Piazza Marina is a square of Palermo. It is located down the Cassaro street, in the quarter of the Kalsa, within the historic centre of Palermo. The square is dominated by the great Garibaldi Garden.
In the Middle Ages the area of Piazza Marina was a swamp connected to the ancient port of Palermo, the Cala. During the 14th century the area was cleared. In the Spaniard period, the space of the square was used by the Inquisition (whose headquarters was the adjacent Palazzo Chiaramonte) for its convictions.
On March 12, 1909, the New York police officer Joe Petrosino was killed in Piazza Marina during a top-secret mission against the Mafia.[2] Later a small memorial (an engraved brass plate on a pole) was erected on the square in his remembrance.
