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Antonino Mongitore (1633-1743) was a scholar and bibliographer, who trained at the Jesuit College of Palermo then he was ordained a priest in 1687. Fellow and founder of numerous academies, he was involved, mainly, in city history and hagiography. His Bibliotheca Sicula is a well-known bio-bibliographical repertory published in two volumes, the former in 1707, the latter in 1714. This paper originated from the finding in the State Archives of Palermo of the inventory of its library, full of 2775 editions, examined according to the quantitative method. An initial analysis of this document and the study of further sources allow us to broaden this Sicilian priest's cultural profile and interests.

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The separately stored type herbarium of the Herbarium Greuter in Palermo is comprised of 339 sheets, corresponding to 336 specimens pertaining to 328 different names. Material from the Mediterranean area, especially Greece, predominates, followed by that from the Caribbean (Cuba) and Australia. The list includes transcribed label data and links to the digital specimen images and to the protologue texts. A new type of terminology is introduced, with the terms "first-step holotype" and "second-step holotype" designating type categories parallel to the similar terms already in use for lectotypes, and the phrase "detailed here" is used as an equivalent to "designated here" in second-step typification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Mediterranea - Ricerche Storiche is the property of Mediterranea-Ricerche Storiche and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Care structures in the modern age have undergone profound transformations due to the changed operating environment and advances in medical technology. In this sense, military hospitals are an essential part of this modernization. The Royal Hospital of San Giacomo degli Spagnoli in Palermo represents a significant case for analysing the processes of organizational and functional transformation that affected hospital structures in the second half of the 17th century.

Palermo during late antiquity and the early Byzantine period is largely unknown. Many reasons contribute to this gap. What remains yet to be uncovered is continuity of life that has not seen any systematic investigation, hampered also by a critical delay in the publishing of previous excavations. Despite these issues, our knowledge of the town in the above period has improved slightly in recent years thanks to chance discoveries. Among them, the excavations conducted inside the former Montevergini monastery where archaeologists have found a complex sequence of archaeological levels from the 3rd century B.C. to the present day. This paper will focus on a single layer that has yielded a rich pottery assemblage comprising late African imports and other presumed locally manufactured objects. These findings enhance our knowledge of the local economy and daily life in one of the major port cities of western Sicily.

The frescos that adorn the residences of the eighteenth century Palermitan aristrocacy are among the most interesting artistic testimonies of that age, not only because they celarly express the evolution of the taste from baroque to rococo and neoclassic style, but also and above all because they allow us to reconstruct peculiar traits and aspirations of the nobility. Princes and barons, always committed in claiming their political role e their status, hired the artists in vogue in the city to convey self celebrating messa-ges in glories, triumphs, mythological and literary scenes.

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Copyright of Mediterranea - Ricerche Storiche is the property of Mediterranea-Ricerche Storiche and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study focuses on analyzing and monitoring urban subsidence, particularly in the city of Palermo, Italy. Land subsidence, induced by natural and human factors, poses threats to infrastructure and urban safety. Remote sensing (RS), specifically synthetic-aperture radar interferometry (In-SAR), is employed due to its ability to detect ground displacements over large areas with great precision. The persistent scatterer InSAR (PS-InSAR) technique is utilized to identify stable targets and track millimeter-level surface deformations. This research spans from October 2014 to October 2021, using Sentinel-1 satellite data to capture ground deformation from various angles. The findings are integrated into an accessible web app (ArcGIS) for local authorities that could be used aiding in urban planning and enhancing safety measures. This study's results offer updated deformation maps, serving as an operational tool to support decision-making and community resilience, emphasizing risk awareness and responsible practices. This study highlights that the exponential expansion of urban areas, which does not take into account historical information, can gravely jeopardize both the integrity of urban infrastructure and the well-being of its inhabitants. In this context, remote sensing technologies emerge as an invaluable ally, used in monitoring and safeguarding the urban landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The separately stored type herbarium of the Herbarium Greuter in Palermo is comprised of 339 sheets, corresponding to 336 specimens pertaining to 328 different names. Material from the Mediterranean area, especially Greece, predominates, followed by that from the Caribbean (Cuba) and Australia. The list includes transcribed label data and links to the digital specimen images and to the protologue texts. A new type of terminology is introduced, with the terms “first-step holotype” and “second-step holotype” designating type categories parallel to the similar terms already in use for lectotypes, and the phrase “detailed here” is used as an equivalent to “designated here” in second-step typification.

