Giovanni Battista Filippo Basile designed and oversaw the building, and after his death in 1891 his son Ernesto Basile oversaw construction. Palermo's council announced the competition in 1864. Work began on January 12, 1874 and stopped from 1882 to 1890. It opened on May 16, 1897 with Verdi's Falstaff.
The exterior is high neoclassical, drawing on the Greek temples at Selinunte and Agrigento, and two bronze lions flank the entrance. The auditorium is horseshoe-shaped with seven tiers of boxes and is described as late Renaissance. At inauguration it covered about 83,200 square feet (7,730 m²) and was the third largest opera house in Europe.
The capacity is 1,387 in the infobox and 1,381 in the text. The theater closed for safety renovations in 1974 and reopened on May 12, 1997, four days before its centenary. It is known for its acoustics. The article gives no ticket information.
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