Description
The Cala is an inlet in the heart of Palermo: the city's oldest harbor, between Via Francesco Crispi and the Foro Italico. It is a "U"-shaped little port that opens onto the Port of Palermo, surrounded by the historic center.
The city was born here. For the Phoenicians it was a natural landing place, much deeper than today, where the rivers Kemonia and Papireto, now flowing underground, reached the sea. And the Greek name of Palermo, Pànormos, literally means "all port."
The Cala was protected on the east by the Castello a Mare. The mole was built between 1300 and 1445, and the basin remained the main landing place until the sixteenth century, when traffic shifted to the districts of Santa Lucia, Borgo Vecchio and Sant'Erasmo.
The port's emblem is the church of Santa Maria della Catena, Gothic-Catalan in style, right on the water. It was designed by Matteo Carnilivari and finished around 1520 by the architects Scaglione and Belguardo.
The name comes from a long, massive chain that closed off the port for security: one end was tied to the Castello a Mare, the other to a little church on the opposite side. That little church, dedicated to the Madonna del Porto, is now a side chapel of the big church.
According to tradition, in August 1392 a storm caused the execution of three men condemned to death to be postponed. The authorities locked them in the chapel, bound with heavy chains, and the chains broke through the Virgin's intercession.
In 1581 the viceroy Marcantonio Colonna extended the Cassaro to the sea with Porta Felice, and the port area joined the circuit of the city's most important monuments. The miracle spread devotion to the Madonna della Catena across Sicily, Calabria and beyond, and pilgrims brought gifts to build a bigger church.
Plans for the future were not lacking: the 1939 master plan proposed filling it in, squaring it off or even spanning it with a bridge between Lungomare Crispi and the Foro Italico. None was carried out.
The city was born here. For the Phoenicians it was a natural landing place, much deeper than today, where the rivers Kemonia and Papireto, now flowing underground, reached the sea. And the Greek name of Palermo, Pànormos, literally means "all port."
The Cala was protected on the east by the Castello a Mare. The mole was built between 1300 and 1445, and the basin remained the main landing place until the sixteenth century, when traffic shifted to the districts of Santa Lucia, Borgo Vecchio and Sant'Erasmo.
The port's emblem is the church of Santa Maria della Catena, Gothic-Catalan in style, right on the water. It was designed by Matteo Carnilivari and finished around 1520 by the architects Scaglione and Belguardo.
The name comes from a long, massive chain that closed off the port for security: one end was tied to the Castello a Mare, the other to a little church on the opposite side. That little church, dedicated to the Madonna del Porto, is now a side chapel of the big church.
According to tradition, in August 1392 a storm caused the execution of three men condemned to death to be postponed. The authorities locked them in the chapel, bound with heavy chains, and the chains broke through the Virgin's intercession.
In 1581 the viceroy Marcantonio Colonna extended the Cassaro to the sea with Porta Felice, and the port area joined the circuit of the city's most important monuments. The miracle spread devotion to the Madonna della Catena across Sicily, Calabria and beyond, and pilgrims brought gifts to build a bigger church.
Plans for the future were not lacking: the 1939 master plan proposed filling it in, squaring it off or even spanning it with a bridge between Lungomare Crispi and the Foro Italico. None was carried out.