Exhibitions and museums about the Inquisition are usually focused on trial procedures, which involved torture. This form of violence is typically exhibited through recreated torture devices and repeats a narrative that leaves out the bodies and subjectivities of the prosecuted. In this paper, I argue that, by displaying prisoners’ graffiti and providing context, the Steri Palace in Palermo, Sicily, produces a form of collective knowledge about early modern confinement rooted in the captives’ experience and self-representation, instead of reproducing the power relation that inquisitorial sources tend to present. I also argue that the Steri exhibition responds to the ‘morality’ issue prevalent in dark tourism studies.

Copyright of Mediterranea - Ricerche Storiche is the property of Mediterranea-Ricerche Storiche and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Starting from the relationship between urban planning and mobility management, TeMA has gradually expanded the view of the covered topics, always following a rigorous scientific in-depth analysis. This section of the Journal, Review Notes, is the expression of a continuous updating of emerging topics concerning relationships among urban planning, mobility and environment, through a collection of short scientific papers. The Review Notes are made of four parts. Each section examines a specific aspect of the broader information storage within the main interests of TeMA Journal. In particular, the Urban Practices section aims at producing, analyzing and reporting data on recent and relevant policies in the urban domain. The present note in particular reports on the recent initiatives undertaken by two major Southern Italian cities to foster sustainable mobility: Palermo and Cagliari. To this aim, the note briefly introduces the legal background and current developments of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP), a framework developed by the European Commission to support local administrations in developing holistic urban mobility strategies. This is followed by (i) an overview of the mobility situations in Palermo and Cagliari and by (ii) an analysis of the objectives, the strategies and the measures set in their respective SUMPs.

This paper focuses on the issues of governance and participation of World Heritage sites. It inquiries how decision-making structures to locally managed World Heritage sites may encompass public participation. Through an in-depth qualitative approach, the paper analyses the World Heritage Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale serial site (Italy). By examining the participatory dynamics that occurred during the creation and development of the selected World Heritage serial site, this paper reveals three coexisting forms of participation in WHsite decisions: inter-institutional agreement, social aggregation, and multi-actor collaboration. The main findings suggest that although formal decision-making arenas may be participative weakly, the unpacking of participatory practices in urban spaces uncovers a vibrant scene, as it emerges from the Cassaro Alto and Danisinni districts in the city of Palermo.

Due to its strategic position in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily was a place of multiple cultural contaminations and commercial exchanges throughout the early modern era. Trade, piracy, and even slavery implemented continuous contacts between populations from opposing shores, regardless of their different religious beliefs. Yet, the island was also intended as a Christian bulwark against the Islamic world and its institutions fostered anti-Muslim prejudices. To date, this discrepancy has been little investigated, but the responsibilities of art in fueling discriminatory attitudes have been explored even less. Drawing on Francisco Bethencourt's idea that racism is motivated by political projects, this paper illustrates the complicity of art in reinforcing prejudices for political interests. To do so, it explores the 1725 frescoes by the Flemish painter Guglielmo Borremans (1670–1744) in the church of the Forty Martyrs and Saint Ranieri of the Pisan Nation, in Palermo. In the face of persistent multiculturalism in the daily life of the population, these frescoes affirmed the supremacy of Pisa as a victorious guardian of Christianity in the Mediterranean. In this way, they celebrated the urban nobility of Pisan descent, while disguising the problematic identity of its enemy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exhibitions and museums about the Inquisition are usually focused on trial procedures, which involved torture. This form of violence is typically exhibited through recreated torture devices and repeats a narrative that leaves out the bodies and subjectivities of the prosecuted. In this paper, I argue that, by displaying prisoners' graffiti and providing context, the Steri Palace in Palermo, Sicily, produces a form of collective knowledge about early modern confinement rooted in the captives' experience and self-representation, instead of reproducing the power relation that inquisitorial sources tend to present. I also argue that the Steri exhibition responds to the 'morality' issue prevalent in dark tourism studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Ri-vista: Ricerche per la progettazione del paesaggio is the property of Firenze University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

