Palermo

Phoenicians founded a small settlement on the natural harbour in the 8th century BC, and it became one of their three main colonies in Sicily, trading with Carthage. The Greeks called it Panormos, "wide haven", the origin of the city's name. Rome took it in 254 BC, and its main street, today's Corso Vittorio Emanuele, still follows the line of the ancient one. After Vandals, Ostrogoths and Byzantines, Arabs took the city in 831, renamed it Balarm and made it, for the first time, the capital of Sicily; it was said to rival Córdoba and Cairo, and the Arabs brought crops that remain mainstays of Sicilian cooking.

The Normans took Palermo in 1072 after a five-month siege, and under Roger II it became the capital of the Kingdom of Sicily, one of the wealthiest states in Europe, with the court at the Palazzo dei Normanni. Arab, Byzantine and Latin craftsmen built the churches, palaces and mosaics that now form a World Heritage Site. Frederick II made it the capital of his empire, but later the court moved to Naples and the city became provincial under Spanish, Savoy, Austrian and Bourbon rule. In January 1848 Palermo launched the first of that year's European revolutions, and in 1860 Garibaldi took the city.

Families such as the Florio and Whitaker drove a boom around 1900, when the Teatro Massimo and Basile's Art Nouveau villas went up. The Allies bombed the city heavily in 1942–43. After the war Palermo became the capital of autonomous Sicily, but the "Sack of Palermo" — speculative building tied to the Mafia — destroyed historic buildings and green spaces, and the struggle against Cosa Nostra has shaped the modern city.

Palermo's identity is layered: Phoenician, Arab, Norman and Spanish pasts show in its street names, its quarters and its churches, from Byzantine mosaics to Giacomo Serpotta's swirling stucco oratories. Until the early 20th century the city had hundreds of small opera theatres, and the Teatro Massimo remains its pride. The Martorana still serves the Byzantine-rite Albanian community of Sicily, and Palermitani speak their own Sicilian dialect alongside Italian.

Catholicism is woven into city life, and Santa Rosalia is its heart. The Festino, held every July since 1624, celebrates the hermit whose remains, found in a cave on Mount Pellegrino, were carried through the streets and credited with ending the plague; it is the only Sicilian religious festival on Italy's intangible heritage list. On 13 December, for Santa Lucia, people avoid foods made with flour in memory of a ship of grain that ended a famine.

The fight against the Mafia is part of the city's culture: the airport is named after the judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, and in 2022 nineteen artists painted the Wall of Legality, portraits of 38 people who fought organised crime. Football means Palermo FC, re-founded after bankruptcy in 2019; the Targa Florio road race was run near the city from 1906.

About 626,000 people live in the municipality, according to a 2026 figure, and around 1.2 million in the metropolitan city, the fifth most populous in Italy. The city spreads across the Conca d'Oro, the "golden basin" between the mountains and the sea, from the dense old quarters to the post-war apartment districts of the north and the beach suburb of Mondello. Immigrants make up about 5 per cent of residents, most often from Bangladesh, Romania, Sri Lanka, Ghana and Tunisia.

As Sicily's capital, Palermo lives on regional government, services, commerce and tourism, with shipbuilding, the port and agriculture as well. It is the island's main business centre, but unemployment and corruption are high and the black economy is large. The University of Palermo was formally founded in 1806, though medicine and law were taught in the city from the late 15th century.

Daily life is loud and outdoor. Markets such as Ballarò and the Capo are where many residents still shop, the old quarters mix restored palazzi with crumbling ones, and summer evenings move to the seafront and Mondello. Public transport is slow — commuters spend about an hour a day on it — and traffic and the long post-war neglect of the outer districts remain everyday complaints.

Palermo is known for its street food, and the markets are its kitchens. Panelle, fritters of chickpea flour, are eaten in bread or a sesame roll; arancine, rice balls stuffed with ragù or cheese, are breaded and deep-fried; pani câ meusa is a soft sesame-topped bun stuffed with veal lung and spleen, boiled and then fried in lard; and stigghiola, usually lamb guts seasoned with parsley and onion, are skewered or wrapped round a leek and cooked on the grill. Frittola, made from calf parts, is another street speciality, and sfincione, the city's thick, rectangular pizza, comes topped with tomato, onion, anchovies and strong cheese.

At the table, pasta con le sarde, with sardines and anchovies, is the classic dish, and Arab influence shows in the citrus, saffron and sugar used across Sicilian cooking. Fish is everywhere, from the stalls of the Vucciria to the restaurants of Mondello.

The sweets are famous. Cannoli, crisp pastry tubes filled with sweetened ricotta, are decorated in Palermo with candied orange peel; cassata layers sponge, ricotta, marzipan and candied fruit; and granita is often served with a brioche. On Santa Lucia's day the city turns to boiled whole wheat instead of bread and pasta.