Les Aventures Eoliennes

The capital of the Sicilian region and the province of the same name situated on the western coast between Mount Pellegrino and Capo Zafferano; Palermo’s population is about 735 000 habitants. Its name comes from the Greek word Panormos which means "all moistening". It is its vast natural port that encouraged the first implantations and the birth of the city on an oblong hill delimited at the North by the depression of the Papireto stream and to the South by the Kemonia stream.
One can acknowledge the presence of different populations: the Sicane during the XII century BC., followed by the Cypriot, the Crete and the Greek. However it is not before the Phoenician colonization, between the VIII and the VII century BC., that we see the first lasting urban establishment.
Palermo was the site of the Carthaginian defense which was conquered by the Romans in 251. Palermo lived the barbaric invasions and the decadence under the Byzantine domination. The first Cathedral was erected between 590 and 604 under bishop Vittore. It is at this time that Palermo gives two Popes to the Church of Rome.
In 831, the arrival of the Arabs gives Palermo an important role. In 1072, conquered by the Normans, the city will know the beginning of its resurrection. In 1130, Roger II becomes King of Sicily; the city is proclaimed the flourishing capital of the kingdom of Sicily. He carried the Castrum Superius to a big architectonic splendor, while making it his Royal Palace. He constructed, in 1132 the interior of the Palatine chapel dedicating it to St. Peter.
Then the Angevins and the Aragonites give to the city a more military aspect with surrounding defensive walls. In the XVIII century, the Savoyards, Austrians and Bourbons followed each other, and the encyclopedic ideas influence the aspect of the city.
In the XX century, the center was touched by the bombardments of 1945; and at that time the city was abandoned in dilapidation in spite of its richness. Today it has flourished progressively and has been reinvested by its population. One can rediscover the splendors of Palermo, for example the Massimo Theater, reopened 3 years ago after being closed for more than 20 years.