fbpx
Wikipedia

Sicily

January 13, 2023

This article is about the region of Italy. For other uses, see Sicily (disambiguation).
"Sicilia" redirects here. For the Roman province, see Sicilia (Roman province). For the Italian film about Sicily, see Sicilia!
Not to be confused with Isles of Scilly.

Sicily (Sicilian: Sicilia [sɪˈʃiːlja]; Italian: Sicilia [siˈtʃiːlja]) is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 20 regions of Italy. The Strait of Messina divides it from the region of Calabria in Southern Italy. It is one of the five Italian autonomous regions and is officially referred to as Regione Siciliana. The region has 5 million inhabitants. Its capital city is Palermo.

Sicily
Sicilia (Italian)
Sicilia (Sicilian)
Autonomous region of Italy
Flag
Coat of arms
Anthem: Madreterra
Country Italy
CapitalPalermo
Government
 • PresidentRenato Schifani (FI)
Area
 • Total25,711 km2 (9,927 sq mi)
Population
 (2019)[1] (8.3% of Italy)
 • Total4,969,147
 • Density190/km2 (500/sq mi)
Demonym(s)English: Sicilian
Italian: Siciliano (man)
Italian: Siciliana (woman)
Ethnicity
[2]
 • Sicilian98%
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
ISO 3166 codeIT-82
GDP (nominal)€89.2 billion (2018)[3]
GDP per capita€17,800 (2018)[3]
HDI (2019)0.845[4]
very high · 21st of 21
NUTS RegionITG
Website[2]
Sicily

Sicily is in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe, from which it is separated by the narrow Strait of Messina. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe,[5] and one of the most active in the world, currently 3,357 m (11,014 ft) high. The island has a typical Mediterranean climate.

The earliest archaeological evidence of human activity on the island dates from as early as 12,000 BC.[6][7] By around 750 BC, Sicily had three Phoenician and a dozen Greek colonies and it was later the site of the Sicilian Wars and the Punic Wars. After the end of the Roman province of Sicilia with the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD, Sicily was ruled during the Early Middle Ages by the Vandals, the Ostrogoths, the Byzantine Empire, and the Emirate of Sicily. The Norman conquest of southern Italy led to the creation of the County of Sicily in 1071, that was succeeded by Kingdom of Sicily, a state that existed from 1130 until 1816.[8][9] Later, it was unified under the House of Bourbon with the Kingdom of Naples as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The island became part of Italy in 1860 following the Expedition of the Thousand, a revolt led by Giuseppe Garibaldi during the Italian unification, and a plebiscite. Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region on 15 May 1946, 18 days before the Italian institutional referendum of 1946.

Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature, cuisine, and architecture.

Geography

See also: Geology of Sicily
 
The Monti Sicani in western Sicily

Sicily has a roughly triangular shape, earning it the name Trinacria.

To the north-east, it is separated from Calabria and the rest of the Italian mainland by the Strait of Messina, about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide in the north, and about 16 km (9.9 mi) wide in the southern part.[10] The northern and southern coasts are each about 280 km (170 mi) long measured as a straight line, while the eastern coast measures around 180 km (110 mi); total coast length is estimated at 1,484 km (922 mi). The total area of the island is 25,711 km2 (9,927 sq mi),[11] while the Autonomous Region of Sicily (which includes smaller surrounding islands) has an area of 27,708 km2 (10,698 sq mi).[12]

The terrain of inland Sicily is mostly hilly and is intensively cultivated wherever possible. Along the northern coast, the mountain ranges of Madonie, 2,000 m (6,600 ft), Nebrodi, 1,800 m (5,900 ft), and Peloritani, 1,300 m (4,300 ft), are an extension of the mainland Apennines. The cone of Mount Etna dominates the eastern coast. In the southeast lie the lower Hyblaean Mountains, 1,000 m (3,300 ft).[13] The mines of the Enna and Caltanissetta districts were part of a leading sulphur-producing area throughout the 19th century, but have declined since the 1950s.

Sicily and its surrounding small islands have some highly active volcanoes. This is due to the fact Sicily is geographically on the northern edge of the African continental plate.[14] Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe and casts black ash over the island with its recurrent eruptions. It currently stands 3,329 metres (10,922 ft) high, though this varies with summit eruptions; the mountain is 21 m (69 ft) lower now than it was in 1981. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps. Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 (459 sq mi) with a basal circumference of 140 km (87 mi). This makes it by far the largest of the three active volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. In Greek mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under the mountain by Zeus, the god of the sky.[15] Mount Etna is widely regarded as a cultural symbol and icon of Sicily.

  •  

    Mount Etna rising over suburbs of Catania

The Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the northeast of mainland Sicily form a volcanic complex. The three volcanoes of Vulcano, Stromboli and Lipari are also currently active, although the latter is usually dormant. Off the southern coast of Sicily, the underwater volcano of Ferdinandea, which is part of the larger Empedocles volcano, last erupted in 1831. It is located between the coast of Agrigento and the island of Pantelleria (which itself is a dormant volcano).

From a geographical perspective, also forming a part of Sicily is the Maltese Archipelago, the islands home to the republic of Malta.

The autonomous region also includes several neighbouring islands: the Aegadian Islands, the Aeolian Islands, Pantelleria and Lampedusa.

Rivers

 
View of the Ciane river

Several rivers drain the island, most of which flow through the central area and enter the sea at the south of the island. The Salso flows through parts of Enna and Caltanissetta before entering the Mediterranean Sea at the port of Licata. To the east, the Alcantara flows through the province of Messina and enters the sea at Giardini Naxos, and the Simeto, which flows into the Ionian Sea south of Catania. Other important rivers on the island are the Belice and Platani in the southwest.

River Length
Salso 144 km (89 mi)
Simeto 113 km (70 mi)
Belice 107 km (66 mi)
Dittaino 105 km (65 mi)
Platani 103 km (64 mi)
Gornalunga 81 km (50 mi)
Gela 74 km (46 mi)
Salso Cimarosa 72 km (45 mi)
Torto 58 km (36 mi)
Irminio 57 km (35 mi)
Dirillo 54 km (34 mi)
Verdura 53 km (33 mi)
Alcantara 52 km (32 mi)
Tellaro 45 km (28 mi)
Anapo 40 km (25 mi)

Climate

 
Inner Sicily

Sicily has a typical Mediterranean climate with mild and wet winters and hot, dry summers with very changeable intermediate seasons. On the coasts, especially in the south-west, the climate is affected by the African currents and summers can be scorching.

Snow falls above 900–1000 metres, but it can fall in the hills. The interior mountains, especially Nebrodi, Madonie, and Etna, enjoy a full mountain climate, with heavy snowfalls during winter. The summit of Mount Etna is usually snow-capped from October to May.

On the other hand, especially in the summer, it is not unusual that there is the sirocco, the wind from the Sahara. Rainfall is scarce, and water proves deficient in some provinces where a water crisis can happen occasionally.

According to the Regional Agency for Waste and Water, on 10 August 1999, the weather station of Catenanuova (EN) recorded a maximum temperature of 48.5 °C (119 °F).[16] The official European record – measured by minimum/maximum thermometers – is held by Athens, Greece, which reported a maximum of 48.0 °C (118 °F) in 1977.[17] Total precipitation is highly variable, generally increasing with elevation. In general, the southern and southeast coast receives the least rainfall (less than 50 cm (20 in)), and the northern and northeastern highlands the most (over 100 cm (39 in)).

Flora and fauna

 
The Sicilian wall lizard endemic to Sicily and the Aegadian Islands
 
Sicilian wolf (extinct)

Sicily is an often-quoted example of man-made deforestation, which has occurred since Roman times when the island was turned into an agricultural region.[13] This gradually dried the climate, leading to a decline in rainfall and the drying of rivers. The central and southwest provinces are practically devoid of any forest.[18] In Northern Sicily, there are three important forests; near Mount Etna, in the Nebrodi Mountains and in the Bosco della Ficuzza Natural Reserve near Palermo. The Nebrodi Mountains Regional Park, established on 4 August 1993 and covering 86,000 hectares (210,000 acres), is the largest protected natural area of Sicily; and contains the largest forest in Sicily, the Caronia. The Hundred Horse Chestnut (Castagno dei Cento Cavalli), in Sant'Alfio, on the eastern slopes of Mount Etna, is the largest and oldest known chestnut tree in the world at 2,000 – 4,000 years old.[19]

Sicily has a wide variety of fauna. Species include the European wildcat, red fox, least weasel, pine marten, roe deer,[dubious – discuss] fallow deer,[20]wild boar, crested porcupine, European hedgehog, common toad, Vipera aspis, golden eagle, peregrine falcon, Eurasian hoopoe and black-winged stilt.[21] The Sicilian wolf (Canis lupus cristaldii) was an endemic wolf subspecies that was driven to extinction in the 20th century.

