The University of Palermo ( it, Università degli Studi di Palermo) is a university located in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, and founded in 1806. It is organized in 12 Faculties.

History

The University of Palermo was officially founded in 1806, although its earliest roots date back to 1498 when

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

and

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

were taught there. A little later in

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

, from the second half of the 16th century from their seat at the Collegio Massimo al Cassero, the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

Fathers granted degrees in

Theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

- subjects in which they had been masters for over 200 years. In 1767 they were expelled from the kingdom by King Ferdinand I, until 37 years later, when they returned to take their seat - which in the meantime had been turned into the Regia Accademia. At this time, the same King Ferdinand decided to grant a good seat to the Accademia, moving its location to the Convent of the Teatini Fathers next to the Church of St. Giuseppe. Palazzo steri7

After the unification of Italy in 1860, the University of Palermo was modernized under the impetus of the chemist

Stanislao Cannizzaro Stanislao Cannizzaro ( , also , ; 13 July 1826 – 10 May 1910) was an Italian chemist. He is famous for the Cannizzaro reaction and for his influential role in the atomic-weight deliberations of the Karlsruhe Congress in 1860. Biography ...

and the minister and specialist in

Arab studies Arab studies or Arabic studies is an academic discipline centered on the study of Arabs and Arab World. It consists of several disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, linguistics, historiography, archaeology, cultural studies, economics, geog ...

Michele Amari Michele Amari (7 July 1806 – 16 July 1889) was a Sicilian patriot, historian and orientalist. Biography Born at Palermo son of Ferdinando and Giulia Venturelli, he devoted a great part of his life to the history of Sicily. Amari was also a ...

, more or less assuming its present appearance. Since 1984 the main building of the University, housing the Rector's office, is

Palazzo Chiaramonte-Steri Palazzo Chiaramonte-Steri is a Gothic-style palace located on via Piazza Marina, facing the Giardino Garibaldi in the ancient quarter of Kalsa of Palermo, region of Sicily, Italy. History The building, intended to be the family palace or castl ...

, one of the most important historical buildings in Palermo, built in 1307 and formerly the residence of the Chiaramonte. Not far from Palazzo Steri, on land formerly belonging to the

Chiaramonte The Chiaramonte are a noble family of Sicily. They became the most powerful and wealthy family in Sicily. In the 13th century the marriage of Manfredi Chiaramonte to Isabella Mosca, united the two Sicilian counties of Modica and Ragusa. Aroun ...

, the

Botanical Gardens A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

constitute a further admirable pearl of the University. Today, the University has grown to be an institution of about 2000 lecturers and 50,000 students in which research in all main fields of study is carried out. In the past few years the university has actively taken part in international cooperation programmes.

Organization

University of Palermo - Art and Architecture building

These are the 12 faculties in which the university is divided into: * Faculty of

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

* Faculty of

Architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

* Faculty of

Arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...

and

Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

* Faculty of

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

* Faculty of

Education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

* Faculty of

Engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

* Faculty of

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

* Faculty of

Mathematical Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

Physical Physical may refer to: *Physical examination In a physical examination, medical examination, or clinical examination, a medical practitioner examines a patient for any possible medical signs or symptoms of a medical condition. It generally co ...

and

Natural Sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

* Faculty of

Medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

* Faculty of

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

* Faculty of

Pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

* Faculty of

Political Sciences Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

Notable people

Alumni

* Giuseppe Alessi *

Giuseppe Ayala Giuseppe Ayala (born May 18, 1945 in Caltanissetta) is an Italian politician and magistrate. He was known as an "anti-mafia" magistrate, and served as "anti-Mafia" judge. He raised doubts about whether it was only the Mafia that was involved in ...

Ernesto Basile Ernesto Basile (31 January 1857 – 26 August 1932, in Palermo) was an Italian architect and an exponent of modernisme and Liberty style, the Italian variant of Art Nouveau. His style was known for its eclectic fusion of ancient, medieval and m ...

* Giovanni Battista Filippo Basile *

Giulia Bongiorno Giulia Bongiorno (born 22 March 1966) is an Italian lawyer and politician who served as the Italian Minister of Public Administration from 1 June 2018 to 5 September 2019. A prominent criminal defense attorney, she has served in both houses of th ...

Paolo Borsellino Paolo Emanuele Borsellino (; scn, Pàulu Borsellino; 19 January 1940 – 19 July 1992) was an Italian judge and prosecuting magistrate. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, Sicily, he spent most of his professional life trying t ...

Gesualdo Bufalino Gesualdo Bufalino (; Comiso, Italy, 15 November 1920 – 14 June 1996), was an Italian writer. Biography Gesualdo Bufalino was born in Comiso, Sicily. He studied literature and was a high-school professor in his hometown, for most of his life. ...

