PALERMO
The Arabian domination was
knocked down (1072) by the Normans, Roberto il Guiscardo and
Ruggero d’Altavilla. The Normans restored a Christian
character to the City of Palermo, allowing the life of the
Capital to improve under every aspect, mainly after Ruggero
II took up his crown as King of Sicily (1130).
The Norman
Government, particularly positive during the reign of Guglielmo
II (1166-1189), was subsequently preserved and consolidated
by the Svevi; during the first half of the 13th Century with
Federico II, Palermo not only made great economic progress,
but also acquired a high cultural prestige, to which the Magna
curia federiciana gave the maximum impulse. The catastrophe
of the Svevi and the advent of the Angioini with Carlo I (Charles
I) (1266) had negative repercussions on the City, which was
ousted by Naples. An expression of this same uneasiness was
shown through the revolution of the Vespri, which broke out
in front of the Church of the Spirito Santo (Holy Ghost) on
31st March 1282, and took it, in contrast, with the intervention
of Pietro III d’Aragona, to an Aragonese domination;
Palermo returned as the seat of the King of Sicily. During
the last years of Angionio domination, the City acquired the
first autonomous Council, which the Aragonese accepted fully
in 1330. But then a political decline followed, caused by
contrasts between emergent families, who reciprocated with
a progressive deterioration of the economic and cultural position
of the City, who under Ferdinando I il Giusto, together with
all of Sicily, was annexed to the Crown of Aragona (1412);
the decline heightened during the Spanish domination. Manifestations
of intolerance came about in 1647, with the common revolts,
which Spain immediately stifled. In 1676, a naval fleet of
Luigi 14th of France, beat the Spanish-Dutch on the waters
of Palermo, but failed to effect the plans for disembarkment.
At the fall of Spanish domination, the City was involved in
attempts of being re-conquered by Sicily, promoted by Cardinal
Alberoni in favour of Phillip V of Bourbon. The victories
of Carlo of Borbone against the Austrians, which came about
as an affirmation of the Bourbonic dynasty in Naples and Sicily
(1734), re-ignited a separatist spirit and a desire for independence.
In this final period, the politics of Ferdinando IV, with
the constitution of 1812 and other initiatives, fed the autonomistic
aspirations of the Palermitani. Free spirits, of independence
and revenge with respect to Naples, led to the breakout of
the revolts of July 1820, but the venture failed. Chronologically
speaking, the revolt began in January 1848; it ended in spring
of the following year, after intervention by the Napoleonic
Army. Stifled before it began, led to another revolt in April
1860, the revolt of the so called Gancia (a signal was givien
from the convent in the form of vigorously ringing of the
bells; but a few weeks later after the embarkation of the
Mille di Garibaldi (the thousand of Garibaldi) in most of
the island, gave permission to the Garibaldi occupation in
Palermo. The City was occupied by Garibaldi after a clever
diverting manoeuvre of Corleone (27-20 May 1860) and made
a Capital on 6th June. A provisional Government, presided
over by Francesco Crispi was therefore installed; Palermo
voted to be annexed to the Sabaudi and the following November,
to the Plebiscites.
During the Second World War, it was gravely damaged by aerial
bombardments and occupied by divisions of the 7th American
Armed Forces on 22 July 1943.
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