Th e Four Axes of Palermo’s Commerce: a Geographical Perspective

. Commercial dynamics within a city represent an excellent observatory desk to study urban transformation processes. Th ese dynamics re fl ect the verticality and horizontality relational system, but also the exchanges and reciprocation of the cultural and socio-economic relations. From a geographical perspective it is interesting to detect cultural, social and economic changes both permanent and in evolution which constitute the urban pattern and shape its viability. Th is work originates in 2015 within the PRIN project (Relevant Interest National Project) “Commerce, consumption and the city: practices, planning and governance for urban inclusion, resilience and sustainability” which has studied some relevant commerce dynamics in Italian main cities. Here we focus on the case of Palermo, by analysing four important streets in the city center: via Maqueda, via Ruggero Settimo, viale della Libertà and via Lincoln. Th ey represent signi fi cant cut outs of how consumers’ habits have developed in Palermo and have strongly characterized the present urban landscape by establishing a complex network of relations which shape the pattern of the city. By employing both a diacronical and synchronical approach, on one hand we analyse the evolution of the four axes. On the other hand, we illustrate the results of the research carried out by using questionnaires aimed to reveal the present conditions of the shops taking place through the business owners’ perception.


Introduction
Urban changes, observed from a diachronically and synchronically geographical perspective, constitutes a privileged object of analysis. As a matter of fact, when studying the transformation process of a city, it allows us to identify cultural, social and economic changes both permanent and in evolution which constitute the urban pattern and shape its viability. Commerce dynamics are linked to those transformation processes (Cirelli 2007(Cirelli , 2009D'Alessandro 2015;Dobbs et al. 2012;Glennie, ri 1992;Jayne 2006;Porto, Nicosia 2018): they represent an interesting observatory desk where we can observe the ongoing changes within a city, as they not only re ect the verticality and horizontality relational system but also the exchanges and reciprocation of the cultural and socio-economic relations (De Certeau 1990;Lynch 1990). e city, as Ricoeur observed, being a "concentrated organization", is most evident outcome of a community and of an economy based on the division and di erentiation of labor: "La 'metropolis', c'est la 'technopolis'. […] [La ville est] l'apparaeil logistique des rôles sociaux" (Ricoeur 2003, 115).
The present work originates in 2015 within the PRIN project (Relevant Interest National Project, Progetto di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale) "Retail, Consumption, and the City: Practices, Planning and Governance for Urban Inclusion, Resilience, and Sustainability" ("Commercio, consumo e città: pratiche, piani cazione e governance per l'inclusione, la resilienza e la sostenibilità urbane") which has studied some relevant commerce dynamics in Italian main cities. In particular, this contribution focuses on the case of Palermo, by taking into account four important streets in the city center: via Maqueda, via Ruggero Settimo, viale della Libertà and via Lincoln. ey represent, with their peculiarity, signi cant cut outs of how consumers' habits have developed in the Sicilian city and have strongly characterized the present urban landscape by establishing a complex network of relations which shape the pattern of Palermo. Here, the trade dynamics will be addressed from two complementary perspectives: diachronic and synchronic. e second paragraph will brie y explain the evolution of the four roads, from its origin until the present status, with particular attention to the commercial dynamics. e third paragraph will illustrate the results of the research recently carried out by using structured questionnaires with closed and open answers, aimed to reveal the present conditions of the shops now existing on those streets, taking place through the business owners' perception.