The Zingaro Natural Reserve is one of the best examples of unspoiled coastal wilderness in Sicily.[22]

Surrounding waters including the Strait of Messina are home to varieties of birds and marine life, including larger species such as greater flamingo and fin whale.

History

Main article: History of Sicily

The name Sicilia was given to the Roman province in 241 BC. It is derived from the name of the Sikeloi, who inhabited the eastern part of the island. The ancient name of the island is Trinacria (Greek Τρινακρία "having three headlands") for its triangular shape, likely a re-interpretation of earlier (Homeric) Thrinacia. The Greek name was rendered as Trīnācrĭa in classical Latin (Virgil, Ovid).[23][24]

Prehistory

 
Dolmen of Avola, east Sicily
 
Megaliths of Argimusco, Montalbano Elicona.

The original classical-era inhabitants of Sicily comprised three defined groups of the ancient peoples of Italy. The most prominent and by far the earliest of these, the Sicani, who (Thucydides writes) arrived from the Iberian Peninsula (perhaps Catalonia).[25][26] Some modern scholars, however, suggest classifying the Sicani as possibly an Illyrian tribe.[27] Important historical evidence has been discovered in the form of cave drawings by the Sicani, dated from the end of the Pleistocene epoch around 8000 BC.[28] The arrival of the first humans on the island correlates with the extinction of the Sicilian hippopotamus and the Sicilian dwarf elephant. The Elymians, thought to have come from the area of the Aegean Sea, became the next tribe to join the Sicanians on Sicily.[29]

 
Dolmen of Monte Bubbonia, south Sicily

Recent discoveries of dolmens on the island (dating to the second half of the third millennium BC) seem to offer new insights into the culture of primitive Sicily.[30] It is well known that the Mediterranean region went through quite intricate prehistory, so much so that it is difficult to piece together the muddle of different peoples who have followed each other. The impact of two influences is clear, however: the European one coming from the Northwest, and the Mediterranean influence of a clear eastern heritage.[31]

No evidence survives of any warring between the tribes, but the Sicanians moved eastwards when the Elymians settled in the northwest corner of the island. The Sicels are thought[28] to have originated in Liguria; they arrived from mainland Italy in 1200 BC and forced the Sicanians to move back across Sicily and to settle in the middle of the island.[28] Other minor Italic groups who settled in Sicily included the Ausones (Aeolian Islands, Milazzo) and the Morgetes of Morgantina.

Antiquity

Main articles: Magna Graecia, Ancient Rome, and Sicilia (Roman province)
 
Ruins of the ancient Phoenician city of Motya
 
Clockwise from top: temples of Concordia and Hera Lacinia in Agrigento, the temple of Segesta, and the Temple E in Selinunte.
 
The Sicilian province within the Roman Empire

The Phoenician settlements in the western part of the island predate the arrival of Greek colonists.[32] From about 750 BC, the Greeks began to live in Sicily (Ancient Greek: Σικελία – Sikelia), establishing many significant settlements. The most important colony was in Syracuse; others grew up at Akragas, Selinunte, Gela, Himera and Zancle.[33] The native Sicani and Sicel peoples became absorbed into the Hellenic culture with relative ease, and the area became part of Magna Graecia - along with the coasts of the south of the Italian peninsula, which the Greeks had also colonised. Sicily had very fertile soils, and the successful introduction of olives and grape vines fostered a great deal of profitable trading.[34] Greek culture significantly included Greek religion, and the settlers built many temples throughout Sicily, including several in the Valley of the Temples at Agrigento.[35]

Politics on the island became intertwined with those of Greece; Syracuse became desired by the Athenians who set out on the Sicilian Expedition (415–413 BC) during the Peloponnesian War. Syracuse gained Sparta and Corinth as allies and, as a result, defeated the Athenian expedition. The victors destroyed the Athenian army and their ships, selling most of the survivors into slavery.[36]

 
Greco-Roman theatre at Taormina

Greek Syracuse controlled eastern Sicily while Carthage controlled the West.[37] The two cultures began to clash, leading to the Greek-Punic wars (between 580 and 265 BC). The Greek states had begun to make peace with the Roman Republic in 262 BC,[citation needed] and the Romans sought to annex Sicily as their republic's first province. Rome attacked Carthage's holdings in Sicily in the First Punic War (264 to 241 BC) and won, making Sicily the first Roman province outside of the Italian Peninsula by 242 BC.[38]

In the Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC), the Carthaginians attempted to recapture Sicily. Some of the Greek cities on the island sided with the Carthaginians. Archimedes, who lived in Syracuse, helped the Carthaginians; Roman troops killed him after they invaded Syracuse in 213 BC.[39] The Carthaginian attempt failed, and Rome was even more unrelenting in its annihilation of the invaders this time; Roman consul M. Valerian told the Roman Senate in 210 BC that "no Carthaginian remains in Sicily".[40]

As the Roman Republic's granary, Sicily ranked as an important province, divided into two quaestorships: Syracuse to the east and Lilybaeum to the west.[32] Roman rule introduced the Latin language to the island, which underwent a slow process of latinisation but Sicily was remained largely Greek in a cultural sense and the Greek language did not become extinct on the island, facilitating its re-hellenisation under the Byzantines.[32] The once prosperous and contented island went into sharp decline when Verres became governor of Sicily (73 to 71 BC). In 70 BC noted figure Cicero condemned the misgovernment of Verres in his oration In Verrem.[41]

Various groups used the island as a power base at different times: slave insurgents occupied it during the First (135−132 BC) and Second (104−100 BC) Servile Wars, and Sextus Pompey had his headquarters there during the Sicilian revolt of 44 to 36 BC. Christianity first appeared in Sicily during the years following AD 200; between this time and AD 313, when Emperor Constantine the Great finally lifted the prohibition on Christianity, a significant number of Sicilians had become martyrs, including Agatha, Christina, Lucy, and Euplius.[42] Christianity grew rapidly in Sicily over the next two centuries.[citation needed] Sicily remained a Roman province for around 700 years.[42]

Germanic rule (469–535)

The Western Roman Empire began falling apart after the invasion of Vandals, Alans, and Sueves across the Rhine on the last day of 406. Eventually the Vandals, after roaming about western and southern Hispania (present-day Iberia) for 20 years, moved to North Africa in 429 and occupied Carthage in 439. The Franks moved south from present-day Belgium. The Visigoths moved west and eventually settled in Aquitaine in 418; the Burgundians settled in present-day Savoy in 443. The Vandals found themselves in a position to threaten Sicily – only 100 miles away from their North African bases.[43] After taking Carthage, the Vandals, personally led by King Gaiseric, laid siege to Palermo in 440 as the opening act in an attempt to wrest the island from Roman rule.[44] The Vandals made another attempt to take the island one year after the 455 sack of Rome, at Agrigento, but were defeated decisively by Ricimir in a naval victory off Corsica in 456.[45] The island remained under Roman rule until 469. The Vandals lost possession of the island 8 years later in 477 to the East Germanic tribe of the Ostrogoths, who then controlled Italy and Dalmatia.[43] The island was returned to the Ostrogoths by payment of tribute to their king Odoacer. He ruled Italy from 476 to 488 in the name of the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Emperor. The Vandals kept a toehold in Lilybaeum, a port on the west coast. They lost this in 491 after making one last attempt to conquer the island from this port.[46] The Ostrogothic conquest of Sicily (and of Italy as a whole) under Theodoric the Great began in 488. The Byzantine Emperor Zeno had appointed Theodoric as a military commander in Italy. The Goths were Germanic, but Theodoric fostered Roman culture and government and allowed freedom of religion.[47] In 461 from the age of seven or eight until 17 or 18 Theodoric had become a Byzantine hostage; he resided in the great palace of Constantinople, was favored by Emperor Leo I (r. 457–474) and learned to read and write and do arithmetic.[48]

Byzantine period (535–965)

 
Historic map of Sicily by Piri Reis
Further information: Byzantine Empire

After taking areas occupied by the Vandals in North Africa, Justinian decided to retake Italy as an ambitious attempt to recover the lost provinces in the West. The re-conquests marked an end to over 150 years of accommodationist policies with tribal invaders. His first target was Sicily (known as the Gothic War (535–554) began between the Ostrogoths and the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire). His general Belisarius was assigned the task.[49] Sicily was used as a base for the Byzantines to conquer the rest of Italy, with Naples, Rome, Milan. It took five years before the Ostrogoth capital Ravenna fell in 540.[50] However, the new Ostrogoth king Totila counterattacked, moving down the Italian peninsula, plundering and conquering Sicily in 550. Totila was defeated and killed in the Battle of Taginae by Byzantine general Narses in 552 but Italy was in ruins.[50]

