Palermo is an historic city in southern Italy, the capital of the autonomous region Sicily and the province of Palermo. The city is
noted for its rich history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence;
it is over 2,700 years old. Palermo is located in the north-west of the island of Sicily, right by the Gulf of Palermo in the
Tyrrhenian Sea. Here, a tug boat is preparing to bring us in to harbour.
The city was founded by the Phoenicians, but named by the Ancient Greeks as Panormus meaning all port. Palermo became part
of the Roman Republic and eventually part of the Byzantine Empire, for over a thousand years. For a brief period it was
under Arab rule where it first became a capital. Following the Norman reconquest, Palermo would become capital of a new
kingdom from 1130 to 1816 the Kingdom of Sicily. Eventually it would be united with the Kingdom of Naples to form the Two
Sicilies until the Italian unification of 1860. Here we are arriving in the port.
The metropolitan area of Palermo is the fifth most populated in Italy and in the top eighty of the largest in all of Europe
with around 1.2 million people. In the central area, the city itself has a population of around 670 thousand people, the
inhabitants are known as Palermitans or poetically panormiti, the languages spoken by its inhabitants are the Italian language
and the Sicilian language. Just off to the side of our ship while in port was this mountain.
Theatre Masimo
In Front of Theatre Masimo
In Front of Theatre Masimo
Street Scene
Fresh Produce Market
The Zisa is a castle in the western part of Palermo, Sicily.
The construction was begun in the 12th century by Arabian craftsmen for king William I of Sicily, and completed by his son
William II. The edifice had been conceived as summer residence for the Norman kings, as a part of the large hunting resort known as
Genoard ("Paradise on Earth") that included also the Cuba and the Uscibene palace.
The Zisa is clearly inspired by Moorish architecture. The name Zisa itself derives from the Arab term al-Azîz, meaning
"noble", "glorious", "magnificent". The same word, in Naskh script, is impressed in the entrance, according to the usual habit for the main Islamic edifices of the time.
In the 14th century merlons (the rectangular raised sections on the roof) were added, by partly destroying the Arab inscription
which embellished the upper part of the edifice. More substantial modifications were introduced in the 17th century, when the Zisa,
reduced to very poor conditions, was purchased by Giovanni di Sandoval. The latter's marble emblem with two lions can be seen over
the entrance fornix. Several rooms of the interior were modified and others added on the ceiling, a great stair was built, as well
as new external windows.
From 1808 to the 1950s the building was used a residence by the counts Notabartolo di Sciara. Acquired by the Region of Sicilia
and restored in the 1970s and 1980s (the Northern part had crumbled down in 1971 and has been rebuilt along the original lines),
the Zisa today is opened to tourists. Some rooms houses Islamic art pieces, tools and artifacts from the Mediterranean area.
The most notable room is the central hall, with a mosaic decoration; once it had a fountain too, from which the water flowed
outside.
Zisa Garden from a window of the castle.
Street Scene - Passing the Bucket
Street Scene
Villa Malfitano, an Italian Art Nouveau mansion built by Joseph Whitaker, a 19th century ornithologist.
Park Villa Malfitano