ABSTRACT The urban plan of Palermo (Sicily, Italy) has evolved throughout Punic, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, and Norman ages until it stabilized within the borders that correspond to the current historic center. During the 2012 to 2013 excavation campaign, new remains of the Arab settlement, directly implanted above the structures of the Roman age, were found. The materials investigated in this study derived from the so-called Survey No 3, which consists of a rock cavity of subcylindrical shape covered with calcarenite blocks: it was probably used to dispose of garbage during the Arabic age and its content, derived from daily activities, included grape seeds, scales and bones of fish, small animal bones, and charcoals. Radiocarbon dating confirmed the medieval origin of this site. The composition of the bacterial community was characterized through a culture-dependent and a culture-independent approach. Culturable bacteria were isolated under aerobic and anaerobic conditions and the total bacterial community was characterized through metagenomic sequencing. Bacterial isolates were tested for the production of compounds with antibiotic activity: a Streptomyces strain, whose genome was sequenced, was of particular interest because of its inhibitory activity, which was due to the Type I polyketide aureothin. Moreover, all strains were tested for the production of secreted proteases, with those belonging to the genus Nocardioides having the most active enzymes. Finally, protocols commonly used for ancient DNA studies were applied to evaluate the antiquity of isolated bacterial strains. Altogether these results show how paleomicrobiology might represent an innovative and unexplored source of novel biodiversity and new biotechnological tools. IMPORTANCE One of the goals of paleomicrobiology is the characterization of the microbial community present in archaeological sites. These analyses can usually provide valuable information about past events, such as occurrence of human and animal infectious diseases, ancient human activities, and environmental changes. However, in this work, investigations about the composition of the bacterial community of an ancient soil sample (harvested in Palermo, Italy) were carried out aiming to screen ancient culturable strains with biotechnological potential, such as the ability to produce bioactive molecules and secreted hydrolytic enzymes. Besides showing the biotechnological relevance of paleomicrobiology, this work reports a case of germination of putatively ancient bacterial spores recovered from soil rather than extreme environments. Moreover, in the case of spore-forming species, these results raise questions about the accuracy of techniques usually applied to estimate antiquity of DNA, as they could lead to its underestimation.

This study focuses on analyzing and monitoring urban subsidence, particularly in the city of Palermo, Italy. Land subsidence, induced by natural and human factors, poses threats to infrastructure and urban safety. Remote sensing (RS), specifically synthetic-aperture radar interferometry (In-SAR), is employed due to its ability to detect ground displacements over large areas with great precision. The persistent scatterer InSAR (PS-InSAR) technique is utilized to identify stable targets and track millimeter-level surface deformations. This research spans from October 2014 to October 2021, using Sentinel-1 satellite data to capture ground deformation from various angles. The findings are integrated into an accessible web app (ArcGIS) for local authorities that could be used aiding in urban planning and enhancing safety measures. This study’s results offer updated deformation maps, serving as an operational tool to support decision-making and community resilience, emphasizing risk awareness and responsible practices. This study highlights that the exponential expansion of urban areas, which does not take into account historical information, can gravely jeopardize both the integrity of urban infrastructure and the well-being of its inhabitants. In this context, remote sensing technologies emerge as an invaluable ally, used in monitoring and safeguarding the urban landscape.

