Veteran anti-Mafia mayor looks to put Palermo on tourist map

A tourist takes a picture in Bellini Square in the city centre of Palermo, Italy June 4, 2017. Picture taken June 4, 2017. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane

PALERMO, Italy (Reuters) - While thousands of migrants reach Sicily each week aboard rescue ships, another sea-borne invasion is under way on the Mediterranean island as hordes of tourists arrive aboard luxury cruise liners.

Palermo was only the 36th most visited city in Italy in 2015 but Mayor Leoluca Orlando says it is set to be in the top 10 this year, marking a turnaround for the Sicilian capital that was once a Mafia battleground shunned by outsiders.