Palermo is a barrio or neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located in the north of the city, near the Rio de la Plata. It has a total land area of 17.4 km2 and a population of 256,927. It is the only barrio within the administrative division of Comuna 14. Palermo is perhaps best known as the polo capital of the world. Each year, in November, the city hosts the Argentine Polo Open, commonly known as the Palermo Open. History The name of the area is derived from the still-existing Franciscan abbey of "Saint Benedict of Palermo", an alternative name for Saint Benedict the Moor. Saint Benedict the Moor lived from 1526 to 1589 and is a complementary patron saint of Palermo, the capital city of Sicily. In an alternative history of the name, a folk story supported by journalists, the land would have been originally purchased by an Italian immigrant named Juan Domingo Palermo in the late 16th century, shortly after the foundation of Buenos Aires in 1580. Juan Manuel de Rosas built a country residence there which was confiscated after his fall in 1852. The area grew rapidly during the last third of the 19th century, particularly during the presidency of Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, who was responsible for the creation of the Buenos Aires Zoological Gardens and the Parque Tres de Febrero in 1874, and Plaza Italia and the Palermo Race Track in 1876, all on the grounds of what had been Rosas' pleasure villa. During the 20th century, the Buenos Aires Botanical Gardens (1902), Jorge Newbery Airport (1948), the water purification plant, several sport clubs, the Galileo Galilei planetarium (1966), and the Buenos Aires Japanese Gardens (1967) were developed. Subdivisions Although appearing as one big swath on the official map, Palermo can be subdivided into several contrasting and acutely individual parts, the most clearly delimited of which may be considered further de facto neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. Palermo Chico y Barrio Parque The most upmarket part of Palermo, "Palermo Chico" ("Small" or "Exclusive" Palermo), is on Palermo's north-eastern edge, across Figueroa Alcorta Avenue and between San Martín de Tours and Tagle streets. Neighboring "Barrio Parque" is strictly a residential area, laid out in winding streets by Carlos Thays; many of the wealthy and famous own homes in this section, which also includes numerous embassies and the San Martín National Institute. It was once an area full