How do restorations affect the recognition of monuments' values? The evaluation of the latter has been decisive in the inclusion/exclusion of some historical buildings in the UNESCO World Heritage. In particular, in the Dossier of candidacy of the so-called "Arab-Norman itinerary of Palermo" some monuments were excluded due to the restorations conducted between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. But many other "Arab-Norman" monuments in Palermo were also restored, as the Churches of Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio, called Martorana and San Cataldo, included instead in the itinerary. Moreover, there are many monuments that, despite having undergone substantial restorations in style – think of the Alhambra palace in Granada or the fortified city of Carcassonne just to give examples – are part of the UNESCO heritage. This makes us reflect on the interpretation of the concept of authenticity and also how and why the outcome of historical restorations in style are sometimes considered compromising and other times accepted as an integral part of the monument itself.

Starting from the relationship between urban planning and mobility management, TeMA has gradually expanded the view of the covered topics, always following a rigorous scientific in-depth analysis. This section of the Journal, Review Notes, is the expression of a continuous updating of emerging topics concerning relationships among urban planning, mobility and environment, through a collection of short scientific papers. The Review Notes are made of four parts. Each section examines a specific aspect of the broader information storage within the main interests of TeMA Journal. In particular, the Urban Practices section aims at producing, analyzing and reporting data on recent and relevant policies in the urban domain. The present note in particular reports on the recent initiatives undertaken by two major Southern Italian cities to foster sustainable mobility: Palermo and Cagliari. To this aim, the note briefly introduces the legal background and current developments of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP), a framework developed by the European Commission to support local administrations in developing holistic urban mobility strategies. This is followed by (i) an overview of the mobility situations in Palermo and Cagliari and by (ii) an analysis of the objectives, the strategies and the measures set in their respective SUMPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humulus lupulus is a dioecious twining herb, with an outstanding vertical development capacity. Hop plants are usually grown on trellises up to 4.5 to 6.0 m high, whose management requires intense use of water, fertilizers, pesticides, and labor. In semiarid Mediterranean areas, where native resources are often scarce, the adoption of low-trellis farming systems could be a sustainable option for hop cultivation. With the aim of evaluating hop suitability to low-trellis cultivation in a Mediter)ranean environment, in 2018 and 2019 three traditional hop genotypes (‘Cascade’, ‘Chinook’, and ‘Nugget’) were grown, and their development rate was evaluated and put in relation with the plants’ cone, root, and biomass yield. Moreover, organic (fragmented pine bark) and synthetic [black polyethylene (PE) plastic film] mulches were applied on the same cultivars, and both epigeal and hypogeal development were evaluated. The results showed that the faster the growth in the first two phases of plant elongation (up to 50% of the height of the upper wire), the lower the yield in both cones and total epigeal biomass. A fast growth rate was instead associated with a higher hypogeal biomass production. Mulching was able to significantly affect the hypogeal biomass, specifically for cv. Cascade, where the use of synthetic mulching allowed significant root biomass increases. The analysis of the results obtained showed that hop’s suitability to a low-trellis farming system is highly variable among varieties in the semiarid Mediterranean environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Al Malweah for Archaeological & Historical Studies is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Social geography cannot be confined to a theoretical dimension, however necessary: it is expected to play an active role, to encourage encounters with social actors and stakeholders, to take on a dimension of public engagement. Even in Italy this dimension is increasingly important, as universities are placing a growing value on their so-called third mission. Social geography must then address the fundamental issue of participation and its techniques. In doing so, those who graduate in geography will also be able to claim an essential role in the management of decision-making processes and participatory planning. This paper explores some methods and approaches that younger geographers can use to build the ‘toolbox’ of their future profession, looking at a case study from the city of Palermo.