At the time of the reconquest Greek was still the predominant language spoken on the island. Sicily was invaded by the Arab forces of Caliph Uthman in 652, but the Arabs failed to make any permanent gains. They returned to Syria with their booty.[51] Raids seeking loot continued until the mid-8th century.[52]

The Eastern Roman Emperor Constans II decided to move from Constantinople to Syracuse in 660. The following year he launched an assault from Sicily against the Lombard Duchy of Benevento, which occupied most of southern Italy.[53] Rumors that the capital of the empire was to be moved to Syracuse probably cost Constans his life, as he was assassinated in 668.[53] His son Constantine IV succeeded him. A brief usurpation in Sicily by Mezezius was quickly suppressed by this emperor. Contemporary accounts report that the Greek language was widely spoken on the island during this period.[54] In 740 Emperor Leo III the Isaurian transferred Sicily from the jurisdiction of the church of Rome to that of Constantinople, placing the island within the eastern branch of the Church.[55]

In 826 Euphemius, the Byzantine commander in Sicily, having apparently killed his wife, forced a nun to marry him. Emperor Michael II caught wind of the matter and ordered general Constantine to end the marriage and cut off Euphemius' head. Euphemius rose up, killed Constantine, and then occupied Syracuse; he, in turn, was defeated and driven out to North Africa.[56] He offered the rule of Sicily to Ziyadat Allah, the Aghlabid Emir of Tunisia, in return for a position as a general and a place of safety. A Muslim army was then sent to the island consisting of Arabs, Berbers, Cretans, and Persians.[56]

The Muslim conquest of Sicily was a see-saw affair and met with fierce resistance. It took over a century for Byzantine Sicily to be conquered; the largest city, Syracuse, held out until 878 and the Greek city of Taormina fell in 962. It was not until 965 that all of Sicily was conquered by the Arabs.[56] In the 11th-century Byzantine armies carried out a partial reconquest of the island under George Maniakes, but it was their Norman mercenaries who would eventually complete the island's reconquest at the end of the century.

Arab Period (827–1091)

Main article: Emirate of Sicily
 
Arabesque on a wall in the Cuba Palace in Palermo

The Arabs initiated land reforms, which increased productivity and encouraged the growth of smallholdings, undermining the dominance of the latifundia. The Arabs further improved irrigation systems. The language spoken in Sicily under Arab rule was Siculo-Arabic and Arabic influence is still present in some Sicilian words today. Although long extinct in Sicily, the language has developed into what is now the Maltese language on the islands of Malta today.[57]

 
Trilingual sign in Palermo in Italian, Hebrew and Arabic

A description of Palermo was given by Ibn Hawqal, an Arab merchant who visited Sicily in 950. A walled suburb, called the Al-Kasr (the palace), is the centre of Palermo to this day, with the great Friday mosque on the site of the later Roman cathedral. The suburb of al-Khalisa (modern Kalsa) contained the Sultan's palace, baths, a mosque, government offices, and a private prison. Ibn Hawqal reckoned 7,000 individual butchers trading in 150 shops. During Muslim rule agricultural products such as oranges, lemons, pistachio and sugarcane were brought to Sicily.[43] Western Sicily was overwhelmingly Muslim, and contained large plantations run by slave labor, often producing sugar.[56] Around 1050, the western half of Sicily was ethnically and culturally distinct from central and eastern Sicily. During this time, there was also a small Jewish presence in Sicily.[58]

Palermo was initially ruled by the Aghlabids; later it was the centre of the Emirate of Sicily, which was under the nominal suzerainty of the Fatimid Caliphate.[citation needed] During the reign of this dynasty revolts by Byzantine Sicilians continuously occurred especially in the east where Greek-speaking Christians predominated. Parts of the island were re-occupied before revolts were being quashed. Under the Arab rule the island was divided in three administrative regions, or "vals", roughly corresponding to the three "points" of Sicily: Val di Mazara in the west; Val Demone in the northeast; and Val di Noto in the southeast. As dhimmis, that is as members of a protected class of approved monotheists the Eastern Orthodox Christians were allowed freedom of religion, but had to pay a tax, the jizya (in lieu of the obligatory alms tax, the zakat, paid by Muslims), and were restricted from active participation in public affairs. By the 11th century, the Emirate of Sicily began to fragment as intra-dynastic quarreling fractured the Muslim regime.[56]

Norman Sicily (1038–1198)

See also: Norman conquest of southern Italy
 
Roger I conqueror and first count of Sicily, depicted on a Trifollaris
 
The cathedral of Cefalù at night

In 1038, seventy years after losing their last cities in Sicily, the Byzantines under the Greek general George Maniakes invaded the island together with their Varangian and Norman mercenaries. Maniakes was killed in a Byzantine civil war in 1043 before completing a reconquest and the Byzantines withdrew. Later the Normans invaded in 1061 and after taking Apulia and Calabria, Roger I occupied Messina with an army of 700 knights.[56][59] In 1068, Roger I was victorious at Misilmeri. Most crucial was the siege of Palermo, whose fall in 1071 eventually resulted in all Sicily coming under Norman control.[60] The conquest was completed in 1091 when they captured Noto the last Arab stronghold. Palermo continued to be the capital under the Normans. The Normans formed a small but violent ruling class. They destroyed many of the Arab towns in Sicily, and very few physical remains survive from the Arab era.[56]

The Norman Hauteville family, descendants of Vikings, appreciated and admired the rich and layered culture in which they now found themselves. They also introduced their own culture, customs, and politics in the region. Many Normans in Sicily adopted the habits and comportment of Muslim rulers and their Byzantine subjects in dress, language, literature, even to the extent of having palace eunuchs and, according to some accounts, a harem.[61][62]

Kingdom of Sicily

Main articles: Kingdom of Sicily and List of monarchs of Sicily

While Roger I died in 1101, his wife Adelaide ruled until 1112 when their son Roger II of Sicily came of age.[59] Having succeeded his brother Simon as Count of Sicily, Roger II was ultimately able to raise the status of the island to a kingdom in 1130, along with his other holdings, which included the Maltese Islands and the Duchies of Apulia and Calabria.[60][63]

Roger II appointed the powerful Greek George of Antioch to be his "emir of emirs" and continued the syncretism of his father. During this period, the Kingdom of Sicily was prosperous and politically powerful, becoming one of the wealthiest states in all of Europe—even wealthier than the Kingdom of England.[64]

The court of Roger II became the most luminous centre of culture in the Mediterranean, both from Europe and the Middle East, like the multi-ethnic Caliphate of Córdoba, then only just eclipsed. This attracted scholars, scientists, poets, artists, and artisans of all kinds. Laws were issued in the language of the community to whom they were addressed in Norman Sicily, at the time when the culture was still heavily Arab and Greek.[65][66] Governance was by rule of law which promoted justice. Muslims, Jews, Byzantine Greeks, Lombards, and Normans worked together fairly amicably. During this time many extraordinary buildings were constructed.[65]

However this situation changed as the Normans imported immigrants from Normandy, England, Lombardy, Piedmont, Provence and Campania to secure the island. Linguistically, the island shifted from being one-third Greek- and two-thirds Arabic-speaking at the time of the Norman conquest to becoming fully Latinised.[66] In terms of religion the island became completely Roman Catholic (bearing in mind that until 1054 the Churches owing allegiance to the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople belonged to one Church); Sicily before the Norman conquest was under Eastern Orthodox Patriarch.[67] After Pope Innocent III made him Papal Legate in 1098, Roger I created several Catholic bishoprics while still allowing the construction of 12 Greek-speaking monasteries (the Greek language, monasteries, and 1500 parishes continued to exist until the adherents of the Greek Rite were forced in 1585 to convert to Catholicism or leave; a small pocket of Greek-speakers still live in Messina).

