Mondello is a small borough of the city of Palermo in the

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

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

in Southern Italy. Its beach lies between two cliffs called Mount Gallo and

Mount Pellegrino Mount Pellegrino is a hill facing east on the bay of Palermo, Sicily, southern Italy, located north of the city. It is 606 metres (1,970 ft) high with panorama views of the city, its surrounding mountains and the Tyrrhenian Sea. In his b ...

. The town was originally a small fishing village situated on marshland, but at the end of the 19th century it grew into a tourist destination. A number of

Liberty style Liberty style ( it, Stile Liberty) was the Italian variant of Art Nouveau, which flourished between about 1890 and 1914. It was also sometimes known as ''stile floreale'', ''arte nuova'', or ''stile moderno''. It took its name from Arthur Lasenby ...

villas on the seafront promenade have made it one of the gems of Art Nouveau in Europe.

History

Until the beginning of the 20th century, Mondello was an unhealthy marsh enclosed by two headlands: the

described by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe as "the most beautiful promontory in the world"Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, ''Italienische Reise - Sizilien''. and Mount Gallo. The ancient fishing village laid at the foot of the latter. It was also home to a

tonnara ''Mattanza'', literally 'slaughter' or 'killing' in Italian, also known as ''Almadraba'' in Spanish and ''Almadrava'' in Portuguese, is a traditional tuna fishing technique that uses a series of large nets to trap and exhaust the fish. There ar ...

(or

almadraba Almadraba (from Andalusi Arabic ''almaḍraba,'' meaning 'the place to strike, also derived into pt, Almadrava) is an elaborate and ancient technique for trapping and catching Atlantic bluefin tuna (''Thunnus thynnus'') originally used by the Ph ...

), one of many scattered along the West coast of Sicily. The

is no longer active. At some point, a Palermitan nobleman had the idea to drain the swamp. Prince Francesco Lanza di Scalea, with the help of a Belgian real estate company, built a plant for the drainage of swampy waters to the sea. The newly rehabilitated areas, previously occupied by the swamp, underwent a process of expansion and evolution from the 18th to the 20th centuries. 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.

Attractions

Mondello is characterized by a sandy bay that binds the two promontories, called Monte Gallo and

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

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

{{coord, 38, 12, 03, N, 13, 19, 23, E, region:IT-PA_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Subdivisions of Palermo Tourist attractions in Palermo Art Nouveau architecture in Italy