Revolt of Palermo

Between the sixteenth and seventeenth century Palermo renounced its privileges of self-government to accommodate the court of the Spanish viceroy and impose its role as capital of the island over rival Messina. The relations with Madrid, however, were not always easy. The uprising, which erupted in 1647, sought a change in fiscal policy and in the prerogatives of the Kingdom of Sicily. The events in Palermo should be placed in the broader context of the “contemporary revolutions” of the mid-seventeenth century, which involved the domains of the Spanish monarchy (Catalonia and Portugal in 1640 and Naples between 1647 and 1648), France (the Fronde, 1648-1653), England (the first English Revolution, 1640-1649), to which also must be added the last step in the long struggle for independence of the United Provinces from Spain. These events intertwined with the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) and with the religious conflicts between Catholics and Protestants, but they had a common denominator: criticism and violent opposition to the system of extraordinary government and war put into practice by ministers of the king in the most important European monarchies. In Palermo, the popular uprising took shape after the decision of the Spanish viceroy and civic administration to increase the price of corn (which was affected by the bad harvest of 1647). The uprising was quelled in 1649, thanks to the loyalty of most of the Sicilian nobility and the city of Messina: the captain general of the people was killed and the Spaniards took control of the city. The revolt, however, was not in vain: it helped to put limits to the overwhelming power of the nobles in the city government.