Port of Palermo, Maritime port in Palermo, Italy

The Port of Palermo stretches along Sicily's northern coast, combining natural harbor sections with man-made structures across several kilometers of Mediterranean shoreline. The facility includes separate terminals for cargo and passenger vessels along with maintenance and service areas.

Phoenician navigators founded Palermo on this bay, which the Greeks called Panormos, "all port". The present harbour dates from 1567, when Viceroy García Álvarez de Toledo y Osorio moved it north of the old Cala. The Molo Nuovo was finished in 1590, and a memorial stone at the entrance bears the Viceroy's coat of arms and the oldest known image of the Genio di Palermo.

The port's name comes from the Greek Panormos, meaning "all harbour", a name the Greeks gave the bay the Phoenicians chose for their settlement. The Borgo Vecchio district, founded in 1570 by Carlo d'Aragona Tagliavia next to the new port, took on a seafaring character because of the harbour. Ferries and hydrofoils still link the quay to the Aeolian Islands, Ustica, Milazzo and Cefalù.

The port operates regular ferry services connecting to major Italian cities like Naples, Genoa, and Civitavecchia. Travelers should locate the passenger terminal in advance and allow extra time to navigate the large area with multiple docks and vessel zones.

This location includes a shipyard with two graving docks where vessels are constructed and maintained. The facility processes massive cargo volumes and regularly hosts large passenger ships, making it an active manufacturing and repair center.