Mondello () is a seaside district of the city of

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

in the

autonomous region An autonomous administrative division (also referred to as an autonomous area, zone, entity, unit, region, subdivision, province, or territory) is a subnational administrative division or territory, internal territory of a sovereign state that has ...

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, in

Southern Italy Southern Italy (, , or , ; ; ), also known as () or (; ; ; ), is a macroregion of Italy consisting of its southern Regions of Italy, regions. The term "" today mostly refers to the regions that are associated with the people, lands or cultu ...

. It lies on a sandy bay delimited by two hills called Mount Gallo and Mount Pellegrino, in the northernmost area of the city. In the administrative subdivision, it falls within the 7th municipal division (or ) of Palermo and it is annexed to the surrounding neighborhoods of Addaura and Partanna, with which it forms the 22nd major neighborhood (or ) of the city, Partanna-Mondello. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the

Upper Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories ...

. During the

ancient history Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian language, ...

, Mondello Bay became a passage point for sailors from different cultures, such as the Western Phoenicians, the

ancient Greeks Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically re ...

and the Romans. Around the 5th century BC, when the bay was part of the Phoenician trade network, a small port was founded. During the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

, intense deforestation activities on Mount Pellegrino altered the normal flow of water in the south-eastern section of the bay. This caused the birth of a swamp in the area at the base of the mountain, known as Valdesi, which characterized the landscape until the 19th century. In

medieval times In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...

a small village arose on the northern edge of the bay. The community prospered economically due to the abundant profits from fishing and agriculture. In the 15th century a tuna fishery was built, which quickly became the most successful business in the village. In that period the military defense of the place became necessary due to the frequent attacks by

Barbary corsairs The Barbary corsairs, Barbary pirates, Ottoman corsairs, or naval mujahideen (in Muslim sources) were mainly Muslim corsairs and privateers who operated from the largely independent Barbary states. This area was known in Europe as the Barba ...

. In the late 18th century, part of the area was annexed to La Favorita Royal Estate, the private estate of King

Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies Ferdinand I (Italian language, Italian: ''Ferdinando I''; 12 January 1751 – 4 January 1825) was Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, King of the Two Sicilies from 1816 until his death. Before that he had been, since 1759, King of Naples as Ferdinand I ...

. Today, the site - which is the largest urban park in Palermo - divides the district of Mondello from the city centre, and the roads built inside it represent the main connection between the two areas. In the early 20th century, Mondello became a luxury

seaside resort A seaside resort is a city, resort town, town, village, or hotel that serves as a Resort, vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of an official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requi ...

for the aristocracy and the

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

. In 1911, the Municipality of Palermo reached an agreement with an Italian- Belgian company for the construction of a new district in the area aimed to the wealthier social classes. The new neighborhood was planned according to the canons of the

garden city movement The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with Green belt, greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, i ...

and its construction involved the leading architects of the Palermo

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

school, such as Ernesto Basile and his students. A number of

Liberty style Liberty style ( ) was the Italian variant of Art Nouveau, which flourished between about 1890 and 1914. It was also sometimes known as ("floral style"), ("new art"), or ("modern style" not to be confused with the Spanish variant of Art Nouveau ...

villas on the seafront promenade have made it one of the gems of

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. Later, Mondello Beach grew into a tourist destination and it is currently considered the main seaside resort of Palermo, although the district remains essentially a

residential area A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family residen ...

Toponymy

Historical evidences show that Mondello's name has been in regular use since at least the 16th century, but its etymological origins remain uncertain. According to the version most accredited by researchers, it appears to be an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

alteration of the

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

''Al Mondellu'', which means "The Swamp", because during the Islamic domination of Sicily, between the 10th and 11th centuries, the area was known for the presence of a marsh on the south-eastern side of the bay. In support of this thesis, it is known that Muslim sailors referred to the small port of Mondello Bay as ''Marsa 'at Tin'', which means "Port of Mud".

History

Ancient history

The area has been settled since the

. Prehistoric tribes used the caves in the mountains surrounding Mondello as dwellings and, in some cases, as places of shamanic ritual. During the

Chalcolithic The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in di ...

, with the changing climatic and social conditions, several villages with annexed necropolises arose in the vicinity of the current inhabited centre. Around the

7th century BC The 7th century BC began the first day of 700 BC and ended the last day of 601 BC. The Neo-Assyrian Empire continued to dominate the Near East during this century, exercising formidable power over neighbors like Babylon and Egypt. In the last ...

the bay was regularly visited by Phoenician sailors, as demonstrated by the discovery of a sanctuary dedicated to the ancient goddess

Isis Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

in a cave on Mount Gallo known as Cave Regina (or ''Cave Queen''), which was used as a place of worship since the prehistoric age. The Greek historian

Polybius Polybius (; , ; ) was a Greek historian of the middle Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , a universal history documenting the rise of Rome in the Mediterranean in the third and second centuries BC. It covered the period of 264–146 ...

mentioned that the Carthaginian general

Hamilcar Barca Hamilcar Barca or Barcas (; – 228BC) was a Ancient Carthage, Carthaginian general and statesman, leader of the Barcid family, and father of Hannibal, Hasdrubal Barca, Hasdrubal and Mago Barca, Mago. He was also father-in-law to Hasdrubal the F ...

used Mondello as a landing point for his fleet during the

First Punic War The First Punic War (264–241 BC) was the first of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the early 3rd century BC. For 23 years, in the longest continuous conflict and grea ...