 
Interior of Castello Maniace

After a century, the Norman Hauteville dynasty died out; the last direct descendant and heir of Roger II, Constance, married Emperor Henry VI.[68] This eventually led to the crown of Sicily being passed on to the Hohenstaufen Dynasty, who were Germans from Swabia. The last of the Hohenstaufens, Frederick II, the only son of Constance, was one of the greatest and most cultured men of the Middle Ages. His mother's will had asked Pope Innocent III to undertake the guardianship of her son. Frederick was four when at Palermo, he was crowned King of Sicily in 1198. Frederick received no systematic education and was allowed to run free in the streets of Palermo. There he picked up the many languages he heard spoken, such as Arabic and Greek, and learned some of the lore of the Jewish community. At age twelve, he dismissed Innocent's deputy regent and took over the government; at fifteen he married Constance of Aragon, and began his reclamation of the imperial crown. Subsequently, due to Muslim rebellions, Frederick II destroyed the remaining Muslim presence in Sicily, estimated at 60,000 persons, moving all to the city of Lucera in Apulia between 1221 and 1226.[69]

Conflict between the Hohenstaufen house and the Papacy led, in 1266, to Pope Innocent IV crowning the French prince Charles, count of Anjou and Provence, as the king of both Sicily and Naples.[68]

 
Depiction of the Sicilian Vespers

Strong opposition to French officialdom due to mistreatment and taxation saw the local peoples of Sicily rise up, leading in 1282 to an insurrection known as the War of the Sicilian Vespers, which eventually saw almost the entire French population on the island killed.[68] During the war, the Sicilians turned to Peter III of Aragon, son-in-law of the last Hohenstaufen king, for support after being rejected by the Pope. Peter gained control of Sicily from the French, who, however, retained control of the Kingdom of Naples. A crusade was launched in August 1283 against Peter III and the Kingdom of Aragon by Pope Martin IV (a pope from Île-de-France), but it failed. The wars continued until the peace of Caltabellotta in 1302, which saw Peter's son Frederick III recognized as the king of the Isle of Sicily, while Charles II was recognized as the king of Naples by Pope Boniface VIII.[68] Sicily was ruled as an independent kingdom by relatives of the kings of Aragon until 1409 and then as part of the Crown of Aragon.[34] In October 1347, in Messina, Sicily, the Black Death first arrived in Europe.[70]

Between the 15th-18th centuries, waves of Greeks from the Peloponnese (such as the Maniots) and Arvanites migrated to Sicily in large numbers to escape persecution after the Ottoman conquest of the Peloponnese. They brought with them Eastern Orthodoxy as well as the Greek and Arvanitika languages to the island, once again adding onto the extensive Byzantine/Greek influence.[citation needed]

The onset of the Spanish Inquisition in 1492 led to Ferdinand II decreeing the expulsion of all Jews from Sicily.[68] The eastern part of the island was hit by very destructive earthquakes in 1542 and 1693. Just a few years before the latter earthquake, the island was struck by a ferocious plague.[68] The earthquake in 1693 took an estimated 60,000 lives.[71] There were revolts during the 17th century, but these were quelled with significant force, especially the revolts of Palermo and Messina.[34] North African slave raids discouraged settlement along the coast until the 19th century.[72][73] The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 saw Sicily assigned to the House of Savoy; however, this period of rule lasted only seven years, as it was exchanged for the island of Sardinia with Emperor Charles VI of the Austrian Habsburg Dynasty.[74]

While the Austrians were concerned with the War of the Polish Succession, a Bourbon prince, Charles from Spain was able to conquer Sicily and Naples.[75] At first Sicily was able to remain as an independent kingdom under personal union, while the Bourbons ruled over both from Naples. However, the advent of Napoleon's First French Empire saw Naples taken at the Battle of Campo Tenese and Bonapartist King of Naples were installed. Ferdinand III the Bourbon was forced to retreat to Sicily which he was still in complete control of with the help of British naval protection.[76]

Following this, Sicily joined the Napoleonic Wars, and subsequently the British under Lord William Bentinck established a military and diplomatic presence on the island to protect against a French invasion. After the wars were won, Sicily and Naples formally merged as the Two Sicilies under the Bourbons. Major revolutionary movements occurred in 1820 and 1848 against the Bourbon government with Sicily seeking independence; the second of which, the 1848 revolution resulted in a short period of independence for Sicily. However, in 1849 the Bourbons retook control of the island and dominated it until 1860.[77]

Italian unification

See also: Risorgimento
 
Battle of Calatafimi, 1860

The Expedition of the Thousand led by Giuseppe Garibaldi captured Sicily in 1860, as part of the Risorgimento.[78] The conquest started at Marsala, and native Sicilians joined him in the capture of the southern Italian peninsula. Garibaldi's march was completed with the Siege of Gaeta, where the final Bourbons were expelled and Garibaldi announced his dictatorship in the name of Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia.[79] Sicily became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia after a referendum where more than 75% of Sicily voted in favour of the annexation on 21 October 1860 (but not everyone was allowed to vote). As a result of the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, Sicily became part of the kingdom on 17 March 1861.

The Sicilian economy (and the wider mezzogiorno economy) remained relatively underdeveloped after the Italian unification, in spite of the strong investments made by the Kingdom of Italy in terms of modern infrastructure, and this caused an unprecedented wave of emigration.[78] In 1894, organisations of workers and peasants known as the Fasci Siciliani protested against the bad social and economic conditions of the island, but they were suppressed in a few days.[80][81] The Messina earthquake of 28 December 1908 killed more than 80,000 people.[82]

This period was also characterized by the first contact between the Sicilian mafia (the crime syndicate also known as Cosa Nostra) and the Italian government. The Mafia's origins are still uncertain, but it is generally accepted that it emerged in the 18th century initially in the role of private enforcers hired to protect the property of landowners and merchants from the groups of brigands (briganti) who frequently pillaged the countryside and towns. The battle against the Mafia made by the Kingdom of Italy was controversial and ambiguous. The Carabinieri (the military police of Italy) and sometimes the Italian army were often involved in terrible fights against the mafia members, but their efforts were frequently useless because of the secret cooperation between the mafia and local government and also because of the weakness of the Italian judicial system.[83]

20th and 21st centuries

 
Private Roy W. Humphrey of Toledo, Ohio is being given blood plasma after he was wounded by shrapnel in Sicily on 9 August 1943.

In the 1920s, the Fascist regime began a stronger military action against the Mafia, which was led by prefect Cesare Mori, who was known as the "Iron Prefect" because of his iron-fisted campaigns. This was the first time in which an operation against the Sicilian mafia ended with considerable success.[78] There was an Allied invasion of Sicily during World War II starting on 10 July 1943. In preparation for the invasion, the Allies revitalised the Mafia to aid them. The invasion of Sicily contributed to the 25 July crisis; in general, the Allied victors were warmly embraced by Sicily.[84]

Italy became a Republic in 1946 and, as part of the Constitution of Italy, Sicily was one of the five regions given special status as an autonomous region.[85] Both the partial Italian land reform and special funding from the Italian government's Cassa per il Mezzogiorno (Fund for the South) from 1950 to 1984 helped the Sicilian economy. During this period, the economic and social condition of the island was generally improved thanks to important investments on infrastructures such as motorways and airports, and thanks to the creation of important industrial and commercial areas.[86] In the 1980s, the Mafia was deeply weakened by a second important campaign led by magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.[87] Between 1990 and 2005, the unemployment rate fell from about 23% to 11%.[88][89]

The Cosa Nostra has traditionally been the most powerful group in Sicily, especially around Palermo.[90] A police investigation in summer 2019 also confirmed strong links between the Palermo area Sicilian Mafia and American organized crime, particularly the Gambino crime family.[91] According to La Repubblica, "Off they go, through the streets of Passo di Rigano, Boccadifalco, Torretta and at the same time, Brooklyn, Staten Island, New Jersey. Because from Sicily to the US, the old mafia has returned".[92]

Demographics

Main article: Sicilians
 
The city of Palermo
Historical population
YearPop.±%
18612,409,000—    
18712,590,000+7.5%
18812,933,000+13.2%
19013,568,000+21.7%
19113,812,000+6.8%
19214,223,000+10.8%
19313,906,000−7.5%
19364,000,000+2.4%
19514,487,000+12.2%
19614,721,000+5.2%
19714,681,000−0.8%
19814,907,000+4.8%
19914,966,000+1.2%
20014,969,000+0.1%
20115,002,904+0.7%
20194,969,147−0.7%
Source: ISTAT 2017

About five million people live in Sicily, making it the fourth most populated region in Italy. In the first century after the Italian unification, Sicily had one of the most negative net migration rates among the regions of Italy because of the emigration of millions of people to Northern Italy, other European countries, North America, South America and Australia. Like the South of Italy and Sardinia, immigration to the island is very low compared to other regions of Italy because workers tend to head to Northern Italy instead, due to better employment and industrial opportunities. According to ISTAT figures from 2017,[93] show around 175,000 immigrants out of the total 5,029,615 population;[94] Romanians with more than 50,000 make up the most immigrants, followed by Tunisians, Moroccans, Sri Lankans, Albanians, and others mostly from Eastern Europe.[failed verification] As in the rest of Italy, the official language is Italian and the primary religion is Roman Catholicism.[95][96]

Emigration

See also: Sicilian Americans
 
A Sicilian café in New York 1889

Sicilian emigration started shortly after the Italian unification and has not stopped ever since.[citation needed] After the Italian unification, Sicily, along with the entire Italian peninsula, has also been strongly marked by coerced emigration.[citation needed] Most of the assets of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies's former national bank, Banco delle Due Sicilie, were transferred to Piedmont.[97] During the first decades of Risorgimento, a rising number of southern Italian manufactories were driven into ruin due to high taxation imposed by the central government.[citation needed] Furthermore, an embargo[which?] imposed on goods coming from southern Italian manufacturers, that effectively barred them from exporting to the north and abroad, were also key factors that led to further impoverishment of the entire region.[citation needed]

The aforementioned factors, along with a failed land reform, resulted in a never-before-seen wave of Sicilians emigrating, first to the United States between the 1880s and the 1920s, later to Northern Italy, and from the 1960s onwards also to Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, as well as Australia and South America.