This paper focuses on the issues of governance and participation of World Heritage sites. It inquiries how decision-making structures to locally managed World Heritage sites may encompass public participation. Through an in-depth qualitative approach, the paper analyses the World Heritage Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale serial site (Italy). By examining the participatory dynamics that occurred during the creation and development of the selected World Heritage serial site, this paper reveals three coexisting forms of participation in WHsite decisions: inter-institutional agreement, social aggregation, and multi-actor collaboration. The main findings suggest that although formal decision-making arenas may be participative weakly, the unpacking of participatory practices in urban spaces uncovers a vibrant scene, as it emerges from the Cassaro Alto and Danisinni districts in the city of Palermo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Souvenirs are elements of territorial communication, and they are examples of the marketing strategy of destinations. Souvenirs are objects that allow us to remember moments we have experienced and places we have visited. Drawing on the close relationships between places and souvenirs, this paper analyses cheese as a food souvenir in the island of Sicily. The method is based on a qualitative design which includes visits and interviews with local sellers in the food markets and food shops in Palermo, with the objective to reveal how cheese is protected and promoted as a symbol of Sicilian culture and heritage from a marketing perspective. Results of the paper show that cheeses made in Sicily are pivotal in the cheese marketing, while Italian cheeses also find their commercialization space. International cheeses are only available as styled cheeses also made in the country. Theoretical and practical implications are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Mediterranean Knowledge is the property of International Centre for Studies & Research (ICSR) Mediterranean Knowledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines through a participative approach the Ganesha festival and how it helps migrant people of Mauritian origin in Palermo in the process of place-making by mediating between the city and the migrant community. The Ganpati celebrates the Mauritian devotees’ spatial and social mobility, connecting them to their affective transnational networks through social media. The devotional community reacted to the policy responses to COVID-19 by enhancing the domestic aspects of the festival, preserving the core meaning of the rite. The festival takes place through a relational network involving the whole community thanks to women’s collective solidarity. On the other hand, the ritual prestige creates competition and elicits the group’s internal fractures and intersections. Hindu devotional spaces are created by re-functionalizing marginal segments of the city and provoke ambivalent reactions from the rest of the citizens.

Due to its strategic position in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily was a place of multiple cultural contaminations and commercial exchanges throughout the early modern era. Trade, piracy, and even slavery implemented continuous contacts between populations from opposing shores, regardless of their different religious beliefs. Yet, the island was also intended as a Christian bulwark against the Islamic world and its institutions fostered anti-Muslim prejudices. To date, this discrepancy has been little investigated, but the responsibilities of art in fueling discriminatory attitudes have been explored even less. Drawing on Francisco Bethencourt’s idea that racism is motivated by political projects, this paper illustrates the complicity of art in reinforcing prejudices for political interests. To do so, it explores the 1725 frescoes by the Flemish painter Guglielmo Borremans (1670–1744) in the church of the Forty Martyrs and Saint Ranieri of the Pisan Nation, in Palermo. In the face of persistent multiculturalism in the daily life of the population, these frescoes affirmed the supremacy of Pisa as a victorious guardian of Christianity in the Mediterranean. In this way, they celebrated the urban nobility of Pisan descent, while disguising the problematic identity of its enemy.

