PALERMO “The most beautiful and the largest metropolis in the world”. This is how the Arab historian Al-Idrisi (1099-1164 circa) describes Palermo. The splendor of Palermo began in 831 with the conquest by the Arabs and with its consequent election as the center of culture and development of the Mediterranean. The city, seat of an emirate, was home to countless mosques and residential palaces of the Muslim nobility. With the Norman conquest of 1072, Palermo became the most populous center after Constantinople. The Normans started a flourishing economic and cultural development and elected it as the capital of the Kingdom. The fate of the island was ruled by Roger who was succeeded by William I (1154-1166) and then by his son, William II (1166-1189). In the cosmopolitan city they spoke Latin, Greek, Arabic, French and in those years, the vernacular began to be introduced through the songs and poems of the troubadours.

The witty policy of the Normans managed to adapt solid administrative and legal systems taking into account the various ethnic groups and cultures coexisting in Sicily. The advent of Frederick II marked an important cultural and political revolution for the city of Palermo. Among other things, the sovereign is responsible for having contributed to the birth of the Italian vernacular, thanks to the important poetic and literary production of those years. It is thanks to the "Sicilian Poetic School", born during the Federician reign, that the sonnet was born. With the death of Federico, the city loses its primary role in the Mediterranean basin. It was the Angevins (1266-1282) and then the Aragonese (1282-1409) who took over the fate of the city. With the Angevins begins a vexatious period for the nobility and the population and Palermo gives Naples the role of capital. Palermo arose in 1282 with the famous war of the Vespers and expelled the French from the island. Palermo is now in the Spanish orbit: first as a vassal kingdom and then, from 1409, as a direct domain of the Aragonese. The city slowly depopulated and underwent an involution and a period of stasis from the urban point of view. The nearly three centuries of Spanish rule marked the rebirth of the city: artists, plasterers and decorators were called and sumptuous monuments were erected (eg the Pretoria Fountain). The extension of the city was extended and the Cassaro extended to the sea. After a brief period of Savoy and Austrian domination, the Spaniards, with Charles III, returned to govern Sicily no longer as a vassal state of Spain but as an autonomous state of the kingdom of Naples. The nobility built marvelous palaces and palaces. Thanks to Ferdinand IV, scientific studies were encouraged and the majestic botanical garden in via Lincoln was established, among others. In September 1866, the city was the scene of bloody anti-government riots. Construction work began on the two main theaters in the city, the Massimo Theater and the Politeama Theater.