Palermo

Palermo (Italian: [paˈlɛrmo], Sicilian: Palermu, Latin: Panormus, from Greek: Πάνορμος, Panormos, Arabic: بَلَرْم‎, Balarm; Phoenician: זִיז, Ziz) is a city in Insular Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily, The Metropolitan City of Palermo had a population of 1,300,000. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old. Palermo is located in the northwest of the island of Sicily, right by the Gulf of Palermo in the Tyrrhenian Sea.

The city was founded in 734 BC by the Phoenicians as Ziz ('flower'). Palermo then became a possession of Carthage, before becoming part of the Roman Republic, the Roman Empire and eventually part of the Byzantine Empire, for over a thousand years. The Greeks named the city Panormus meaning 'complete port'. From 831 to 1072 the city was under Arab rule during the Emirate of Sicily when the city first became a capital. The Arabs shifted the Greek name into Balarm, the root for Palermo's present-day name. Following the Norman reconquest, Palermo became the capital of a new kingdom (from 1130 to 1816), the Kingdom of Sicily and the capital of the Holy Roman Empire under Frederick II Holy Roman Emperor and Conrad IV of Germany, King of the Romans. Eventually Sicily would be united with the Kingdom of Naples to form the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies until the Italian unification of 1860.

MSC Meraviglia

MSC Meraviglia is an upcoming cruise ship under construction for MSC Cruises by STX Europe, at its Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in St. Nazaire, France. The vessel's name was announced, and her first steel was cut, at a ceremony held at St Nazaire on 20 April 2015.

Meraviglia is the lead ship of MSC's new Vista generation vessels, each of which will have a passenger capacity of 4,500. In that respect, the Vista class will rank ninth in the world. Meraviglia is expected to be delivered by May 2017, and after entering service will operate initially in the western Mediterranean.

References

External links

MSC Cruises

MSC Cruises is a Swiss-based, global cruise company with headquarters in Geneva and Naples. It is the world's largest privately owned cruise company, employs 15,500 people worldwide and has offices in 45 countries. MSC Cruises (Italian: MSC Crociere S.p.A.) is part of the Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. (MSC), the world's second biggest container shipping operator.

Originally founded as Lauro Lines by Achille Lauro, the company entered the cruise business in the 1960s, operating two ships, the Angelina Lauro and MS Achille Lauro, both of which met fiery ends. After the Angelina Lauro burnt in the port of St. Thomas in 1979, Lauro Lines, also known as Flotta Lauro, met with bad times, now operating just one ship, the Achille Lauro. In 1985, the Achille Lauro was hijacked by members of the Palestine Liberation Front, and the much-publicised event further dropped passenger numbers. In 1989, Mediterranean Shipping Company bought Flotta Lauro and renamed it StarLauro Cruises. In 1994, the Achille Lauro caught fire and sank. In 1995, the company name was changed to MSC Cruises.

Padova railway station

Padova railway station, or Padua railway station (Italian: Stazione di Padova), sometimes referred to as Padova Centrale, is the main station serving the city and comune of Padua, in the Veneto region, northeastern Italy.

Opened in 1842, the station forms part of the Milan–Venice railway, and is a junction for direct branch lines to Bologna, Bassano del Grappa and Camposampiero (junction for the line to Calalzo). Padova railway station is also the terminus of a short goods line to Padova Interporto.

The station is currently managed by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI). However, the commercial area of the passenger building is managed by Centostazioni. Each of these companies is a subsidiary of Ferrovie dello Stato (FS), Italy's state-owned rail company. Train services to and from the station are operated by Trenitalia, NTV and Thello.

Location

Padova railway station is situated in Piazzale Stazione, north of the city centre.

Features

Passenger building

The passenger building has both passenger facilities and commercial activities. These include a ticket office, a customer support office, the Club Eurostar, many automated ticket machines, a luggage deposit (also used as the sale of train tickets and SITA, FTV and CTM bus tickets), an office of the railway police, two newsagents, two bars, a supermarket, two travel agencies, a bank, a post office, three car rental offices, as well as numerous businesses and travel agencies.

MSC

MSC may refer to:

Computers

Corporations

Education

Military