Origin and development of the four trade axes of Palermo
Today, via Maqueda, via Ruggero Settimo and via della Libertà is an uninterrupted road which begins in Piazza Giulio Cesare, with the train station overlooking the square and reaches up to piazza Vittorio Veneto, crossing the city on the at terrain from Southeast to Northwest (about 4,4 km). A large part of the street remains within the historical center of Palermo, one of the largest in Europe. e last two roads form a number of extensions of the older via Maqueda (originally New Road), opened in the sixteenth century during the Spanish domination and meeting orthogonally the old via Toledo (at present Corso Vittorio Emanuele II) in piazza Vigliena (known mainly as the Quattro Canti). Via Ruggero Settimo (originally Stradone fuori porta Maqueda, Out gate avenue), created in 1778, follows via Maqueda from the present piazza Verdi (the area dominated by the 17th century Gate Maqueda). e opening of viale della Libertà, extending to via Ruggero Settimo, dates back to the second half of the nineteenth century (and nished in 1915). Already the cut of via Maqueda itself in the seventeenth century, met the needs arising from the city élite who were asking for more residential areas and roads. In the following centuries, via Ruggero Settimo and viale della Libertà completed the planned expanding project out of the old historic center intra moenia under the impulse of and ever dynamic bourgeoisie. In particular, viale della Libertà was thought as the continuation of via Ruggero Settimo and was in total 2.5 km long. It was meant to facilitate the connection between the center of Palermo to the Colli area, where resort areas for the city nobility were developing since the eighteenth century. It was realized between 1846 and 1851, raised following the model of a boulevard, was cutting farm elds and gardens including pre-existing green spaces in its path together with others realized ad hoc (such as the park de ned as "Giardino Inglese" -English Garden, completed in 1853): an element trail similar to those found in contemporary European cities, inspired by the English model of city gardens (Chirco, Di Liberto 2004, 26). e fourth road axis object of the study is via Lincoln (the old Stradone di S. Antonino, avenue S. Antonino), realised between 1632 and 1637 in order to connect S.Antonino convent to Piano S. Erasmo, outside the city walls towards East. During the eighteenth century the road became one of the expansion routes for the middle class of Palermo by hosting a number of residences (Chirco 2006) and marking the green area developed around the Botanical Garden (Orto Botanico) and the city park of Villa Giulia. At present, the road, which is 1 km long, begins in piazza Giulio Cesare and ends at the Foro Italico Umberto I, running along the entrances to the public gardens and de ning the wide Southeast perimeter stretch of the limited tra c zone (ZTL - Fig.   1) launched in 2017 aimed to contrast the pollution in the historic center. e road axes so far examined are the result of the early expansions intra (as in the case of via Maqueda) and mainly extra moenia realised by the city middle class between the 17 th and 18 th century.
is imprint will stay for long and indicating in many cases the designated use that still remain today. e opening of via Maqueda in the seventeenth century, meant a new form of urban rationalization in respect to the medieval plant. e buildings, built on the two sides of the street since the opening of the road, con rm the typical grace and theatricality of the Baroque. is ideal route culminates at the threshold of the 20th century with the building of the Teatro Massimo (1875-1897), the rst, in terms of dimension, among the Italian theatres and third among the European theatres built in the 19th century. e destructions following the Second World War, the 1956 town planning scheme, as well as the notorious 'sacco di Palermo' 1 (the bag of Palermo) saved nearly all via Maqueda, that preserved a great deal of its original aspect until the present day. During the second post war, mainly in the stretch between piazza Verdi and the Quattro Canti many businesses related to clothing and shoes. An intense oversized road tra c in respect to the capacity of the road and the lack of parking lots in the area opened considerable controversies concerning the neighborhood accessibility and in general the center. Already back in the mid 80s, Cusimano (1986, 25-26) had reported on how the shop keepers considered private street tra c necessary to attract clients. In recent years, the ZTLs, which established the ultimate pedestrianization of via Maqueda from piazza Verdi (already experienced episodically), entailed a new set up of business activities (to note also the tourist ows, which today are more substantial), with the opening of many ethnic shops run by immigrants (some of them have been there for long) and with a proliferation of the food and restaurant sector at the expense of the older and more traditional ones. is development should be put in relation with the proximity of one of the most historically popular areas of the night movida, nearby Teatro Massimo (Mercatanti, Messina 2019).
Via Ruggero Settimo and the initial segment of via Libertà (between piazza Ruggero Settimo-Castelnuovo and piazza Crispi-Mordini) continues north and can be dealt with as one only axis, stretching for just over 1 km (the rst road is 350 m long, the second 700 m long). Today it de ned as "the lounge of Palermo" (with an emblematic image), both for the re ned residential neighborhoods rising around it and for the quality and quantity of business activities present there. During the 1700s and 1800s the axis followed and marked the establishment of the middle class, which was claiming new spaces out of the historic walls, and soon became the reference point for this rising class, and thus in turn, a new important city center. Su ce it to say that today, the Teatro Politeama (1867-1875) is considered a symbol of the modern urban center, by connecting viale della Libertà (incorporating it) to via Ruggero Settimo.
