Description
Corso Vittorio Emanuele, still the Cassaro to the people of Palermo, is the city's oldest street: a long straight line running down from Porta Nuova, beside the Norman Palace, to Porta Felice, almost at the sea.
Along the way you pass the Cathedral, the church of San Giuseppe dei Teatini and, halfway down, the Quattro Canti, the crossroads with Via Maqueda next to Piazza Pretoria. Farther down are San Matteo and Piazza Marina, with the Fontana del Garraffo.
Six of the nine monuments of the UNESCO site of Arab-Norman Palermo stand on the Cassaro or a few steps from it. The street was laid out by the Phoenicians to link the port to the necropolis; the name comes from the Latin castrum, perhaps by way of the Arabic al-Qasr, "fortification."
Today's straight line dates from the 16th century: from 1567 the viceroy García de Toledo had it straightened and widened, and in 1581 Marcantonio Colonna extended it to the walls, opening Porta Felice onto the sea. After Italian unification it was named after Victor Emmanuel II, but the old name stuck.
Along the way you pass the Cathedral, the church of San Giuseppe dei Teatini and, halfway down, the Quattro Canti, the crossroads with Via Maqueda next to Piazza Pretoria. Farther down are San Matteo and Piazza Marina, with the Fontana del Garraffo.
Six of the nine monuments of the UNESCO site of Arab-Norman Palermo stand on the Cassaro or a few steps from it. The street was laid out by the Phoenicians to link the port to the necropolis; the name comes from the Latin castrum, perhaps by way of the Arabic al-Qasr, "fortification."
Today's straight line dates from the 16th century: from 1567 the viceroy García de Toledo had it straightened and widened, and in 1581 Marcantonio Colonna extended it to the walls, opening Porta Felice onto the sea. After Italian unification it was named after Victor Emmanuel II, but the old name stuck.