Palermo vs Alausí

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Palermo ( pə-LAIR-moh, -⁠LUR-, Italian: [paˈlɛrmo] (listen); Sicilian: Palermu, locally [paˈlɛmmʊ]; Latin: Panormus, from Greek: Πάνορμος, romanized: Pánormos) is a city of southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo. 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 in the northwest of the island of Sicily, by the Gulf of Palermo in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The city was founded in 734 BC by the Phoenicians as Ziz. Palermo then became a possession of Carthage. Two Greek colonies were established, known collectively as Panormos or "All-Port"; the Carthaginians used this name on their coins after the 5th century BC. As Panormus, the town became part of the Roman Republic and Empire for over a thousand years. 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 (Arabic: بَلَرْم‎), the root for Palermo's present-day name. Following the Norman conquest, 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 Emperor Frederick II and King Conrad IV. The population of Palermo urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 855,285, while its metropolitan area is the fifth most populated in Italy with around 1.2 million people. In the central area, the city has a population of around 676,000 people.

The inhabitants are known as Palermitani or, poetically, panormiti. The languages spoken by its inhabitants are the Italian language and the Palermitano dialect of the Sicilian language. Palermo is Sicily's cultural, economic and tourism capital. It is a city rich in history, culture, art, music and food. Numerous tourists are attracted to the city for its appealing Mediterranean climate, its renowned gastronomy and restaurants, its Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque and Art Nouveau churches, palaces and buildings, and its nightlife and music. Palermo is the main Sicilian industrial and commercial center: the main industrial sectors include tourism, services, commerce and agriculture. Palermo currently has an international airport, and a significant underground economy. In fact, for cultural, artistic and economic reasons, Palermo was one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean and is now among the top tourist destinations in both Italy and Europe. It is the main seat of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale. The city is also going through careful redevelopment, preparing to become one of the major cities of the Euro-Mediterranean area.Roman Catholicism is highly important in Palermitan culture. The Patron Saint of Palermo is Santa Rosalia whose Feast Day is celebrated on 15 July. The area attracts significant numbers of tourists each year and is widely known for its colourful fruit, vegetable and fish markets at the heart of Palermo, known as Vucciria, Ballarò and Capo.

Source: Wikipedia

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Lithuania (listen); Lithuanian pronunciation: Lietuva [ljIetU’va]), officially known as the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian Lietuvos Respublika), can be found in the Baltic region of Europe. It is located on the east shore of the Baltic Sea and is one of the three Baltic States. Lithuania shares land borders to the west with Latvia, Belarus, Poland, and Kaliningrad Oblast in Russia. Lithuania has a total area of 65,300km2 (25,200 sq mi) and a population of approximately 2.8 million. Vilnius is the capital and largest city. Klaipeda and Kaunas are other important cities. Lithuanians are part of the ethno-linguistic group known as the Balts. They speak Lithuanian, which is one of very few Baltic languages. For millennia, various Baltic tribes inhabited the Baltic Sea's southeastern shores. Mindaugas, a Lithuanian nobleman, united the lands of Lithuania in the 1230s and founded the Kingdom of Lithuania 6 July 1253. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which was Europe's largest country, was founded in the 14th century. Today, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine are all part of the Grand Duchy. With the marriage of Hedwig, a Polish queen, and Jogaila of Lithuania's Grand Duke Jogaila of Lithuania in 1386, the Crown of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania formed a de facto personal union. Jogaila was crowned King jure-uxoris Wladyslaw I Jagiello of Poland.

In July 1569, the Union of Lublin established the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania. The Commonwealth was in existence for more than 200 years. It was eventually dismantled by neighboring countries in 1772-1795. After that, the Russian Empire annexed most of Lithuania's territory. The modern Republic of Lithuania was founded by the signing of the Lithuanian Act of Independence on 16 February 1918 after World War I had ended. Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union, then Nazi Germany in World War II. The Soviet Union reoccupied Lithuania in 1944, just as the Germans were beginning to withdraw. The Soviet occupation was repelled by the Lithuanian armed resistance that lasted until the 1950s. On 11 March 1990, a year before the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union, Lithuania passed the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania, becoming the first Soviet republic to proclaim its independence.Lithuania is a developed country, with a high income advanced economy; ranking very high in the Human Development Index. It is a country that ranks highly in civil liberties, press freedom and internet freedom. Lithuania is a member of NATO, NATO, the European Union and the Council of Europe. It is a permanent observer to the Nordic Council and participates in the Nordic Baltic Eight (NB8) regional cooperation format.

Source: Wikipedia