In the last two centuries, the look of via Ruggero Settimo has changed a lot. Already in the nineteenth century the roadway was lowered, and new shops were 1 e building speculation during the period of time from the '50s to the 80s distorted the building scheme of Palermo, the collusion between the local institutions (city and region) and the ma a organizations delivered a number of building permits and public tenders which the city criminal organization managed by covering entire urban areas with concrete; this way destroying part of the historic-architectural heritage of the city (Barbera 2012; Butera 2010; Bascietto, Camarca 2018; Violante 2012). obtained on the ground level of stately buildings (Chirco 2006, 197) In the 30s of the twentieth century, many estates were renovated or built to meet the growing demand for new stores. Part of the present look of the street is due to this phase, but its nal asset dates back to the second post-war, when the business center was built in the neighboring piazzale Ungheria along with new estates addressed to banks, o ces and shops. Between the 50s and the 70s the axis became the center of a number of successful business activities, hosting historic shop windows (still active today o until recently) which had become identity references for the entire city: two cinemas (among which Cinorkestron from 1914), several cafeterias, bookshops and perfume shops 2 . e rst part of viale della Libertà was planned and realized in the middle of the 19th century as an elegant boulevard, while the homonymous residential district which rises on the two fronts, has a plant that dates back to the late nineteenth century. It was developed following the IV National Exhibition (1891-92): the fair was hosted in an area of 130.000 square meters big, whose lotting launched the construction of private buildings commissioned by traders and entrepreneurs. e two main types of housing, the villino (a small villa inspired by the eighteenth century manor houses) and the palazzetto (a small palace inspired by the Renaissance buildings) were o en realized in Liberty or Art Noveau style. Some scholars prefer de ning it as modernist style,stile modernista (Pirrone 1990;Chirco, Di Liberto 2004). Among the most prestigious authors of these projects appears the architect Ernesto Basile from Palermo who realized and implemented some of the most representative buildings in town (the Villino Florio, the enlargement of the Grand Hotel et des Palmes and the interiors of the Teatro Massimo), maximizing the Liberty style to its highest expression. Between the end of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century the fashionable villini contributed to spread the image of the city as an important site of the Italian Liberty style at a national level. e current look of the road has been a ected by the sad events linked to the "sacco di Palermo" (the bag of Palermo): because of some obscure concessions, many estates have been knocked down indiscriminately, o en in disregard of existing legal restrictions (as the case of villa Deliella), in favour of new apartment buildings. Nevertheless, the rst part of the road has undergone less changes and many of the small palaces, which had been saved from the building speculation, were renovated in order to host business activities and banks. e prevalence of clothes and jewelry shops and along with Italian and foreign luxury labels, conrm the centrality of these businesses in attracting Italian and international high spending demanding clients in this area of the city (Messina, Sabato 2019). In addition, the current commercial network is proposed to the tourists visiting Palermo as the most re ned "shopping road" and "made in Italy", intercepting the ows heading the historic center. e axis in via Lincoln has had a di erent development, it was opened in the seventeenth century with the intention to direct the middle-class expansion out of the historic walls toward East and the sea. e residences of neoclassical inspiration and the most important green area of the time broke with the Baroque, de ning the road as a conjunction between the forti ed city and the new expansion area. At present, the axis currently connects two di erent urban areas, the Kalsa quarter, which in recent years has undergone a gentri cation process and the Oreto-Station (Oreto-Stazione) quarter, with a quite heterogeneous urban landscape (including some venues of the University of Palermo, public gardens and public housing). In the 80s the business activities present on the street, for some time now, belonged mainly to the textile and furniture sectors. In addition, via Lincoln was the rst contact with the city that those who came from municipalities located around the main town had with the commercial area. In the same years, an unprecedented migration ow from China addressed Palermo: a community, coming from the town of Whenzhou settled in the rst half of via Lincoln, that di erently from other older Chinese groups living in Italy, opened immediately a series of stable business activities (mostly small family run shops), this way consolidating the image of a little Chinatown (Cusimano, Giannone 2019). Such a concentration of shops (clothing, accessories) on the axis would be decreasing in parallel with the increasing of manufacturing plants and service as well as the expansion of the commercial space. In recent years, Chinese activities have spread around the Central Station (small supermarkets, household items) and then throughout the city (restaurants): in 2018, only 60 Chinese businesses out of 411 were located in via Lincoln (Idem). Besides, from 2014 the number of migrants has decreased, probably because of our country's lesser economic attraction, against a rapid productive growth of the Chinese system. Few Italian businesses enterprises have survived along the road, perceived as historic brands by now.

e eldwork
e four road axes represent, as explained earlier, the ideal spaces and hubs where the historical events linked to the urbanization of Palermo have development and crossed, along with the commercial perspectivesthus socio-economical -of the city and its urban policies, with particular reference to those concerning tra c management.
