Back مرسى الطين Arabic Мондело (Палермо) CE Mondello German Μοντέλο (Ιταλία) Greek Mondello EO Mondello French Mondello Italian Mondello Dutch Mondello NB Munneddu SCN
Mondello | |
|---|---|
 View of Mondello from Mount Pellegrino | |
  Mondello Location of Mondello in Italy | |
| Coordinates: 38°12′03″N 13°19′23″E / 38.20083°N 13.32306°E | |
| Country | Italy |
| Region | Sicily |
| Province | Metropolitan City of Palermo |
| Comune | Palermo |
| Elevation | 5 m (16 ft) |
| Population (2013) | |
• Total | 12,150 |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Postal code | 90151 |
| Dialing code | 091 |
Mondello (Sicilian: Munneḍḍu) is a seaside district of the city of Palermo in the autonomous region of Sicily, in Southern Italy.
It lies on a sandy bay delimited by two hills called Mount Gallo (or Rooster) and Mount Pellegrino (or Pilgrim), in the northernmost area of the city. In the administrative subdivision, it falls within the 7th municipal division (or circoscrizione) of Palermo and it is annexed to the surrounding neighborhoods of Addaura and Partanna, with which it forms the 22nd major neighborhood (or quartiere) of the city, Partanna-Mondello.[1][2]
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Upper Paleolithic and Chalcolithic.[3] Later, during the time period of ancient history, Mondello Bay was a passage point for sailors from different cultures, such as the Western Phoenicians, the ancient Greeks and the Romans.[4][5]
During the Roman Republic, 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.[6]
In medieval times 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.[7]
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.[8] The site, which today is the largest urban park in Palermo, divides the district of Mondello from the city center and the roads built inside it represent the main connection between the two areas.[9]
In the early 20th century, Mondello became a luxury seaside resort for the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie. 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.[10] The new neighborhood was planned according to the canons of the garden city movement and its construction involved the leading architects of the Palermo modernist school, such as Ernesto Basile and his students.[11] A number of Liberty style villas on the seafront promenade have made it one of the gems of Art Nouveau in Europe.[12][13]
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.
- ^ "Le Otto Circoscrizioni di Palermo - Un profilo statistico" [The Eight Municipalities of Palermo - A Statistical Profile] (PDF) (in Italian).
- ^ "La Settima Circoscrizione" [The Seventh Municipality]. Sito istituzionale del Comune di Palermo (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-01-23.
- ^ "Caves of Addaura in Palermo - Sicily". www.enjoysicilia.it. Retrieved 2025-01-14.
- ^ Tusa, Sebastiano. "La nave del tesoro" [The treasure ship]. palermoweb.com. Retrieved 2025-01-24. [The dispersion area of the archaeological material is about 200 m² and is located at a depth of between 5 and 12 m. The sandy seabed is frequently interrupted by rocky reliefs and depressions, sometimes covered by sand and debris, inside which the main accumulations of material were found. These depressions are better visible after storm surges due to the mistral. The shape of the gulf, the currents that cross it and the spring storms cause significant movements of sand masses that often cause the unearthing of archaeological finds. The finds discovered, notably heterogeneous among themselves due to the stratifications that occurred over the centuries, cannot be traced back to a single chronological dimension. In fact, materials from different eras coexist.]
- ^ "Tre anfore romane trovate nel mare di Mondello" [Three Roman amphorae found in the sea of Mondello]. la Repubblica (in Italian). 2021-04-20. Retrieved 2025-01-24.
- ^ Schirò, Samuele (2020-12-15). "Mondello, da palude a paradiso ritrovato" [Mondello, from a swamp to a rediscovered paradise]. Palermo Viva (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-01-24. [In the following centuries, in Roman times, the expansion of the city increased the demand for land in which to produce food, as well as wood to build buildings and boats. This need caused a massive deforestation of the surrounding areas, which caused a progressive flow of debris towards the sea through the numerous waterways that flowed into that gulf. Over the years, the accumulation of debris meant that the water could no longer flow freely into the sea, thus forming the vast swamp that characterized the area until the early 1900s.]
- ^ Lo Cascio, Pippo. "Due torri a difesa della Tonnara" [Two towers defending the tuna fishery]. www.storiamedievale.net (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-01-14.
- ^ "Parco della Favorita - I Luoghi del Cuore" [The Favorita Park - Places of Heart]. Fondo Ambiente Italiano (in Italian). [The areas involved were part of Mount Pellegrino, the flat area today identified precisely as "La Favorita" and the marshes of Mondello.]
- ^ "Parco della Favorita". Balarm.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-01-24. [Two long avenues, named after Hercules and Diana, cross the park in parallel; originally they were the privileged path of noble walks, today they are highly trafficked communication routes, because they act as a connection between Palermo and Mondello.]
- ^ "Les Tramways de Palerme - Titolo finanziario storico" [Les Tramways de Palerme - Historical Financial Title]. scripomuseum.com (in Italian). 2017-01-12. Retrieved 2025-01-23. [In 1911, the Municipality of Palermo signed an agreement with the Belgian company Les Tramways de Palerme to build and operate electric traction lines up to Mondello: these lines were inaugurated in 1912. In 1929, during the fascist regime, the two networks (that of the “Belgian” and that of the SSTO) were unified under the management of the Union of Electric Traction and Transport of Sicily (UTETS).]
- ^ "Sicilian Liberty - Italianate Art Nouveau - Best of Sicily Magazine". www.bestofsicily.com. Retrieved 2025-01-14.
Architect Ernesto Basile followed in his father's footsteps, to be joined by Vincenzo Alagna and others. Two particular areas are dominated by the Art Nouveau: Via Libertà and the streets running off it between Politeama and the Giardino Inglese, and Mondello (a seaside district outside town).
- ^ "Palermo – Mondello – Stile Liberty architecture". The Gannet. 2022-08-23. Retrieved 2025-01-14.
- ^ "Portale del Turismo - Comune di Palermo". Portale del Turismo - Comune di Palermo (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-01-14.