Most of the time, when we talk about the family, we think of the indigenous family, but what happens when the focus shifts to foreign families? Furthermore, in a time of pandemic, what repercussions and impacts have there been on foreign families? And have the interventions proposed by the government to deal with COVID-19 and to support families, taken foreign families into account? The issue is quite complex because it has to deal, on the one hand, with definitional problems related to the difficulties in identifying types of foreign families (Ambrosini, 2020b) present in Italy, and, on the other hand, with an analysis of the impact that the virus has had on family structures. Migrant families represent heterogeneous contexts where there is constant, dynamic interaction between structural dimensions, cultural aspects and subjective choices, and during the pandemic, these have become "families in the balance", vulnerable actors, subjected to extreme marginality. There are many issues, such as the home, which, for example, has become a space/place where to spend one's time and experiment with forms of smart working, but many of the homes where migrant families live are not organised to cope with the pandemic and often reflect a pronounced inequality. Moreover, one should remember that, in Italy in 2019, 65.5% (Istat, 2020) of foreigners were employed in the service sector. It is difficult to imagine activities in these sectors being carried out at a distance. This paper, taking its cue from the cognitive questions posed, will propose a reflection on the situation in Sicily with a focus on the city of Palermo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do restorations affect the recognition of monuments' values? The evaluation of the latter has been decisive in the inclusion/exclusion of some historical buildings in the UNESCO World Heritage. In particular, in the Dossier of candidacy of the so-called "Arab-Norman itinerary of Palermo" some monuments were excluded due to the restorations conducted between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. But many other "Arab-Norman" monuments in Palermo were also restored, as the Churches of Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio, called Martorana and San Cataldo, included instead in the itinerary. Moreover, there are many monuments that, despite having undergone substantial restorations in style - think of the Alhambra palace in Granada or the fortified city of Carcassonne just to give examples - are part of the UNESCO heritage. This makes us reflect on the interpretation of the concept of authenticity and also how and why the outcome of historical restorations in style are sometimes considered compromising and other times accepted as an integral part of the monument itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cuba Soprana was part of the royal Parco during the 10th and 12th centuries and it is now enclosed in the late-baroque palace of Villa Napoli, located in the Western area of Palermo. Typologically, it is a fusion of two architectural models: the belvedere pavilion and the nymphaeum. The latter consists of an artificial fountain and a pond in which there are three large allochthonous dolomite rocks and a set of metallic spouts. These are all presided over by a monumental tripartite façade that at the same time was part of the pavilion, a typical construction of aulic gardens intended for recreation and contemplation of the landscape. From the 10th century to the Norman reform of the 12th century, three phases have been identified, in which the foundational Arab model was substantially respected. Considering the combination of the two mentioned functions, it is believed that there are no medieval buildings preserved with such features. However, there are Post-medieval, European and Eastern Islamic parallels that prove the existence of a common tradition dating back to Greco-Roman antiquity. It is possible that this type of architecture returned to Sicily from the East during the Kalbi emirate since classical models survived in Syria and Egypt until the 7th and 8th centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results of a geomorphological study carried out in the urban area of Palermo are summarized in a thematic map. Field survey, analysis of aerial photographs and topographic maps, consultation of historical documents and maps, stratigraphic and topographic reconstruction from numerous wells and subsoil data, and bibliographic search were performed, in order to display the geomorphological changes produced by man over time in a densely populated area and to define the Anthropocene of the study area. Palermo town rises along large marine terrace surfaces cut by small river valleys and bordered by wide degraded and abandoned coastal cliffs. Over the last 2700 years, this area was affected by remarkable man-made changes to topographic surface and underground, exposing large areas of the city to hydraulic, sinkhole, and landslide risks, and increasing the levels of seismic susceptibility. In light of these results, the produced map is useful for urban planning studies.

In the south of Palermo, among the residual agricultural areas of the rich cultivated plain called Conca d'Oro, there is the Arab-Norman complex of Maredolce-La Favara with its park, characterized by a large lake once fed by the "Fawara" spring, from which the toponym itself derives. Nowadays, the site is located in the industrial suburb of Brancaccio, but still preserves the memory of the original landscape, for the survival of the isle and of the system of hydraulic artifacts for the irrigation of the citrus grove. Today the Soprintendenza Beni Culturali e Ambientali of Palermo, owner of the property, has granted the private management of the park's agricultural areas. The interest in Maredolce was born from the recognition of these values. The research work, begun in 2016 with the participation in the Workshop of the Benetton Studies and Research Foundation which in 2015 had awarded on the park the "Carlo Scarpa International Prize for the garden" (XXVI edition), was later concretized in the thesis for the Specialization in Architectural and Landscape Heritage (Politecnico di Milano). A project for the conservation and enhancement of the Maredolce landscape complex has been drawn up. In particular, the aim was to make more readable the traces of the layering of the park and of the entire historicized cultural landscape of the Conca d'Oro, to preserve the witnesses and also to upgrade a periurban deteriorated area.

