Greek city of  Panormos in  Sicily
As Ziz (but without Punic 'sys')
Silver Litra 11mm (0.63 grams) Struck circa 405-380 B.C.
Reference: Jenkins, Punic pl. 24, 14.
Youthful male head to left.
 Bearded man-headed bull walking to left, his head turned slightly towards  the viewer.

The principal Phoenician city in Sicily, Panormos produced a limited coinage in  the latter part of the 5th Century; but following the great success of  Carthaginian arms, 409-405 B.C., the issues of the mint became much larger. The  types are mostly copied form the coinages of other Sicilian cities, such as Gela,  Segesta and Syracuse.

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Palermo is a city in Southern Italy , the capital of both the autonomous region   of Sicily and the Province of Palermo .  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. Palermo is located in  the northwest of the island of Sicily, right by the  Gulf of Palermo in the Tyrrhenian Sea .

The city was founded by the Phoenicians , but named by the Ancient Greeks as Panormus meaning  “always fit for landing in.” Palermo became part of the Roman Republic , the Roman 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. Following the Norman reconquest , 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 Two Sicilies until the Italian unification of 1860.

The population of the Palermo urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 855,285, while its metropolitan area is the fifth most populated  in Italy with around 1.2 million people. In the central area, the city has a  population of around 650,000 people. The inhabitants are known as Palermitans  or poetically panormiti. The languages spoken by its inhabitants are the Italian language and the Sicilian language , in its Palermitan variation.

Palermo is Sicily's cultural , economic and touristic capital. It is a city rich in history , culture , art, music and food. Numerous tourists are attracted to the city for its good Mediterranean weather, its renowned gastronomy and restaurants , its Romanesque , Gothic and Baroque churches , palaces and buildings , and its nightlife and music .^[1]  Palermo is the main Sicilian industrial and commercial center: the main industrial sectors  include tourism , services , commerce and agriculture .^[2]  Palermo currently has an international airport , and a significant underground economy .^{[citation  needed]} In fact, for cultural, artistic and economic  reasons, Palermo was one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean and is now among the top tourist  destinations in both Italy and Europe. The city is also going through careful  redevelopment, preparing to become one of the major cities of the  Euro-Mediterranean area.

Roman Catholicism is highly important in  Palermitan culture. The patron saint of the city is Saint Rosalia . Her feast day on July 15 is perhaps the biggest  social event in the city. The area attracts significant numbers of tourists each year and is widely known for its  colourful fruit, vegetable and fish market at the heart of Palermo, known as the Vucciria.

 History

 Ancient era

Evidence for human settlement in the area now known as  Palermo goes back to the Pleistocene Epoch , around 8000 BC . This evidence is present in the form  of cave drawings at nearby Addaura writ by the Sicani who, according to Thucydides , arrived from the Iberian Peninsula (perhaps Catalonia ). During 734 BC the Phoenicians , a sea trading peoples from the  north of ancient Canaan , built a small settlement on the natural  habour of Palermo. Some sources suggest they named the settlement "Ziz." The Greeks , who were the most dominant culture on  the island of Sicily due to the powerful city state of Syracuse to the east, instead called the  settlement Panormus. Its Greek name means "all-port" and it was named so  because of its fine natural harbour . Palermo was then passed on to  the Phoenician's descendants and successors, the Carthaginians .

During this period it was a centre of commerce ; however a power struggle between the  Greeks and the Carthaginians broke out in the form of the Sicilian Wars , causing unrest. It was from  Palermo that Hamilcar 's fleet (which was defeated at the Battle of Himera ) was launched Palermo  eventually became a Greek colony when Pyrrhus of Epirus gained it during the Pyrrhic War period in 276 BC . However, as the Romans flooded into Sicily during the First Punic War , the city came under Roman rule only three decades later. The Romans  made sure that, in the words of Roman consul M. Valerian to the Roman Senate ; "no Carthaginian remains in  Sicily". This period was quite a calm time for Palermo, which was growing into  an important Roman trade centre. Also during this period Christianity first began to be practised in  Palermo.