As the capital city of Sicily Island, Palermo has an area of 4992 sq km and a population of 1.3 million. It is located in the Palermo Gulf, north of Sicily Island, with an altitude of 14 meters. At Palermo, agriculture is flourishing and it is especially famous for oranges and other kinds of fruits.

History of the city presents a notable trace of the interleaving between Arab and Norman period. Since the middle of last century, out of speculation, houses have being torn down and built in the coastal area and inland in large scale, which indicates the rapid development of the city planning of Palermo.

Palermo was founded by Phoenician (Greeks) in 8th-7th century B.C. In 254 B.C, under the conquest of the Romans, it was the most important city of the island. After the ruin of the Rome Empire, it was taken by the Goth. In 831, Palermo was taken by Arab and it became the capital of the Emirs in Sicily who obtained independence. The period of Arab rule was the most flourishing period. In 1072, Palermo was conquered by Normans and it was chosen capital of the Norman Empire until it was occupied by Italy in 1360.

Agriculture and mining industry in Palermo is advanced, but industry here is undeveloped. Italy has been providing more financial support to the south area including Sicily. A special public fund - The Development Fund for South Area was set up for this purpose. The employment in Italy is double times of the average of that in other 7 capitalism countries. The unemployment in south Italy is double times of that in the north. The unemployment is closely related to the behindhand economy and the under-development of industry. The great difference on economic development between the south and the north indicates the serious imbalance between agricultural area and industrial area. It is difficult to eradicate this imbalance.

Medium and small sized enterprises including architecture, shipbuilding, metallurgy, machinery, food and weaving are in the majority of Palermo's industry. Agriculture is also very important (including orange planting and gardening industry in the Golden Basin). The historical relics, work of art and the bathing places attract many visitors.

The local authority organs of Italy are divided into 3 levels as district, province, and town. The authority organs of the district, especially the special zone, hold wide responsibilities and power on legislation, administration and finance. There are 5 special zones and 15 districts in Italy. Most of the special zones such as Sicily District and Sardinia are located at the border areas and islands of Italy. They differ from other areas on society, history, language, culture and tradition.

Sicily, with an area of 25,780 sq km and a population of 5.2 million, is the largest and the earliest district of Italy. Its regulations come into being even earlier than the constitution of the Republic. The Sicily District was set up on May 15, 1946 according to the No.455 Decree.

The authority organ of Sicily District contains the District Parliament and the Committee of District Affairs (chairman of the committee and the district affairs officer are elected by the District Parliament). The Committee of District Affairs acts as an implementation organ to handle all kinds of problems on administration. Chairman of the Committee is not only head of the district, but also representative of the central government in the district. Chairman of the district participates in cabinet council and has the right to vote, which is a notable feature differs from other areas of Sicily.There is no administration and judicature congress in Sicily.

The district government takes charge of most of the taxation (not including industrial tax, revenues from monopolization on tobacco and lottery ticket). Besides, the district can get subsidy from the central government.

The central government assigns commissioners to this district to supervise the work of the chairman and other district officers, to investigate whether the district laws violate the constitution and to put forward suggestion on dismissing the parliament if necessary. After argumentation among the cabinet council, the prime minister will table a proposal and the president issues a dismissal order.