Palermo the “happy,” the capital of Sicily, is one of the great towns of Italy. At the time of the Arabs it surpassed all towns of the peninsula in population, but at present, though increasing rapidly, it yields to Naples, Milan, and Rome. No other town of Europe can boast of an equally delicious climate, nor is any fairer to look upon from a distance. Bold barren mountains enclose a marvellous garden, the famous “shell of gold” (conca d’oro), from the midst of which rise towers and domes, palms with fan-shaped leaves, and pines, commanded in the south by the huge ecclesiastical edifices of Monreale. Termini is the only city of Sicily which rivals Palmero in the beauty of its site, and it truly merits its epithet of splendissime. {324}

Fig. 118.—PALERMO AND MONTE PELLEGRINO.

But the beauty of the country contrasts most painfully with the misery and filth reigning in most of the quarters of the capital. Palermo has its sumptuous edifices. It boasts of a cathedral lavishly decorated; its royal palace and palatine chapel, covered with mosaics, and harmoniously combining the beauties of Byzantine, Moorish, and Roman art, are unique of their kind; the church of Monreale, in one of its suburbs, may challenge Ravenna by the number of its mosaics. There are Moorish palaces, a few modern monuments, and two broad streets, which a Spanish governor had made in the shape of a cross. But, besides these, we only meet with dark and narrow streets and wretched tenements, the windows of which are stuffed with rags. Down to a recent period Palermo was undeserving its Greek name of “Port of all Nations.” Enclosed within mountains, and having no communications with the interior, its commerce was merely local, and its exports were limited to the produce of its fisheries and of its gardens. Though {325} far more populous than Genoa, its commerce is only half that of the Ligurian city, but it is rapidly on the increase.

Trapani, a colony of the Carthaginians like Palermo, and Marsala, so famous for its wines, at the western extremity of the island, are proportionately far busier than the capital. Trapani, built on a sickle-shaped promontory, carries on a lively trade. The salt marshes near it are amongst the most productive in all Italy;[110] tunny, coral, and sponge fishing is carried on; and the artisans of the town are skilled as weavers, masons, and jewellers. The harbour is one of the best in Italy; the roadstead is well sheltered by the outlying Ægadian Islands; and the ambition of the inhabitants, who look forward to a time when Trapani will be the principal emporium for the trade with Tunis, is likely to be realized on the completion of a railway to Messina. The harbour of Mazzara, the outlet for the produce of the inland towns of Castelvetrano and Salemi, lies closer to Tunis, but its shelter is indifferent. As to Marsala—the “Mars ed Allah,” or God’s haven, of the Arabs—its port was filled up by Charles V., and has only recently been reconstructed. It is, however, not of sufficient depth for large vessels, and only salt and wine are exported from it to France and England. Marsala occupies the site of the ancient city of Lilybæum, which had a population of 900,000 souls when Diodorus Siculus wrote his Geography. It has recently become famous in consequence of the landing there of Garibaldi and his thousand followers in 1860, and its being the spot from which they entered upon the triumphant march which ended in the battle of the Volturno and the capture of Gaeta.

Messina the “noble” is the great commercial centre of Sicily, and the only port of that island where vessels of all nations meet. Messina is a stage on the ocean high-roads which join or connect Western Europe and the Levant. Its roadstead is one of the safest, and vessels in distress are certain to find protection there. Moreover, vessels coming from the Tyrrhenian, and fearful of encountering the dangerous currents of the strait during a storm, may easily find shelter at Milazzo, to the north of it. The port of Messina is formed by a sickle-shaped tongue of land, making a natural breakwater.[111] There are few cities in Europe which are more exposed to the destructive action of earthquakes than Messina, and the traces of the great shock of 1783, which swamped the vessels in the harbour, undermined the palaces along the seashore, and caused the death of more than a thousand persons, have not yet entirely disappeared.

Catania, the sub-Etnean, as its Greek name implies, is menaced not only by earthquakes, but also by volcanic eruptions. It, too, enjoys a high amount of commercial prosperity, and exports the surplus produce of the towns situated at the foot of the volcano, among which are Acireale, with its orange groves; Giarre, with its dusty streets; Paterno, abounding in thermal springs; Aderno, on the {326} summit of a rock of lava; Bronte, at the junction of two streams of scoriæ; and Randazza, commanded by an ancient Norman castle. Catania also monopolizes the export of the produce of the inland districts of Eastern Sicily; it is the great railway centre of the island, and several carriage roads converge upon it. Its port has grown too small for the business carried on there, and it is proposed to enlarge it by means of piers and breakwaters.

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Fig. 119.—TRAPANI AND MARSALA.

Scale 1 : 270,000.