Today, Sicily is the Italian region with the highest number of expatriates: as of 2017, 750,000 Sicilians, 14.4% of the island's population, lived abroad.[98] For lack of employment, every year many Sicilians, especially young graduates, still leave the island to seek jobs abroad.[99] Today, an estimated 10 million people of Sicilian origins live around the world.

Largest cities

See also: List of communes of Sicily

These are the ten largest cities of Sicily:[100]

Rank Name Pop. (2017) Area (km2) Pop. per km2
1 Palermo 668,405 159 4,207
2 Catania 311,620 181 1,723
3 Messina 234,293 212 1,107
4 Syracuse 121,605 204 596
5 Marsala 82,802 242 343
6 Gela 74,858 277 270
7 Ragusa 73,638 442 166
8 Trapani 67,923 272 250
9 Vittoria 64,212 181 354
10 Caltanissetta 62,317 416 150

Religion

See also: Italo-Albanian Catholic Church, History of the Jews in Sicily, and History of Islam in southern Italy

As in most Italian regions, Roman Catholicism is the predominant religious denomination in Sicily, and the church still plays an important role in the lives of most people. There is also a notable small minority of Eastern-rite Byzantine Catholics which has a mixed congregation of ethnic Albanians; it is operated by the Italo-Albanian Catholic Church. Most people still attend church weekly or at least for religious festivals, and many people get married in churches. There was a wide presence of Jews in Sicily for at least 1,400 years and possibly for more than 2,000 years. Some scholars believe that the Sicilian Jewry are partial ancestors of the Ashkenazi Jews.[101] However, much of the Jewish community faded away when they were expelled from the island in 1492. Islam was present during the Emirate of Sicily, although Muslims were also expelled. Today, mostly due to immigration to the island, there are also several religious minorities, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Sikhism. There are also a some Evangelical Christians who live on the island.

Politics

Main article: Politics of Sicily

The politics of Sicily takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democracy, whereby the President of Regional Government is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the Regional Government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Sicilian Regional Assembly. The capital of Sicily is Palermo.

Traditionally, Sicily votes for centre-right parties during elections.[102] From 1943-51, there was also a separatist political party called Sicilian Independence Movement (Movimento Indipendentista Siciliano, MIS). Their most successful result was at the 1946 general election, when MIS obtained 0.7% of national votes (8.8% of votes in Sicily), and four seats. However, the movement lost all their seats following the 1948 general election and the 1951 regional election. Even though it has never been formally disbanded, today the movement is no longer part of the politics of Sicily. After World War II, Sicily became a stronghold of the Christian Democracy, in opposition to the Italian Communist Party. The Communists and their successors (the Democratic Party of the Left, the Democrats of the Left and the present-day Democratic Party) had never won any seats in the region until 2012. Sicily is now governed by a centre-right coalition. Nello Musumeci is the current President and has served since 2017.

Sicily’s internal politics are heavily corrupt, since they are very influenced by the Sicilian Mafia.

Administrative divisions

 
Provinces of Sicily

Administratively, Sicily is divided into nine provinces, each with a capital city of the same name as the province. Small surrounding islands are also part of various Sicilian provinces: the Aeolian Islands (Messina), isle of Ustica (Palermo), Aegadian Islands (Trapani), isle of Pantelleria (Trapani) and Pelagian Islands (Agrigento).

Province Area
(km2) 		Population[103] Density
(Pop. per km2) 		Number of communes
Agrigento 3,042 453,594 149.1 43
Caltanissetta 2,128 271,168 127.4 22
Catania 3,552 1,090,620 307.0 58
Enna 2,562 172,159 67.2 20
Messina 3,247 652,742 201.0 108
Palermo 4,992 1,249,744 250.3 82
Ragusa 1,614 318,980 197.6 12
Siracusa 2,109 403,559 191.3 21
Trapani 2,460 436,240 177.3 24

Economy

See also: Economy of Italy
 
Olive groves

Thanks to regular growth in recent years, Sicily is the eighth largest regional economy of Italy in terms of total GDP (see List of Italian regions by GDP). A series of reforms and investments in agriculture, such as the introduction of modern irrigation systems, has made this important industry competitive.[104] In the 1970s, some factories were opened, resulting in growth in the industrial sector.[105] In recent years the service industry has become more important due to the opening of several shopping malls and some modest growth in financial and telecommunication activities.[106] Tourism is an important source of income for the island, which attracts visitors due to its rich natural and historical heritage. Today Sicily is investing a large amount of money into the development of its hospitality industry, to attract even more tourism.[107] However, Sicily continues to have a GDP per capita below the Italian average, and higher unemployment than the rest of Italy.[108] This difference is mostly caused by the negative influence of the Mafia, which is still active in some areas, although it is much weaker than in the past.[109]

Agriculture

 
A sample of Marsala, a DOC wine produced in the city of Marsala

Sicily has long been noted for its fertile soil, which is the result of past volcanic eruptions. The local agriculture is also helped by the pleasant climate of the island. The main agricultural products are wheat, citrons, oranges (Arancia Rossa di Sicilia IGP), lemons, tomatoes (Pomodoro di Pachino IGP), olives, olive oil, artichokes, prickly pear (Fico d'India dell'Etna DOP), almonds, grapes, pistachios (Pistacchio di Bronte DOP) and wine. Cattle and sheep are raised. The production of cheese is particularly important thanks to the Ragusano DOP and the Pecorino Siciliano DOP. Ragusa is noted for its honey (Miele Ibleo) and chocolate (Cioccolato di Modica IGP) products.[110][111][112][113][114]

Sicily is the third largest wine producer in Italy, after Veneto and Emilia Romagna (and Italy is the world's largest wine producer).[115] The region is known mainly for fortified Marsala wines. In recent decades the wine industry has improved, new winemakers are experimenting with less-well-known native varieties, and Sicilian wines have become better known.[116] The best known local variety is Nero d'Avola, named for a small town not far from Syracuse; the best wines made with these grapes come from Noto, a famous old city close to Avola. Other important native varieties are: Nerello Mascalese, used to make the Etna Rosso DOC wine; Frappato, a component of the Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG wine; Moscato di Pantelleria (also known as Zibibbo), which is used to make different Pantelleria wines; Malvasia di Lipari, used for the Malvasia di Lipari DOC wine; and Catarratto, mostly used to make a white wine, Alcamo DOC. Furthermore, in Sicily, high-quality wines are also produced using non-native varieties like Syrah, Chardonnay and Merlot.[117]

Sicily is also known for its liqueurs, such as Amaro Averna, produced in Caltanissetta, and the local limoncello.

