comune di Palermo (Italian, English, Spanish and French)
