Palermo : Italy
The Italian Risorgimento and Sicily’s annexation (1860) to the kingdom of Italy gave Palermo a second chance. It was once again the administrative centre of Sicily, and there was a certain economic and industrial development led by the Florio family. In the early 20th century Palermo expanded outside the old city walls, mostly to the north along the new boulevard, the Via della Libert. This road would soon boast a huge number of villas in the style of Art Nouveau or Stile Liberty as it is known in Italy, many of which were built by the famous architect Ernesto Basile. The Grand Hotel Villa Igeia, built by Ernesto Basile for the Florio family, is a good example of palermitan Stile Liberty. The Teatro Massimo was built in the same period by Basile and his son and was inagurated in 1897.
20th Century
Palermo survived almost the entire fascist period unscathed, but during the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943 the harbour and the surrounding quarters were bombed heavily by the allied forces and were all but completely destroyed. Six decades later the city centre had still not been fully rebuilt, and hollow walls and devastated buidings are commonplace.
The importance of Palermo got another boost when Sicily became (1947) an autonomous region with extended self-rule. Palermo again was the seat of a parliament, as it had been in the Middle Ages, and the future looked bright. Unfortunately, many opportunities were lost in the coming decades, due to incompetence, incapacity, corruption and abuse of power.
The reduced importance of agriculture in the Sicilian economy led to a massive migration to the cities, and mostly to Palermo, that swelled in size. Instead of rebuilding the city centre the town was thrown into a frantic expansion towards the north, where practically a new town was built. The regulatory plan for the expansion was largely ignored, as contractors bribed the city officials who themselves profited massively from the “sacking of Palermo”, as it was commonly called. New parts of town appeared almost out of nowhere, but without parks, schools, public buildings, proper roads and the other amenities that characterise a modern city. The Mafia played a huge role in this process, which was an important element in the Mafia’s transition from a mostly rural phenomenon into a modern criminal organisation.