Fishing is another fundamental resource for Sicily. It has important tuna, sardine, swordfish and European anchovy fisheries. Mazara del Vallo is the largest fishing centre in Sicily and one of the most important in Italy.[118]

Industry and manufacturing

 
Palermo shipyards
 
Oilfields near Ragusa

Improvements in Sicily's road system have helped to promote industrial development. The region has three important industrial districts:

In Palermo there are important shipyards (such as Fincantieri), mechanical factories of famous Italian companies as Ansaldo Breda, publishing and textile industries. Chemical industries are also in the Province of Messina (Milazzo) and in the Province of Caltanissetta (Gela).[113] There are petroleum, natural gas and asphalt fields in the Southeast (mostly near Ragusa) and massive deposits of halite in Central Sicily.[122] The Province of Trapani is one of the largest sea salt producers in Italy.[123]

Statistics

GDP growth

A table showing Sicily's different GDP (nominal and per capita) growth between 2000 and 2008:[124][125]

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2008
Gross Domestic Product
(Millions of Euros)		 67,204 70,530 72,855 75,085 77,327 80,358 82,938 88,328
GDP (PPP) per capita
(Euro)		 13,479 14,185 14,662 15,053 15,440 16,023 16,531 17,533

Economic sectors

After the table which shows Sicily's GDP growth,[124] this table shows the sectors of the Sicilian economy in 2006:

Economic activity GDP
€ millions		 % sector
(Sicily)		 % sector
(Italy)
Agriculture, farming, fishing 2,923.3 3.52% 1.84%
Industry 7,712.9 9.30% 18.30%
Constructions 4,582.1 5.52% 5.41%
Commerce, hotels and restaurants, transport, services and (tele)communications 15,159.7 18.28% 20.54%
Financial activity and real estate 17,656.1 21.29% 24.17%
Other economic activities 24,011.5 28.95% 18.97%
VAT and other forms of taxes 10,893.1 13.13% 10.76%
GDP of Sicily 82,938.6

Unemployment rate

The unemployment rate stood at 21.5% in 2018 and was one of the highest in Italy and Europe.[126][127]

Year 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Unemployment rate 13.4% 12.9% 13.7% 13.8% 14.6% 14.3% 18.4% 21.0% 22.2% 21.4% 22.1% 21.5% 21.5%

Transport

Roads

Highways have been built and expanded in the last four decades. The most prominent Sicilian roads are the motorways (known as autostrade) in the north of the island. Much of the motorway network is elevated on pillars due to the island's mountainous terrain.[128][129][130][131] Other main roads in Sicily are the Strade Statali, such as the SS.113 that connects Trapani to Messina (via Palermo), the SS.114 Messina-Syracuse (via Catania) and the SS.115 Syracuse-Trapani (via Ragusa, Gela and Agrigento).

Sign Motorway Length Toll Services
  A18 Messina-Catania 76 km (47 mi)   Yes   Yes
  RA15 Catania's Bypass (West) 24 km (15 mi) Free   Yes
  Motorway Catania-Siracusa 25 km (16 mi) Free No
  A18 Siracusa-Rosolini 40 km (25 mi) Free No
  A19 Palermo-Catania 199 km (124 mi) Free   Yes
  A20 Palermo-Messina 181 km (112 mi)   Yes   Yes
  A29 Palermo-Mazara del Vallo 119 km (74 mi) Free No
  A29dir Alcamo-Trapani/Marsala 38 km (24 mi) and
44 km (27 mi) 		Free No

Railways

 
Palermo, AMAT tramway system map

The first railway in Sicily was opened in 1863 (Palermo-Bagheria) and today all of the Sicilian provinces are served by a network of railway services, linking to most major cities and towns; this service is operated by Trenitalia. Of the 1,378 km (856 mi) of railway tracks in use, over 60% has been electrified whilst the remaining 583 km (362 mi) are serviced by diesel engines. 88% of the lines (1.209 km) are single-track and only 169 km (105 mi) are double-track serving the two main routes, Messina-Palermo (Tyrrhenian) and Messina-Catania-Syracuse (Ionian), which are the main lines of this region. Of the narrow-gauge railways the Ferrovia Circumetnea is the only one that still operates, going round Mount Etna. From the major cities of Sicily, there are services to Naples, Rome and Milan; this is achieved by the trains being loaded onto ferries which cross the Strait.[132]

In Catania there is an underground railway service (metropolitana di Catania); in Palermo the national railway operator Trenitalia operates a commuter rail (Palermo metropolitan railway service), the Sicilian Capital is also served by 4 AMAT (Comunal Public Transport Operator) tramlines; Messina is served by a tramline.

Airports

Main article: List of airports in Sicily

Mainland Sicily has several airports that serve numerous Italian and European destinations and some extra-European.

Ports

 
The port of Catania

By sea, Sicily is served by several ferry routes and cargo ports, and in all major cities, cruise ships dock on a regular basis.

Planned bridge

Main article: Strait of Messina Bridge

Plans for a bridge linking Sicily to the mainland have been discussed since 1865. Throughout the last decade, plans were developed for a road and rail link to the mainland via what would be the world's longest suspension bridge, the Strait of Messina Bridge. Planning for the project has experienced several false starts over the past few years. On 6 March 2009, Silvio Berlusconi's government declared that the construction works for the Messina Bridge would begin on 23 December 2009, and announced a pledge of €1.3 billion as a contribution to the bridge's total cost, estimated at €6.1 billion.[135] The plan has been criticized by environmental associations and some local Sicilians and Calabrians, concerned with its environmental impact, economical sustainability and even possible infiltrations by organized crime.[136][137]

Tourism

Sicily's sunny, dry climate, scenery, cuisine, history, and architecture attract many tourists from mainland Italy and abroad. The tourist season peaks in the summer months, although people visit the island all year round. Mount Etna, the beaches, the archaeological sites, and major cities such as Palermo, Catania, Syracuse and Ragusa are the favourite tourist destinations, but the old town of Taormina and the neighbouring seaside resort of Giardini Naxos draw visitors from all over the world, as do the Aeolian Islands, Erice, Castellammare del Golfo, Cefalù, Agrigento, the Pelagie Islands and Capo d'Orlando. The last features some of the best-preserved temples of the ancient Greek period. Many Mediterranean cruise ships stop in Sicily, and many wine tourists also visit the island.

Some scenes of several Hollywood and Cinecittà films were shot in Sicily. This increased the attraction of Sicily as a tourist destination.[138]

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

 
One of the mosaics in Villa Romana del Casale

There are seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites on Sicily. By the order of inscription:

 
Cathedral of San Giorgio in Modica

Tentative Sites

 
Taormina's central square at sunset

Archeological sites

Because many different cultures settled, dominated or invaded the island, Sicily has a huge variety of archaeological sites. Also, some of the most notable and best preserved temples and other structures of the Greek world are located in Sicily.[149] Here is a short list of the major archaeological sites:

The excavation and restoration of one of Sicily's best known archaeological sites, the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento, was at the direction of the archaeologist Domenico Antonio Lo Faso Pietrasanta, Fifth Duke of Serradifalco, known in archaeological circles simply as "Serradifalco". He also oversaw the restoration of ancient sites at Segesta, Selinunte, Siracusa and Taormina.

Castles

In Sicily there are hundreds of castles, the most relevant are:

 
Castello di Donnafugata near Ragusa
Province Castles Commune
Caltanisetta Castello Manfredonico Mussomeli
U Cannuni Mazzarino
Castelluccio di Gela Gela
Catania Castello Ursino Catania
Castello Normanno Adrano
Castello Normanno Paternò
Castello di Aci Aci Castello
Enna Castello di Lombardia Enna
Messina Forte dei Centri Messina
Castello di Milazzo Milazzo
Castello di Federico II Montalbano Elicona
Castello di Sant'Alessio Siculo Sant'Alessio Siculo
Castello di Pentefur Savoca
Castello di Schisò Giardini Naxos
Palermo Zisa, Palermo Palermo
Castello di Caccamo Caccamo
Castello di Carini Carini
Castello dei Ventimiglia Castelbuono
Ragusa Castello di Donnafugata Ragusa
Torre Cabrera Pozzallo
Castello Dei Conti Modica
Syracuse Castello Maniace Syracuse
Trapani Castello di Venere Erice
Castle of the Counts of Modica Alcamo
Castle of Calatubo Alcamo

Coastal towers

The Coastal towers in Sicily (Torri costiere della Sicilia) are 218 old watchtowers along the coast. In Sicily, the first coastal towers date back to 1313 and 1345 of the Aragonese monarchy. From 1360 the threat came from the south, from North Africa to Maghreb, mainly to Barbary pirates and corsairs of Barbary Coast. In 1516, the Turks settled in Algiers, and from 1520, the corsair Hayreddin Barbarossa under the command of Ottoman Empire, operated from that harbour.

Most existing towers were built on architectural designs of the Florentine architect Camillo Camilliani from [1583] to 1584 and involved the coastal periple of Sicily. The typology changed completely in '800, because of the new higher fire volumes of cannon vessels, the towers were built on the type of Martello towers that the British built in the UK and elsewhere in the British Empire. The decline of Mediterranean piracy caused by the Second Barbary War led to a smaller number of coastal towers built during the 19th Century.[150]

Culture

See also: List of museums in Sicily

To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is to not have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything.

