Palermo, Panormus , ruined city in Sicily, in the Mazzara region, with a bishopric and a port. Prior to being destroyed by an earthquake, Palermo competed with Messina for the role of capital city. [1]

Palermo was located on the northern coast of Sicily, right by the Gulf of Palermo , in a wonderful valley. It stood 44 leagues west of Messina, 68 leagues southwest of Naples, and 96 leagues south of Rome. Longitude 31.15. Latitude. 38.10.

The city was the birthplace of Saint Agatha, as well as of Saint Agatho, a Benedictine who became pope on 11 April 679. [The city was also the birthplace of] Gian Matteo Giberti, bishop of Verona, who died on 30 December 1543. He was a man of letters, and founded a printing house, where a wonderful Greek edition of the homilies of John Chrysostom on Saint Paul’s Epistles was published in 1529. Antoine, known as Palermo , sold his house to purchase a manuscript of Livy. [2] I will not mention a number of Jesuits and other monks who were born in Palermo , and who inundated Europe with works on canon law, scholastic theology, and several subjects of the kind, which are now mostly neglected.

But, as is testified by the Bibliotheca Sicula of Mongitore, Palermo has also been the birthplace of several true savants. [3] I shall limit myself to consider that, though in this latter work Giovanni Filippo Ingrassia, famous anatomist of the 16th century, is said to be originally from Palermo , he was actually born in Regalbuto, a little town in Val Demone.

He discovered the stapes, a little bone in the ear, and described the structure of the sphenoid bone much better than anyone else before. Thanks to his many works, e.g. the Commentarium in Galeni librum de ossibus that was published posthumously in Palermo (1603) and Venice (1604), he gained a high reputation at both Anatomy and Medicine.

During his lifetime, he also published a book De tumoribus praeter naturam, tom. I . Neapoli 1553,  in - fol . [4] He had intended to write six other volumes on the subject which, nonetheless, never saw the light of day. Galen identified but 61 different kinds of tumours, whereas Ingrassia almost tripled this number. To mention all his works would be an overly lengthy task, for he wrote copiously.

In 1563, Philip II of Spain appointed him chief physician of Sicily and of the adjacent isles. While in office he distinguished himself, and in 1575, as a terrible plague broke out in Palermo and in most of Sicily, he proved both his ability and zeal for the public welfare. As a sign of gratitude, the Senate of Palermo assigned him a pension of 250 gold ducats per month, of which he accepted but a small amount that he allocated to the refurbishment of the chapel of a Dominican monastery. In his spare time he used to dedicate himself to literature and poetry. He died at 70 in 1580, missed by everyone.

Notes

1. The name “Messina” is actually misspelt in the French original, which reads “Atessina.”

2. The reference is to Antonio Beccadelli (1394-1471). For further information see: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=xSBzo0mfqY4C&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=vita+di+antonio+beccadelli+soprannominato+il+panormita&source=bl&ots=tcf3kNgs2K&sig=oEfqopMrZinirH3Khdo-5q6pFfs&hl=it&sa=X&ei=uM3xU7f1JIal0QXg8IGYDQ&ved=0CD4Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=vita%20di%20antonio%20beccadelli%20soprannominato%20il%20panormita&f=false

3. Antonio Mongitore (1663-1743). For further reference see: http://books.google.it/books?id=VpiAbtsJW3oC&printsec=frontcover&hl=it&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

4. De tumoribus praeter naturam (1553).