Taking into account that trade is one of the complex functions that deeply operate within the relation between human community and urban area, we wanted to investigate, through a eldwork, the system of perceptions that the operators have developed in reading the city in its complex dimension of overlapped urban space and commercial space.
In e data and thoughts that followed are however based on the analysis of the questionnaires actually lled in, which are considered to be fully representative of the variety of the issue analysed.
It should be pointed out that some of single brands shop owners in the luxury sector, and most of those within the Chinese community expressed unwillingness to cooperate, the ones because of their company's obligation to secrecy and the others because of a general disregard to the research. e greatest criticality rises right in the data collected in via Lincoln (where the Chinese enterprises are hegemonic), the data is too limited to have a statistical value. erefore, via Lincoln will be dealt with separately.
The summary of the data extrapolated from the analyses of the questionnaires are illustrated in Table 1.
With respect to the product category, the data analysed show plastically three di erent types of supply (and demand) between the axis of viale della Libertà and the one in via Maqueda. If in the rst one there is a concentration of luxury shops (boutiques and monobrand stores) and valuables (jewellery and antiques), in the second one it is food, ethnic and local shops.
Independent enterprises are the most commonly type found in the urban spaces analysed, but a num- ber of national and international branches were found along the axis Libertà-Ruggero Settimo. e franchising formula instead is less popular. e variation in respect to the overall extension of the commercial spaces is strongly marked. Most of the shops can count on a surface area between 100 and 200 square meters, while the spaces o ered along the luxury axis are more extended (above 200 sm), prerogative of those shops which, because of the amount of goods, they need larger exhibition spaces and shop windows, thus they are located along the stretch of the higher o ers. In relation to the ownership of the spaces, rentals are mostly prevalent although along the axis Libertà-Ruggero Settimo ownership of the estates coincide with the ownerships of the company.
As far as workforce is concerned, in via Libertà-Ruggero Settimo, which usually includes the owner, it stands on an average of 3.9 full time workers (minimum 1, maximum 10) and of 1.3 part time (minimum 1, maximum 8). In via Maqueda, where surfaces are usually smaller, enterprises are individual, the type and quality of the o er is very di erent from the luxury shopping roads; the average full-time workers decrease to 2.9 and the average part time workers recorded is 1.2.
Except for few exceptions, the shops standing. along the axis viale della Libertà-Ruggero Settimo have a reasonable commercial tradition, dating even back to 1947, 1962, 1983 and 1986. Most of the stores were founded between the 90s and 2000. In via Maqueda, next to some long-standing activities (the oldest reported dates back to 1993), rise more recent shops, opened from 2008 on. There are relevant differences concerning the present locations: most of the shops in via Maqueda control that market only since recent years (2008-2017), marking a renovated commercial dynamism in that axis. In viale della Libertà-Ruggero Settimo locations are spread in terms of time, with only one exception in 1971, that is resulting from 1990 and 2018. In regard to the motivation of the location (or re-location) in the current place, it clearly emerges how much the commercial systems in viale della Libertà-Ruggero Settimo and in via Maqueda are completely di erent for the o er provided and demands, although belonging to one single ideal axis. Viale della Libertà-Ruggero Settimo is considered the big and iconic shopping road, o en de ned as the "Lounge of Palermo", the o er expressed is addressed to a big spender clientele; whereas via Maqueda, thanks to the ZTLs, was able to develop a more accessible commercial o er with a great number of ethnic stores and catering addressed to the tourist demand. is data is comforted by the origin of the clientele surveyed: via Maqueda evenly attracts local, national and international clients; viale Libertà-Ruggero Settimo, which thanks to the big mono brand stores attract likewise international clients (Messina, Sabato 2019), it has, nevertheless a rooted o er addressed exclusively to local big spender clients. It is no coincidence that in viale della Libertà-Ruggero Settimo trust within the relationship between the shop keeper and the customer is perceived as an important value; the same indicator, in via Maqueda is o en perceived as irrelevant. e data related to shops previously present in the location is awed due to a number of refusals to answer the question. However, what emerges is that in both axes, pre-existing enterprises were linked to clothes and shoes. e average weekly ow of visitors in viale della Libertà-Ruggero Settimo results to be of 334.5 clients (minimum 100, maximum 1.500); during weekends the average is 240, (minimum 30, maximum 1.000). Via Maqueda, instead reports this data between weekly and weekends: 393 (minimum 100, maximum 2.000) and 306.5 (minimum 50, maximum 1.200).