— Goethe[151][better source needed]

Sicily has long been associated with the arts; many poets, writers, philosophers, intellectuals, architects and painters have roots on the island. The history of prestige in this field can be traced back to Greek philosopher Archimedes, a Syracuse native who has gone on to become renowned as one of the greatest mathematicians of all time.[152] Gorgias and Empedocles are two other highly noted early Sicilian-Greek philosophers, while the Syracusan-Greek Epicharmus is held to be the inventor of comedy.[153][154]

Art and architecture

 
Palazzo Beneventano del Bosco, Syracuse, Sicilian Baroque

Baglio are traditional living structures in Western Sicily.

Ceramics

Terracotta ceramics from the island are well known, the art of ceramics on Sicily goes back to the original ancient peoples named the Sicanians, it was then perfected during the period of Greek colonisation and is still prominent and distinct to this day.[155] Nowadays, Caltagirone is one of the most important centres in Sicily for the artistic production of ceramics and terra-cotta sculptures. Famous painters include Renaissance artist Antonello da Messina, Pietro Novelli, Bruno Caruso, Renato Guttuso and Greek born Giorgio de Chirico who is commonly dubbed the "father of Surrealist art" and founder of the metaphysical art movement.[156] The most noted architects are Filippo Juvarra (one of the most important figures of the Italian Baroque) and Ernesto Basile.

Sicilian Baroque

Main article: Sicilian Baroque
 
Syracuse Cathedral

The Sicilian Baroque has a unique architectural identity. Noto, Caltagirone, Catania, Ragusa, Modica, Scicli and particularly Acireale contain some of Italy's best examples of Baroque architecture, carved in the local red sandstone. Noto provides one of the best examples of the Baroque architecture brought to Sicily. The Baroque style in Sicily was largely confined to buildings erected by the church, and palazzi built as private residences for the Sicilian aristocracy.[157] The earliest examples of this style in Sicily lacked individuality and were typically heavy-handed pastiches of buildings seen by Sicilian visitors to Rome, Florence, and Naples. However, even at this early stage, provincial architects had begun to incorporate certain vernacular features of Sicily's older architecture. By the middle of the 18th century, when Sicily's Baroque architecture was noticeably different from that of the mainland, it typically included at least two or three of the following features, coupled with a unique freedom of design that is more difficult to characterize in words.

Music and film

See also: Music of Sicily

Palermo hosts the Teatro Massimo which is the largest opera house in Italy and the third largest in all of Europe.[158] In Catania there is another important opera house, the Teatro Massimo Bellini with 1,200 seats, which is considered one of the best European opera houses for its acoustics. Sicily's composers vary from Vincenzo Bellini, Sigismondo d'India, Giovanni Pacini and Alessandro Scarlatti, to contemporary composers such as Salvatore Sciarrino and Silvio Amato.

Many award-winning and acclaimed films of Italian cinema have been filmed in Sicily, amongst the most noted of which are: Visconti's "La Terra Trema" and "Il Gattopardo", Pietro Germi's "Divorzio all'Italiana" and "Sedotta e Abbandonata", Tornatore's "Cinema Paradiso".

Literature

See also: Italian Literature and Sicilian School

The golden age of Sicilian poetry began in the early 13th century with the Sicilian School of Giacomo da Lentini, which was highly influential on Italian literature. Some of the most noted figures among writers and poets are Luigi Pirandello (Nobel laureate, 1934), Salvatore Quasimodo (Nobel laureate, 1959), Giovanni Verga (the father of the Italian Verismo), Domenico Tempio, Giovanni Meli, Luigi Capuana, Mario Rapisardi, Federico de Roberto, Leonardo Sciascia, Vitaliano Brancati, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Elio Vittorini, Vincenzo Consolo and Andrea Camilleri (noted for his novels and short stories with the fictional character Inspector Salvo Montalbano as protagonist). On the political side notable philosophers include Gaetano Mosca and Giovanni Gentile who wrote The Doctrine of Fascism.

Language

Main article: Sicilian language

Today in Sicily most people are bilingual and speak both Italian and Sicilian, a distinct and historical Romance language. Some of the Sicilian words are loan words from Greek, Catalan, French, Arabic, Spanish and other languages.[159] Dialects related to Sicilian are also spoken in Calabria and Salento; it had a significant influence on the Maltese language. However, the use of Sicilian is limited to informal contexts (mostly in family) and in a majority of cases it is replaced by the so-called regional Italian of Sicily, an Italian dialect that is a kind of mix between Italian and Sicilian.[160]

Sicilian was an early influence in the development of the first Italian standard, although its use remained confined to an intellectual elite. This was a literary language in Sicily created under the auspices of Frederick II and his court of notaries, or Magna Curia, which, headed by Giacomo da Lentini, also gave birth to the Sicilian School, widely inspired by troubadour literature. Its linguistic and poetic heritage was later assimilated into the Florentine by Dante Alighieri, the father of modern Italian who, in his De vulgari eloquentia, claims that "In effect, this vernacular seems to deserve higher praise than the others since all the poetry written by Italians can be called Sicilian".[161] It is in this language that appeared the first sonnet, whose invention is attributed to Giacomo da Lentini himself.

Science

Catania has one of the four laboratories of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (National Institute for Nuclear Physics) in which there is a cyclotron that uses protons both for nuclear physics experiments and for particle therapy to treat cancer (proton therapy).[162][163] Noto has one of the largest radio telescopes in Italy that performs geodetic and astronomical observations.[164] There are observatories in Palermo and Catania, managed by the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (National Institute for Astrophysics). In the Observatory of Palermo the astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi discovered the first and the largest asteroid to be identified Ceres (today considered a dwarf planet) on 1 January 1801;[165] Catania has two observatories, one of which is situated on Mount Etna at 1,800 metres (5,900 feet).[166]

Syracuse is also an experimental centre for solar technologies through the creation of the project Archimede solar power plant that is the first concentrated solar power plant to use molten salt for heat transfer and storage which is integrated with a combined-cycle gas facility. All the plant is owned and operated by Enel.[167][168] The touristic town of Erice is also an important science place thanks to the Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture which embraces 123 schools from all over the world, covering all branches of science, offering courses, seminars, workshops, and annual meetings. It was founded by the physicist Antonino Zichichi in honour of another scientist of the island, Ettore Majorana known for the Majorana equation and Majorana fermions.[169] Sicily's famous scientists include also Stanislao Cannizzaro (chemist), Giovanni Battista Hodierna and Niccolò Cacciatore (astronomers).

 
Department of Engineering, University of Messina

Education

Sicily has four universities:

Cuisine

Main articles: Sicilian cuisine and Sicilian pizza
 
Cannoli, a popular pastry associated with Sicilian cuisine

The island has a long history of producing a variety of noted cuisines and wines, to the extent that Sicily is sometimes nicknamed God's Kitchen because of this.[171] Every part of Sicily has its speciality (e.g. Cassata is typical of Palermo although available everywhere in Sicily, as is Granita). The ingredients are typically rich in taste while remaining affordable to the general public.[172] The savoury dishes of Sicily are viewed to be healthy, using fresh vegetables and fruits, such as tomatoes, artichokes, olives (including olive oil), citrus, apricots, aubergines, onions, beans, raisins commonly coupled with seafood, freshly caught from the surrounding coastlines, including tuna, sea bream, sea bass, cuttlefish, swordfish, sardines, and others.[173]

 
Arancini, rice balls fried in breadcrumbs

The most well-known part of Sicilian cuisine is the rich sweet dishes including ice creams and pastries. Cannoli (singular: cannolo), a tube-shaped shell of fried pastry dough filled with a sweet filling usually containing ricotta, is strongly associated with Sicily worldwide.[174] Biancomangiare, biscotti ennesi (cookies native to Enna), braccilatte (a Sicilian version of doughnuts), buccellato, ciarduna, pignoli, Biscotti Regina, giurgiulena, frutta martorana, cassata, pignolata, granita, cuccidati (a variety of fig cookie; also known as buccellati) and cuccìa are some notable sweet dishes.[174]

Like the cuisine of the rest of southern Italy, pasta plays an important part in Sicilian cuisine, as does rice; for example with arancini.[175] As well as using some other cheeses, Sicily has spawned some of its own, using both cow's and sheep's milk, such as pecorino and caciocavallo.[176] Spices used include saffron, nutmeg, clove, pepper, and cinnamon, which were introduced by the Arabs. Parsley is used abundantly in many dishes. Although Sicilian cuisine is commonly associated with sea food, meat dishes, including goose, lamb, goat, rabbit, and turkey, are also found in Sicily. It was the Normans and Swabians who first introduced a fondness for meat dishes to the island.[177] Some varieties of wine are produced from vines that are relatively unique to the island, such as the Nero d'Avola made near the baroque town of Noto.[178]

Sports

The most popular sport in Sicily is football, which came to the fore in the late 19th century under the influence of the English. Some of the oldest football clubs in Italy are from Sicily: the three most successful are Palermo, Catania, and Messina, which have played 29, 17 and 5 seasons in the Serie A respectively. No club from Sicily has ever won Serie A, but football is still deeply embedded in local culture and all over Sicily most towns have a representative team.[179]

Palermo and Catania have a heated rivalry and compete in the Sicilian derby together. Palermo is the only team in Sicily to have played on the European stage, in the UEFA Cup. In the island, the most noted footballer is Salvatore Schillaci, who won the Golden Boot at the 1990 FIFA World Cup with Italy.[179] Other noted players include Giuseppe Furino, Pietro Anastasi, Francesco Coco, Christian Riganò, and Roberto Galia.[179] There have also been some noted managers from the island, such as Carmelo Di Bella and Franco Scoglio.

