Archivio di Stato di Palermo

The State Archives of Palermo, set up under the name of "Big Archive" by the organic act of August 1, 1843, has its origin in the royal dispatch of February 11, 1814, deired by the Parliament of 1812, which established a General Archives to collect the documents produced by the institutions before the Kingdom of Sicily (under the Norman, Swabian, Angevin and Aragonese dynasties), then, from 1412, the Viceroyalty and finally, since 1816, the Lieutenancy of the Kingdom of Naples.
The State Archives of Palermo has the duty to preserve, raise awareness, promote and oversee the archives of the Office of the State that are not currently required to ordinary treatment, or archives and documents which, for whatever reason, have been received in the availability of the State. As cultural objects they are elements of cultural heritage.
The State Archives, in addition to the archives of the pre-unification and those of the peripheral organs of the State, also preserves:

-the notarial archives until the first half of the nineteenth century
-the archives of suppressed religious corporations in 1866
-the private archives of noble families or chiefs of Sicily

Since 1975, the State Archives of Palermo is peripheral body of the Ministry of National Heritage and Culture

Seats

-The seat "Catena" of the State Archives of Palermo is located in the building of former convent of the Teatini, built in the early seventeenth century, next to the fifteenth-century church of Santa Maria della Catena.

-The seat "Gancia" is not far away, in the former Franciscan convent of Santa Maria degli Angeli, said Gancia, which is also adjacent to the homonymous church dating back to the fifteenth century.

- The section of the State Archives of Termini Imerese depends from the State Archives of Palermo.