, in the

3rd century BC The 3rd century BC started the first day of 300 BC and ended the last day of 201 BC. It is considered part of the Classical antiquity, Classical Era, Epoch (reference date), epoch, or historical period. In the Mediterranean Basin, the first fe ...

. During the years of Roman domination, the intense deforestation of Mount Pellegrino caused the formation of a swamp in a section of the area known as Valdesi, on the southern side.

Medieval and early modern history

a small village arose on the northern edge of the bay. The community prospered economically due to the abundant profits from fishing and agriculture. In the early 15th century a tuna fishery was built, which quickly became the most successful business in the village. Between the 15th and 17th centuries, the village was attacked many times by

, who in that historical period continuously targeted the Italian coastal towns to plunder resources and kidnap people for the slave trade. The raids of Arab pirates, which had already marked the Sicilian island since the 7th century, became particularly dramatic starting from the second half of the 15th century, causing immense losses in all the maritime communities of Palermo. As a response, the Senate of Palermo set up a system of coastal towers to ensure the defense of the territory and coordinate military defense. In the village of Mondello two were built; the first was placed near the fishing complex to protect the inhabitants and supplies in case of invasion, while the second one was positioned on the rock spur that closes the bay to the north-west, with the aim of spotting pirate sailing ships in advance and alerting the rest of the military forces for the counterattack. The two towers, which have survived to the present day, constitute an important testimony to the coastal defence system of Sicily.

Modern history

At the end of 18th century, a large part of the Mondello area was annexed to La Favorita Royal Estate, founded by King

following the transfer of the Bourbon court to Palermo in 1798. The part of Mondello included in the estate corresponded mainly to the Valdesi marsh, which the sovereign exploited for fishing trips due to the particular species that populated it, and the surrounding lands, which were looked after to enhance their landscape qualities. In 1860 a

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

epidemic originated in the marshy area of Valdesi due to the rise in average temperatures, which favored the proliferation of harmful insects. The disease caused the death of hundreds of people, mostly families of workers in the marshy plains and in the immediately surrounding lands. A good number of those who had not been infected abandoned the area, which quickly became depopulated. In 1865, a local nobleman called Francesco Lanza Spinelli established a committee with the aim of stopping malaria infections by draining the marsh waters definitively. Under his guidance several studies were promoted over a period of about 25 years, the most functional of which involved the abandonment of the drainage canals, planning to build a horseshoe-shaped collector for the water. The project was approved in 1889 and the works were completed in a few years. The area lost its humidity and this led to the definitive disappearance of the ponds that made up the Valdesi swamp. At the end of the 19th century, the village celebrated the disappearance of malaria and began to be frequented more by occasional visitors who went there by carriage to enjoy the coast, a trend that led to the birth of the first resorts on Mondello beach.

Contemporary history

After the reclamation of Valdesi's swamp, the area attracted the interest of numerous entrepreneurs from all over

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

due to its landscape qualities. From 1912 onwards, Mondello became the seat of the high bourgeoisie and the aristocracy. The nobility of the city fostered the construction of several exclusive and aristocratic circles, the construction of villas and the exploitation of lush gardens. King Ferdinand of Bourbon called it "a corner of paradise". Eventually, the beach of Mondello was born.

Geography

Mondello lies on a semicircular bay on the north-western coast of Palermo, which shoreline extends for about 0.93 miles (1.5 km) and is bathed by the waters of the

Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea (, ; or ) , , , , is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenians, Tyrrhenian people identified with the Etruscans of Italy. Geography The sea is bounded by the islands of C ...

. It binds two cliffs called Mount Gallo and Mount Pellegrino, where the city's two main nature reserves are located. The neighborhood is separated from the city center by La Favorita Park, founded at the end of the

18th century The 18th century lasted from 1 January 1701 (represented by the Roman numerals MDCCI) to 31 December 1800 (MDCCC). During the 18th century, elements of Enlightenment thinking culminated in the Atlantic Revolutions. Revolutions began to ch ...

by King

and which today represents the largest urban garden in Palermo with an area of 400 hectares.

Attractions

Mondello is characterized by a sandy bay that binds the two promontories, called Monte Gallo and Mount Pellegrino, with a coastline of white sand that nowadays is approximately 1.5 kilometers long. The Natural Reserve of Capo Gallo and the reserve of Monte Pellegrino are nearby. Today the area is known for its beach, and for its

villas, which characterize the architecture of the burough, making it a landmark in the history of international modernism.

Notable people

* Ignazio Arcoleo (born 1948), footballer and manager *

Angelo La Barbera Angelo La Barbera (; 3 July 1924 – 28 October 1975) was a powerful member of the Sicilian Mafia. Together with his brother Salvatore La Barbera he ruled the Mafia family of Palermo Centro. Salvatore La Barbera sat on the first Sicilian Mafi ...

(1924-75), mafioso * Aura Eternal (born 1998), drag queen * Gaspare Mutolo (born 1940), mafioso * Salvatore Lo Piccolo (born 1942), mafioso

Bibliography

* P.Hardy, A. Bing, A. Blasi, C. Bonetto, K. Christiani, ''Italy'', pp. 759–60, Lonely Planet. * W. Dello Russo, ''Spiagge in Sicilia'', Sime Books. * Michelin, M. Magni, M. Marca, ''Sicilia'', p. 90, La Guida Verde 2013 * ''Sicilia'', p. 39, Lonely Planet, EDT 2013

References

{{Authority control Subdivisions of Palermo Tourist attractions in Palermo Art Nouveau architecture in Italy