Diego Cammarata Diego Cammarata (born 27 March 1951) is an Italian politician. He was member of The People of Freedom Party. He has served as Mayor of Palermo from 2001 to 2012. He was provincial coordinator of Forza Italia from 1996 to 2001. He was elected pres ...

Bruno Caruso Bruno Caruso (; 8 August 1927 – 4 November 2018) was an influential Italian artist, graphic designer and writer who spent much of his adult life working in Rome. Caruso's work focused on the moral, political and ethical flaws of the 20th ...

Rocco Chinnici Rocco Chinnici (, ; 19 January 1925 – 29 July 1983) was a noted Italian anti-Mafia magistrate killed by the Sicilian Mafia. Life Born at Misilmeri, Chinnici graduated in law at the University of Palermo in 1947 and started working as a magist ...

Francesco Crispi Francesco Crispi (4 October 1818 – 11 August 1901) was an Italian patriot and statesman. He was among the main protagonists of the Risorgimento, a close friend and supporter of Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi, and one of the architect ...

Salvatore Cuffaro Salvatore "Totò" Cuffaro (born 21 February 1958) is a former Italian politician and former President of Sicily. He has served an almost 5-year jail sentence for aiding Cosa Nostra.Giovanni Falcone Giovanni Falcone (; 18 May 1939 – 23 May 1992) was an Italian judge and prosecuting magistrate. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, Sicily, he spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Sicilian ...

* Mario Fasino *

Paolo Giaccone Paolo Giaccone (March 21, 1929 in Palermo, Italy – August 11, 1982 in Palermo, Italy) was an Italian forensic pathologist and a professor at the University of Palermo The University of Palermo ( it, Università degli Studi di Palermo) is ...

Giovanni Gioia Giovanni Gioia (16 January 1925 – 27 November 1981) was an Italian politician. Biography Giovanni Gioia was grandson of the industrialist Filippo Pecoraino and had kinship relationships with Tagliavia shipowners. Gioia was one of the most infl ...

Pietro Grasso Pietro Grasso (; born 1 January 1945), also known as Piero Grasso, is an Italian anti-mafia magistrate and politician who served as President of the Senate from 2013 to 2018. Grasso became the Acting President of Italy on 14 January 2015, upon th ...

Enrico La Loggia Enrico La Loggia (born 25 February 1947) is an Italian politician, former Minister of Regional Affairs from 2001 to 2006. Biography Son of former President of Sicily Giuseppe La Loggia, Enrico graduated in Law at the Bocconi University in Mila ...

Giuseppe La Loggia Giuseppe La Loggia (May 1, 1911 – March 2, 1994) was an Italian politician. Biography Giuseppe La Loggia was lawyer and university professor of labor law at the University of Palermo. Son of Enrico La Loggia, Undersecretary of Finance in 192 ...

Pio La Torre Pio La Torre (; 24 December 1927 – 30 April 1982) was a leader of the Italian Communist Party (''Partito Comunista Italiano'', PCI). He was killed by the Mafia after he initiated a law that introduced a new crime in the Italian legal system, maf ...

* Salvatore Lauricella *

Rosario Livatino Rosario Angelo Livatino (; October 3, 1952 – September 21, 1990) was an Italian magistrate who was killed by Stidda. Biography Livatino was born in Canicattì, in Sicily. After successfully completing high school, he entered the university La ...

Filippo Mancuso Filippo Mancuso (22 July 1922 – 30 May 2011) was an Italian judge and politician. In 1995 he was Italy's Minister of Justice in the government of Lamberto Dini. The Italian Senate voted a motion of no confidence against him and this fact was t ...

Calogero Mannino Calogero Antonio Mannino (born August 20, 1939 in Asmara) is an Italian politician and lawyer. He has been a member of the Christian Democracy and the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats. He served in the cabinet of Prime Ministers Spadolin ...

Bernardo Mattarella Bernardo Mattarella (15 September 1905 – 1 March 1971) was an Italian politician for the Christian Democrat party (''Democrazia Cristiana'', DC). He was a cabinet minister of Italy several times, becoming one of the most important politicians o ...

* Francesca Morvillo *

Gaetano Mosca Gaetano Mosca (; 1 April 1858 – 8 November 1941) was an Italian political scientist, journalist and public servant. He is credited with developing the elite theory and the doctrine of the political class and is one of the three members constitu ...

* Francesco Musotto *

Leoluca Orlando Leoluca Orlando (born 1 August 1947), is an Italian politician, Mayor of Palermo for over twenty years and President of Italian Federation of American Football (FIDAF). He is best known for his strong opposition to the Sicilian Mafia during his m ...

Vittorio Emanuele Orlando Vittorio Emanuele Orlando (19 May 1860 – 1 December 1952) was an Italian statesman, who served as the Prime Minister of Italy from October 1917 to June 1919. Orlando is best known for representing Italy in the 1919 Paris Peace Conference with h ...