As far as the opinion on tra c in the urban canter is concerned, in viale della Libertà-Ruggero Set-timo, the widespread perception of a balanced situation between public and private tra c stands out, accompanied with a strong request to limit still more rmly the circulation of private cars. Conversely, although in perceived as a balanced trend, some shops keepers in via Maqueda are in favour of the circulation of private cars. Accessibility, in fact is a crucial factor: if access to viale della Libertà-Ruggero Settimo with private cars is not widely considered, access with public transport is considered very easy. Access to via Maqueda with private cars is considered hard, and with public transport it o en results di cult. Instead, users' perception mediated by the shop keepers appears di erently. Access to the commercial area is critical in both axes, in fact, due to the limitations of private cars (trafc, jams, limited parking spaces, ZTL) and the poor public transport. In apparent contradiction with what a rmed earlier, ZTLs are perceived by the merchants of both axes as a useful tool to the businesses, considered suitable to the surface and even too limited. is marks a strong change in the dealers' perception compared to the past.
ere are many requests for new pedestrian areas all over the city aiming at boosting trade: viale della Libertà, via Roma and Mondello stand out for intensity. In respect to opening hours, the shop keepers in viale della Libertà-Ruggero Settimo and via Maqueda are basically in favour of the all-day opening and Sunday opening too.
As far as the perception of the neighbourhood context is concerned, both quarters are considered attractive and believed to be gradually improving. If on the one hand, the data related to viale della Libertà-Ruggero Settimo is not surprising, on the other hand, it results remarkable for via Maqueda, which evidently bene ts from the pedestrianisation, the tourist attractiveness and from the new enterprises mainly related to food business.
When analysing the organisation of the Chinese enterprises in via Lincoln (Cusimano, Giannone, 2019) a diachronic process of business expansion was observed which saw the Chinese shops rst occupy, mainly the entire, commercial space of the road, then spread to nearby areas and nally settle, here and there, also in other areas in town. Giving a closer look at the shop pro les, a limited specialised merchandise is observed, with a tendency to favour general merchandise typical of general stores, and a trend to lower the competition related to price reduction over di erentiation and specialization. e sequence of spaces of the Chinese and Italian shops (surveyed with a eldwork in June 2019) is observable on the previous map (Fig. 2). With regard to the commercial pro le of the Chinese shops in via Lincoln, it was di cult to de ne exactly the kind of merchandise of products stocked and sold (the same could be said for the other shops present throughout the city). As a matter of fact, the multitude and promiscuity of types of the items sold in these shops makes the clear identi cation of the product sector reference frequently di cult (items such as clothes, households, toys and electronics are displayed together).
The organization asset related to the Chinese in via Lincoln entrepreneurial system remains unclear; it appears little open to a commercial integration (even if recently a number of Italian Chinese companies have been founded) and closed to any debate external to the community membership. is idea is supported by the fact that none of the Chinese shop keepers currently in via Lincoln, was willing to ll in the questionnaire prepared for this research.

Conclusions
By using a geographical perspective and combining a diacronical and synchronical approach, here we took into account the Palermo's commerce dynamics. Indeed, studying them allow us to better understand the trans-formation process of a city that imply cultural, social and economic changes. Summarizing, via Maqueda, via Ruggero Settimo and viale della Libertà con rm their centrality for the commercial dynamics of the Sicilian city. eir bourgeois origins, between eighteenth century and the early twentieth century, have bestowed on these axes a strong commercial vocation, in uencing their history and their evolution in the modern city. Nowadays, via Ruggero Settimo and viale della Libertà, with their luxury shops, represent the heart of the most re ned activities, able to attract Italian and international high spending demanding clients. In the last decade, the major transformations concerned via Maqueda, where it can be reported a proliferation of the food and restaurant sector at the expense of the more traditional ones (such as clothing and shoes). e pedestrianization of the street and its proximity to the popular areas of the night movida, nearby Teatro Massimo, contributed to this transformation, also determining a greater tourist presence in this axe. Finally, a di erent evolution had via Lincoln, opened during the middle-class expansion out of the historic walls toward East. For a long time, this axe was the rst contact with the commercial area of the city for those who came from municipalities located around Palermo. However, in the 80s the Chinese community that has settled in via Lincoln, strongly marked the street with many business activities, changing its commercial landscape (mostly small supermarkets instead the older textile and furniture sectors). In the last years, while Chinese enterprises have spread in all the city, few Italian shops have survived in via Lincoln, perceived as historic brands by now.