Background
Between 1951 and 1961, the population of Palermo had risen by 100,000, caused by a rapid urbanization of Sicily after World War II as land reform and mechanization of agriculture created a massive peasant exodus and rural landlords moved their investment into urban real estate. This led to an unregulated and undercapitalised construction boom from the 1950s through the mid-1980s that was characterised by the aggressive involvement of the Sicilian Mafia in real estate speculation and construction. The years 1957 to 1963 were the high point in private construction, followed in the 1970s and 1980s by a greater emphasis on public works. The population of Palermo grew from 503,000 in 1951 to 709,000 in 1981, an increase of 41 percent.[1]
More significant than the wartime destruction of the old city was the political decision against its restoration in favor of building a “new Palermo”, at first concentrated at the northern end, beyond the Art Nouveau neighborhood of 19th century expansion. Subsequently, in other zones to the west and the south spreading over, and destroying, the Conca d'Oro orchards, villas, and hamlets, accelerating the cementification of what had been green.[1]
Real estate developers ran wild, pushing the center of the city out along Viale della Liberta toward the new Punta Raisi Airport. With hastily-drafted zoning variances or in wanton violation of the law, builders tore down countless Art Nouveau palaces and asphalted many of the city's parks, transforming one of the most beautiful cities in Europe into a dense, unappealing landscape of cement condominia. Villa Deliella, one of the most important works of Sicilian architect Ernesto Basile was completely demolished in the middle of the night, hours before it would have come under the protection of historic preservation laws.[2]