Palermo

Palermo (pälĕr`mō), Lat. Panormus, city (1991 pop. 698,556), capital of Palermo prov. and of Sicily, NW Sicily, Italy, on the Tyrrhenian Sea. Situated on the edge of the Conca d'Oro (Golden Conch Shell), a beautiful and fertile plain, it is Sicily's largest city and chief seaport. Manufactures include textiles, food products, chemicals, printed materials, and cement. There are also shipyards in the city.

An ancient Phoenician community founded between the 8th and 6th cent. B.C., it later became a Carthaginian military base and was conquered by the Romans in 254 B.C.–253 B.C. Palermo was under Byzantine rule from A.D. 535 to A.D. 831, when it fell to the Arabs, who held it until 1072. The city's prosperity dates from the Arab domination and continued when, under the Normans, it served (1072–1194) as the capital of the kingdom of Sicily. Under King Roger II (1130–54) and later under Emperor Frederick II (1220–50), Palermo attained its main artistic, cultural, and commercial flowering. The French Angevin dynasty transferred the capital to Naples; its misrule led to the Sicilian Vespers insurrection (1282), which began in Palermo.

The city is rich in works of art; Byzantine, Arab, and Norman influence are blended in many buildings. Points of interest include the Arab-Norman Palatine Chapel (1130–40), located in the large palace of the Normans (today also the seat of the Sicilian parliament); the cathedral (founded in the late 12th cent.), which contains the tombs of Frederick II and other rulers; the Church of St. John of the Hermits (1132); the Palazzo Abbatellis (15th cent.), which houses the National Gallery of Sicily; the Gothic Palazzo Chiaramonte (1307); the Capuchin catacombs; and, among more modern structures, the Sports Palace (1998). The city has a university.

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Palermo

 ancient Panormus

City (pop., 2001: 686,722), seaport, and capital of Sicily. Located on the Bay of Palermo, the city was founded by Phoenician traders in the 8th century BC; it was later a Carthaginian settlement. It was taken by the Romans in 254 BC. Conquered by the Arab troops of the Aghlabid dynasty in 831, it flourished as a centre of trade with North Africa. Palermo was thus quite prosperous when it fell to the Norman adventurers Roger I and Robert Guiscard in 1072. The ensuing era of Norman rule (1072–1194) was Palermo's golden age, particularly after the founding of the Norman kingdom of Sicily in 1130 by Roger II. In 1194 Germany's Hohenstaufen ruler, Frederick II, took over. Palermo was conquered by the French under Charles of Anjou in 1266, but Angevin oppression was ended in 1282 by a popular uprising called the Sicilian Vespers. After 1412 the crown of Sicily was united with that of Aragon and subsequently with that of Spain. Palermo declined during this long period of Spanish rule. The city was taken by Italian patriot Giuseppe de Garibaldi in 1860 and made part of the kingdom of Italy. Heavily bombed during World War II, it was captured by Allied forces in 1943. Notable buildings from the Norman and later periods include the cathedral that contains the tombs of Roger II and Frederick II. Palermo is Sicily's chief port, and ship repair is an important industry.