The city of Palermo, cradled between the sea, the Mount Pellegrino Cape and the citrus trees of the Conca d'Oro, is the capital of the Autonomous Region created in 1947 and at present can rightly be considered the only real metropolis of Sicily, the pivot around which the economical, political and cultural activities of the island revolve. A privileged role therefore originating from its history which spans over many centuries, having always been characterized by its favorable geographic location. Man was in fact present on the slopes of Mount Pellegrino since the Paleolithic Age; however it was the Phoenicians in the 8th century b.C. who were the first to appreciate the value of the natural bay, today known as Cala, which at that time was 500 m deeper and quickly became a fundamental commercial port of call for the entire Mediterranean sea. From that time on the harbor has never lost its leading role both for the economy and the history of Palermo: from it the city took its name and it was the port which allowed the city to establish contacts, time after time, with the most important and developed civilizations, acquiring a typical cosmopolitan atmosphere; and again it was its commercial and strategic importance that gave the city an uninterrupted fortune, protected and encouraged through the centuries by various ruling powers.