About Palermo
Palermo [palεrmo] (Palermu [palεɽmu] in Sicilian) is a city in the South of Italy, on the northwestern coast of the island of Sicily. Capital of the autonomous Region of Sicily, it is the fifth Italian town by population after Rome, Milan, Naples and Turin. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old.
The city was founded in 734 BC by the Phoenicians, who named it "Zyz" ("Flower" or "Shining"). The Greeks named the city "Panoremus" meaning "complete harbour". Palermo was part of the Roman Republic/Empire, and eventually part of the Byzantine Empire, for over a thousand years. From 827 to 1071 it was under Arab rule during the Emirate of Sicily, when it first became a capital. The Arabs corrupted the Greek name into Balarm, the root for its present-day name. Following the Norman conquest, Palermo became capital of a new kingdom (from 1130 to 1816), the Kingdom of Sicily. Eventually it would be united with the Kingdom of Naples to form the Kingdom of Two Sicilies until the Italian unification of 1860.
Today Palermo, with an urban area population of more than 850000, is Sicily's cultural, economic and touristic capital. It attracts many tourists for its nice Mediterranean weather, its renowned gastronomy and restaurants, its Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque churches, palaces and buildings, and its nightlife and music.
One of the greatest extant examples of Norman architecture in the world is located just outside Palermo: it is the Cathedral of Monreale. It was started in 1174 by William II, and in 1182 the church, which is dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, was elevated to the rank of a metropolitan cathedral by a papal bull of Pope Lucius III .
The church is a national monument of Italy and one of the most important attractions of Sicily.
(Freely extracted from Wikipedia)