Palermo is the capital of Sicily and the fifth largest city in Italy (660,460 inhabitants, and over a million if we include the suburbs). In the middle of the Mediterranean sea, Palermo - the cradle of ancient civilizations - has always been a crossroads of cultures between East and West: a strategic transit place, a privileged port of call for commerce and trade, a landing-place for people of various race, language, and religion. Palermo has always enchanted visitors and foreigners alike with the charm of its location, the mildness of its climate, and the splendour of its buildings. And for these same reasons it has, over the centuries, been dominated by a succession of different rulers. Palermo is one of the few cities in the world that have preserved considerable traces of the culture of their successive conquerors: from the Romans to the Byzantines, from the Arabs to the Normans, from the Swabians to the French, from the Spaniards to the Austrians, they have all left unmistakable marks of their passing; and these are invaluable testimonies, since this convergence of different styles and shapes, from the North of Europe to Africa, from the Middle Ages to the Baroque period, has given birth to a variety of absolutely original artistic, architectural, and decorative creations. Palermo is also characterized by the fact that, despite its mixture of different cultures, the city has maintained its identity as a capital city which at all times has succeeded in combining the best of what other nations could offer with its own people’s vocation for freedom. (content taken from the official site of Palermo tourist board)

Palermo’s origins date back to the period between the 8^th and the 6^th century B.C., when the Phoenicians colonized the area that was previously inhabited by Sicans, Cretans and the Elimi.
After being contested for a long period between Rome and Carthage during the Punic wars, the city of Paleopolis was placed under Roman rule (254 B.C.).
After several attacks by various barbaric populations, the city then became a part of the Byzantine Empire, which governed it for about three centuries, until 831.

The Arabs took over from the Byzantines and under their rule, Palermo enjoyed a period of splendor and prosperity. Art and economics were developed immensely, the first thanks to the influence of Arab culture and the latter through intense trading with the main Italian ports. Palermo increased its prestige by building mosques, luxurious palaces and wonderful gardens.

The Arabs ruled until 1072 when the Normans succeeded in gaining possession of the city after a long siege, and thus began a new era during which the population spread out throughout the island. Under Norman rule, Palermo was allowed a fair amount of autonomy, while in the city, palaces and monuments that were the symbols of this crossroads of culture, such as the Cappella Palatina (Palatine Chapel) and the Cathedral - Duomo in Monreale were built.

Palermo passed into the hands of the Swabians and Frederick II after the Normans: in this period, art and literature were developed even further, culminating in the setting up of the Sicilian School of Poets.

Under the French king, Charles of Anjou, Palermo lost a great deal of its autonomy, but the people rebelled, and started up the war of the Sicilian Vespers (1282) that continued for twenty years and which was intended to throw out the French from the island.

Spanish dominion (1400 - 1700) saw the beginning of a peaceful period for this much contested city that had been in the hands of various countries over the centuries. Palermo was once again the capital and the town’s buildings and monuments were renewed. Various religious orders, which were increasingly powerful, set up a large number of churches and convents. This was a period of pomp and opulence for the clergy and the aristocracy, but was also one of poverty and pestilence for the people, whose rebellions were often put down without the sparing of blood.
After a brief interval under the Sabaudo family Dynasty (1713 - 1718) and then under the Austrians (1718 - 1735), Palermo and Sicily were once again returned to the Spanish, and became the Autonomous State of the Kingdom of Naples.
When the Bourbon family decreed that the autonomy granted should be repealed, the whole of Sicily rose up (1820 and 1848) and finally in 1860, when Garibaldi and the thousand landed at Marsala, Palermo won its freedom, and then annexed itself to the Kingdom of Italy in 1870.

The old city centre of Palermo, with its area of over 240 hectares - about one square mile - is one of the largest in Europe and also one of the richest and most varied. It contains over 500 palaces, churches, convents, and monasteries, plus seven theatres. The city has steadily expanded since the period of Phoenician colonisation, with successive waves of Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Swabians, Normans, and Spaniards, until the more recent town-planning initiatives in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As a result, Palermo is extremely variegated and complex in its layout, although it has also succeeded in maintaining a clearly recognisable overall uniformity of structure and character.

Little is known of ancient Palermo. The name itself is Greek in origin (it is derived from Panormos, meaning "all harbour"), clearly referring to the city's geographical location. The original port - of which the present-day port, the Cala, is but a small reminder - enjoyed an excellent and almost impregnable position looking out to the Tyrrhenian Sea.

The area where the original nucleus of the city began to develop corresponds to what is now that of Piazza Vittoria, the Norman Palace, and the Archbishop's Palace. This area was called Paleapolis (“old town”) to distinguish it from Neapolis (“new town”), the newer part of the city that spread over an area sloping down to the sea, bounded by two rivers, the Kemonia and the Papireto.

• Religious: Cappella Palatina, Cathedral, Santa Maria degli Angeli, Church of San Domenico and Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio.
• Museums: International Marionettes Museum, Regional Archaeological Museum, Museum of Islam and The Sicilian Regional Gallery.
• Historical Buildings: Palazzo dei Normanni, Cappella Palatina, Fontana Pretoria, Fontana Pretoria, La Cuba, Santa Maria dello Spasimo and Teatro Massimo.
• Places of Interest: Quattro Canti, Kalsa, Real Tenuta della Favorita, Orto botanico - Botanical Gardens and Vucciria

HOW TO GET TO PALERMO AND THE UNIVERSITY OF PALERMO