Walk Historic Palermo and Discover Great Food and People
Teatro Massio When you visit Palermo, you have the chance to walk through history. With buildings that are up to 900 years old, the historic center of the Sicilian capital is a beautiful place to explore. Palermo is an old city. It was founded by the Phoenicians in 734 BCE, but its importance and architectural history dates to around 900 AD, when Arabs took control of the city and made it the capital of the Emirate of Sicily. In 1072, the Norman Crusades captured Palermo, and it served as the capital of the Kingdom of Sicily until Italian Unification in 1861. Palermo, and Sicily, have not done well since Italy became a unified country. Sicily is the poorest part of the country and while more popular areas have received funds for the development of tourism, Sicily has not been so fortunate. It is only recently that that the world has rediscovered the football on Italy’s toe. The result of this “neglect” is that, unlike cities like Florence, the histor...