Esse estudo consiste numa tradução preliminar em Português do capítulo 12 do Kitab Ghara’ib al-fanun wa mulah al-‘uyun (Livro de curiosidades), sobre a Sicília e Palermo, exclusivamente durante o período islâmico. Todos os termos, lugares e locais de Balarm (Palermo) e Sicília mencionados no texto são explicados. Eles proporcionam ao leitor uma nova versão sobre a cidade nos primeiros anos do século 11, um pouco diferente daquela anteriormente dada por Ibn Hawqal no final do século 10. Palavras-chave: Kitab Ghara’ib; Balarm (Palermo); Sicília; século 11; ilha islâmica.

Valerio Villareale (Palermo, 1773-1854), the main neoclassic sculptor in Sicily, spent his young years between Naples and Rome. The paper highlights his training in Naples, where he met Filippo Tagliolini, and in Rome, where he knew Antonio Canova. Based on unpublished documents, the paper explores his participation in the Neapolitan Republic of 1799 and his activity during the reign of Gioacchino and Carolina Murat, when he sculpted the portraits of the King and the Queen as well as several stucco decorations and sculptures in the royal palaces in Caserta and Naples. At the restoration of the Borboni the Villareale returned to Palermo where he continued his career not only as a sculptor, but also as a teacher and art restorer.

Commercial dynamics within a city represent an excellent observatory desk to study urban transformation processes. These dynamics reflect the verticality and horizontality relational system, but also the exchanges and reciprocation of the cultural and socio-economic relations. From a geographical perspective it is interesting to detect cultural, social and economic changes both permanent and in evolution which constitute the urban pattern and shape its viability. This work originates in 2015 within the PRIN project (Relevant Interest National Project) “Commerce, consumption and the city: practices, planning and governance for urban inclusion, resilience and sustainability” which has studied some relevant commerce dynamics in Italian main cities. Here we focus on the case of Palermo, by analysing four important streets in the city center: via Maqueda, via Ruggero Settimo, viale della Libertà and via Lincoln. They represent significant cut outs of how consumers’ habits have developed in Palermo and have strongly characterized the present urban landscape by establishing a complex network of relations which shape the pattern of the city. By employing both a diacronical and synchronical approach, on one hand we analyse the evolution of the four axes. On the other hand, we illustrate the results of the research carried out by using questionnaires aimed to reveal the present conditions of the shops taking place through the business owners’ perception.

This essay will use the theoretical lens of the production of space, provided by David Harvey, to analyse the Sack of Palermo, or the massive destruction of the Conca d'Oro, the fertile land surrounding Palermo, and its substitution with high rise buildings which occurred between 1950 and the 1980s, resulting in the destruction of a vast area of social space which had existed for centuries. Harvey argues that capitalism consists of a constant re-modeling of places in order to facilitate its practices of domination and profit. Organised crime has been the vehicle in this case: Indeed, the Mafia has produced a new urban space, not only by destroying the former agricultural and suburban context of Palermo, but also by their demolition of some important monuments in the cities, such as the liberty villas of early XX century. This process took place in two stages. The first one was the displacement, that is the eviction of the population of the city- relocatd into lower class districts where unemployment and social disruption provided a fertile ground to the Mafioso hegemony. The second stage was anonymization: The emptying of the city, the engulfing of the old borgate (hamlets) with blocks of flats, destroyed the social capital of family, professional and cultural network which was crucial for the city's local identity. The new Palermo suffered from the lack of a collective sense of belonging which impeded the development of a sense of civility and citizenship; and thus made way for fragmented, particular interests, making it easier to reinforce the domination of the mafia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The global Covid-19 crisis has shown its impact on all the aspect of life: health, social, economic, and politic. The attention mainly reserved to the economic and politic aspect musts also take into account the risk of social fragmentation. In which way this emergency has impact on communities where social fragilities were already existing? In which way, social dynamics are changed by the fear of the pandemic and the physical isolation imposed by governments to contain it. In which way local associations and citizen are coping the new challenges imposed by this emergency? In this article, the Sicilian context will be explored with a specific view on the Palermo capital. This Italian region has a peculiar and complex social asset determined by interrelated socio-economic phenomena such as mafia, unemployment and poverty. Fortunately, the existence of problematic and historical social phenomena has to face with the constant activities organized by local associations, civil society and authorities to fight them. There is one element that must to be consider: a global event like a pandemic oblige to be careful to the new ways in which phenomena we are accustomed to can manifest. Inequalities and racial matter can be exacerbated even in a multicultural context like Palermo one if social balance is missing. New form of poverty and the higher number of people exposed to this risk can give to mafia-type organizations more instrument to establish their control on the territory. The same introduction of economic measures aiming to support people can be manipulated and have a distorted effect when concretely applied. It is a great challenge because the lack of a complete comprehension can determine a failure of the adopted measures and a lack of cohesion of the social tissue. Starting from the context definition, the analysis will explore the perspective and the experiences of associations working with people belonging to the weaker part of the community, thanks to semi-structured interviews to representatives of the main local associations as privileged witness. In this way, the analysis will try to highlight how local actors' activities and how dynamics of solidarity are influenced by the global Covid-19 phenomenon.

