The political messaging of Leoluca Orlando, who served five terms as mayor of Sicily's capital, Palermo (most recently, until 2022), articulates a cosmopolitan vision of local identity. Orlando seeks to emphasise Palermo's ‘tolerant’ values, invoking the city's history to foster this image, as well as using a variety of rhetorical strategies. He portrays Palermo as having a true ‘essence’, which is necessarily multicultural. I analyse Orlando's pronouncements on his official Facebook page, as well as observing his audience's reactions to his messaging, both supportive and critical. I examine how Orlando articulates the narrative that Palermo has historically been a ‘mosaic’ of various cultural influences, proposing that the contemporary city is the ‘true’, welcoming face of the Mediterranean. As well as exploring the political utility Orlando sees in such arguments, I analyse the risks inherent in this essentialising project.

莱奥卢卡·奥兰多 （Leoluca Orlando） 曾担任西西里岛首府巴勒莫市长五届（最近一次任期至 2022 年），他的政治信息阐明了地方身份的世界性愿景。奥兰多试图强调巴勒莫的“宽容”价值观，援引这座城市的历史来塑造这一形象，并使用了各种修辞策略。他将巴勒莫描绘成具有真正的“本质”，这必然是多元文化的。我分析了奥兰多在他的官方 Facebook 页面上的声明，并观察了他的听众对他的信息的反应，包括支持和批评。我研究了奥兰多如何阐明巴勒莫在历史上一直是各种文化影响的“马赛克”的叙述，提出当代城市是地中海的“真实”、热情的面孔。除了探索奥兰多在此类论点中看到的政治效用外，我还分析了这个本质化项目所固有的风险。