Archivio di Stato di Palermo

The State Archive of Palermo, established under the name “Great Archive” by the organic law of August 1, 1843, originated from the royal dispatch of February 11, 1814, promoted by the Parliament of 1812, which established a General Archive to collect the writings produced by the organs before the Kingdom of Sicily (under the Norman, Swabian, Angevin, and Aragonese dynasties), then, from 1412, of the Viceroyalty and finally, from 1816, of the Lieutenancy of the Kingdom of Naples.

The State Archive of Palermo has the task of preserving, making known, enhancing, and supervising the archives of State offices no longer required for ordinary processing or the archives and documents that, for any reason, have come into the possession of the State. As cultural assets, they are elements of cultural heritage.

The State Archive, in addition to the archives of the pre-unification organs and those of the territorial peripheral organs of the State, also preserves :

-notarial archives up to the first half of the 19th century

-archives of religious corporations suppressed in 1866

-private archives of noble or notable Sicilian families

Since 1975, the State Archive of Palermo has been a peripheral body of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities

-The “Catena” location of the State Archive of Palermo is located in the premises of the former convent of the Theatine Fathers, built in the early seventeenth century, next to the fifteenth-century church of Santa Maria della Catena.

-The “Gancia” location is nearby, in the former Franciscan convent of Santa Maria degli Angeli, called the Gancia, also adjacent to the homonymous church dating back to the 15th century.

-The State Archive of Palermo oversees the Termini Imerese Section of the State Archive.