Valerio Villareale (Palermo, 1773-1854), the main neoclassic sculptor in Sicily, spent his young years between Naples and Rome. The paper highlights his training in Naples, where he met Filippo Tagliolini, and in Rome, where he knew Antonio Canova. Based on unpublished documents, the paper explores his participation in the Neapolitan Republic of 1799 and his activity during the reign of Gioacchino and Carolina Murat, when he sculpted the portraits of the King and the Queen as well as several stucco decorations and sculptures in the royal palaces in Caserta and Naples. At the restoration of the Borboni the Villareale returned to Palermo where he continued his career not only as a sculptor, but also as a teacher and art restorer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urban renewals politic driven in the historic center of Palermo was first focused on the built environment, without basic strategy about renewal of urban functions. The consequence was a sporadic and heterogeneous gentrification confined to the residential fabric. Acknowledging the risk of departure of new middle class inhabitants, tired of public spaces dynamics, municipality refocused her politic about public spaces. This article interrogates the effects of this successive politics on the « way of inhabit » the public spaces of the « already there » inhabitants and on the cohabitations of inhabitants with diversified profils and with perceptions and practices often divergents, in the Magione neighborhood, where we realized two field research with a four-year interval. We desbribe and analyse the ways of inhabit and of cohabit of old and new inhabitants, then we conclude with the existence of a « to inhabit without to reside » which interacts with forms and temporality of socio-urbans transformations of the neighborhood in gentrification.

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St. Peter’s Basilica inside the Royal Palace of Palermo, known as the Palatina Chapel, is one of the most popular medieval monuments in Sicily. Built between 1130 and 1163, it contains interesting wooden framings that represent both bearing and finishing structures.Studies about the Arab-Norman church have often concentrated on the very rich and suggestive decorative mosaic apparatus of walls and floorings, as well as the pictorial cycle of wooden ceilings. Knowledge about the constructive techniques adopted and, in particular, about the realization of the coverings, is very limited: there are wooden floors built at different levels, vaults and wooden ceilings and among these is the portion that covers the main nave, housing the muqarnas decorations.The fortunate coincidence of the restoration building yard made it possible to gain precious knowledge of this extraordinary wooden structure, also through a laser scanning survey of a significant area of the wooden ceiling, performed with a low range device. The collected data adequately represent the geometry and the state of conservation of the ceiling and have been used to develop a spatial and geometrical analysis of the muqarnas and relate it to the structural layout.The survey of the internal and external sides of the covering enabled us to investigate further the materials and constructive techniques employed in this ancient wooden ceiling. At the same time, we were also able to document the original structural system and the completion parts, its conservation status and the interventions and modifications it has undergone through many centuries.

This story is about a government, which considered the management of madness not a medical issue but a matter of law and order. and a 64 years old official who became the director of a madhouse having no medical nor managing expertise in mental disease, but just humanity and dedication. But most of all it's the story Of their attempt to project an image of themselves and of what they had done. that turned out in something completely different: a literary myth which went sofar to reach the pen of Aterandre Dumas and Edgar Allan Poe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]