Ettore Paratore Ettore Paratore (23 August 1907 – 15 October 2000) was an Italian Latinist and academic. Paratore was born in Chieti, Italy; his father was a doctor and science teacher, while his mother was a professor. He completed his studies in literatures a ...

Emanuele Paternò Emanuele Paternò, 9th Marquess of Sessa was an Italian chemist and is credited with the discovery of the Paternò–Büchi reaction. Biography He was born in Palermo in 1847 as the Marquess of Sessa, in a branch of the House of Paternò. He stu ...

Mino Pecorelli Carmine "Mino" Pecorelli (; 14 September 1928 – 20 March 1979) was an Italian journalist, shot dead in Rome a year after former prime minister Aldo Moro's 1978 kidnapping and subsequent killing. He was described as a "maverick journalist wit ...

Valentino Picone Salvatore Ficarra (born 27 May 1971, in Palermo) and Valentino Picone (born 23 March 1971, in Palermo) are an Italian comedy duo who work on stage, films, television and books as Ficarra e Picone. Life and career They started in 1993 along ...

Elda Pucci Elda Pucci (21 February 1928 – 14 October 2005) was an Italian politician and professor. Biography Elda Pucci was born in Trapani, Italy in 1928 and died in Palermo, Italy in 2005 at the age of 77. She is daughter of Stefano Pucci. She gradua ...

* Franco Restivo * Antonino Saetta * Amedeo di Savoia *

Pietro Scaglione Pietro Scaglione (; Lercara Friddi, March 2, 1906 – Palermo, May 5, 1971) was an Italian magistrate and Chief Prosecutor of Palermo, Sicily. He was killed by the Mafia in 1971. Fighting the Mafia Scaglione graduated in law at the University o ...

Renato Schifani Renato Maria Giuseppe Schifani (; born 11 May 1950
.) is an Italian politician who has served as the

Enzo Sellerio Enzo Sellerio (1924 – February 22, 2012) was an Italian photographer, publisher, and collector. Born in 1924 in Palermo to an Italian father and a Russian mother, Sellerio studied law and was for some time a lecturer in law at the Universit ...

Antonio Starabba di Rudinì Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

* Carlo Vizzini *

Antonino Zichichi Antonino may refer to: * Antonino (name), a given name and a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Antonino, Kansas, an unincorporated community in Ellis County, Kansas, United States See also * Antoniano (disambiguation) * Anto� ...

Notable professors

Sergio Mattarella Sergio Mattarella (; born 23 July 1941) is an Italian politician, jurist, academic and lawyer who has served as the president of Italy since 2015. A Christian leftist politician, Mattarella was a leading member of the Christian Democracy par ...

President of Italy The president of Italy, officially denoted as president of the Italian Republic ( it, Presidente della Repubblica Italiana) is the head of state of Italy. In that role, the president represents national unity, and guarantees that Italian poli ...

Emilio Segrè Emilio Gino Segrè (1 February 1905 – 22 April 1989) was an Italian-American physicist and Nobel laureate, who discovered the elements technetium and astatine, and the antiproton, a subatomic antiparticle, for which he was awarded the Nobel ...

, awarded the

Nobel Prize in Physics ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...

in 1959 *

, famous for the

Cannizzaro reaction The Cannizzaro reaction, named after its discoverer Stanislao Cannizzaro, is a chemical reaction which involves the base-induced disproportionation of two molecules of a non-enolizable aldehyde to give a primary alcohol and a carboxylic acid. : ...

and for his influential role in the atomic-weight deliberations of the

Karlsruhe Congress The Karlsruhe Congress was an international meeting of chemists held in Karlsruhe, Germany from 3 to 5 September 1860. It was the first international conference of chemistry worldwide. The meeting The Karlsruhe Congress was called so that Euro ...

in 1860. *

Giuseppe Piazzi Giuseppe Piazzi ( , ; 16 July 1746 – 22 July 1826) was an Italian Catholic priest of the Theatine order, mathematician, and astronomer. He established an observatory at Palermo, now the '' Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo – Giuseppe ...

, his most famous discovery was the first dwarf planet,

Ceres Ceres most commonly refers to: * Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid * Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture Ceres may also refer to: Places Brazil * Ceres, Goiás, Brazil * Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...

. *

Natalino Sapegno Natalino Sapégno (10 November 1901 - 11 April 1990) was a literary critic and Italian academician. He came to prominence as a leading scholar of fourteenth century Italian literature. Biography Provenance and early years Natalino Sapég ...

, He came to prominence as a leading scholar of fourteenth century Italian literature. * Gaetano Giorgio Gemmellaro * Antonino Salinas * Gioacchino Scaduto

Notes and references

External links

*
University of Palermo Website
*

* {{authority control

Education in Palermo Buildings and structures in Palermo 1806 establishments in the Kingdom of Sicily 1806 establishments in Italy