Although football is the most popular sport in Sicily, the island also has participants in other fields. Amatori Catania have competed in the top Italian national rugby union league called National Championship of Excellence. They have even participated at the European level in the European Challenge Cup. Competing in the basketball variation of Serie A is Orlandina Basket from Capo d'Orlando in the province of Messina, where the sport has a reasonable following. Various other sports that are played to some extent include volleyball, handball, and water polo. Previously, in motorsport, Sicily held the prominent Targa Florio sports car race that took place in the Madonie Mountains, with the start-finish line in Cerda.[180] The event was started in 1906 by Sicilian industrialist and automobile enthusiast Vincenzo Florio, and ran until it was canceled due to safety concerns in 1977.[180]

From 28 September to 9 October 2005 Trapani was the location of Acts 8 and 9 of the Louis Vuitton Cup. This sailing race featured, among other entrants, all boats that took part in the 2007 America's Cup.

Popular culture

 
Sicilian arrotino at a living nativity scene wearing traditional Sicilian clothing
 
The "Misteri", a Religious festival in Trapani
 
A carnival float in Acireale

Each town and city has its own patron saint, and the feast days are marked by colourful processions through the streets with marching bands and displays of fireworks.

Sicilian religious festivals also include the presepe vivente (living nativity scene), which takes place at Christmas time. Deftly combining religion and folklore, it is a constructed mock 19th-century Sicilian village, complete with a nativity scene, and has people of all ages dressed in the costumes of the period, some impersonating the Holy Family, and others working as artisans of their particular assigned trade. It is normally concluded on Epiphany, often highlighted by the arrival of the magi on horseback.

Oral tradition plays a large role in Sicilian folklore. Many stories passed down from generation to generation involve a character named "Giufà". Anecdotes from this character's life preserve Sicilian culture as well as convey moral messages.

Sicilians also enjoy outdoor festivals, held in the local square or piazza where live music and dancing are performed on stage, and food fairs or sagre are set up in booths lining the square. These offer various local specialties, as well as typical Sicilian food. Normally these events are concluded with fireworks. A noted sagra is the Sagra del Carciofo or Artichoke Festival, which is held annually in Ramacca in April. The most important traditional event in Sicily is the carnival. Famous carnivals are in Acireale, Misterbianco, Regalbuto, Paternò, Sciacca, Termini Imerese.

 
The marionettes used in the Opera dei Pupi

The Opera dei Pupi (Opera of the Puppets; Sicilian: Òpira dî pupi) is a marionette theatrical representation of Frankish romantic poems such as the Song of Roland or Orlando furioso that is one of the characteristic cultural traditions of Sicily. The sides of donkey carts are decorated with intricate, painted scenes; these same tales are enacted in traditional puppet theatres featuring hand-made marionettes of wood. The opera of the puppets and the Sicilian tradition of cantastorî (singers of tales) are rooted in the Provençal troubadour tradition in Sicily during the reign of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, in the first half of the 13th century. A great place to see this marionette art is the puppet theatres of Palermo. The Sicilian marionette theatre Opera dei Pupi was proclaimed in 2001 and inscribed in 2008 in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists.[181]

Today, there are only a few troupes that maintain the tradition. They often perform for tourists. However, there are no longer the great historical families of marionettists, such as the Greco of Palermo; the Canino of Partinico and Alcamo; Crimi, Trombetta and Napoli of Catania, Pennisi and Macri of Acireale, Profeta of Licata, Gargano and Grasso of Agrigento. One can, however, admire the richest collection of marionettes at the Museo Internazionale delle Marionette Antonio Pasqualino and at the Museo Etnografico Siciliano Giuseppe Pitrè in Palermo. Other elaborate marionettes are on display at the Museo Civico Vagliasindi in Randazzo.

Traditional items

 
A traditional Sicilian cart

The Sicilian cart is an ornate, colourful style of a horse- or donkey-drawn cart native to Sicily. Sicilian woodcarver George Petralia states that horses were mostly used in the city and flat plains, while donkeys or mules were more often used in rough terrain for hauling heavy loads.[182] The cart has two wheels and is primarily handmade out of wood with iron components.

The Sicilian coppola is a traditional kind of flat cap typically worn by men in Sicily. First used by English nobles during the late 18th century, the tascu began being used in Sicily in the early 20th century as a driving cap, usually worn by car drivers. The coppola is usually made in tweed. Today it is widely regarded as a definitive symbol of Sicilian heritage.[183]

Flag and emblem

 
Triskelion painted on Ancient Greek vase, Agrigento
 
The Triskelion symbol of Sicily
Main articles: Triskelion § Sicily, and Flag of Sicily

The Flag of Sicily, regarded as a regional icon, was first adopted in 1282, after the Sicilian Vespers of Palermo. It is characterised by the presence of the triskeles in the middle, depicting the head of Medusa and three wheat ears representing the extreme fertility of the land of Sicily.[184][additional citation(s) needed] In early mythology, when Medusa was slain and beheaded by Perseus, the Medusa head was placed in the centre of Athena's shield.[185] Palermo and Corleone were the first two cities to found a confederation against the Angevin rule. The triskeles symbol came to be on the Sicilian flag in 1943 during World War II when Andrea Finocchiaro Aprile led an independence movement, in collaboration with the allies. Their plan was to help Sicily become independent and form a free republic. The colours, likewise introduced in the 1940s, respectively represent the cities of Palermo and Corleone. The separatist behind the movement used a yellow and red flag with the Trinacria in the centre of it. When World War II ended, Sicily was recognized as an autonomous region in the Italian Republic.

The flag became the official public flag of the Regione Siciliana in January 2000, after the passing of an apposite regional law which advocates its use on public buildings, schools and city halls along with the national Italian flag and the European one.

Familiar as an ancient symbol of the region, the Triskelion is also featured on Greek coins of Syracuse, such as coins of Agathocles (317–289 BC).The symbol dates back to when Sicily was part of Magna Graecia, the colonial extension of Greece beyond the Aegean.[186] The triskelion was revived, as a neoclassic – and non-Bourbon – emblem for the new Napoleonic Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, by Joachim Murat in 1808. In the case of Sicily, the triskelion symbol is said to represent the three capes (headlands or promontories of the island of Sicily, namely: Pelorus (Peloro, Tip of Faro, Messina: North-East); Pachynus (Passero, Syracuse: South); and Lilybæum (Lilibeo, Cape Boeo, Marsala: West), which form three points of a triangle.[184]

See also

References

  1. ^ . Demo.istat.it. Archived from the original on 24 July 2019. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  2. ^ . Demo.istat.it. Archived from the original on 21 January 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  3. ^ a b "Regional GDP per capita ranged from 30% to 263% of the EU average in 2018" (Press release). ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  4. ^ "Sub-national HDI – Area Database – Global Data Lab". hdi.globaldatalab.org. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  5. ^ "Etna & Aeolian Islands 2012 – Cambridge Volcanology".
  6. ^ Maric, Vesna (2008). Sicily. Ediz. Inglese. google.it. ISBN 9781740599696.
  7. ^ Bain, Keith; Bramblett, Reid; Bruyn, Pippa de; Nadeau, Barbie Latza; Fink, William (7 August 2006). Pauline Frommer's Italy. google.it. ISBN 9780471778608.
  8. ^ Pasquale Hamel – L' invenzione del regno. Dalla conquista normanna alla fondazione del Regnum Siciliae (1061–1154)
  9. ^ "Sicilia nell'Enciclopedia Treccani". www.treccani.it (in Italian). Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  10. ^ Britannica – Travel & Geography – Sicily Italian Sicilia – retrieved 11 May 2010.
  11. ^ "Territory and Environment" (PDF). Official page of the Region of Sicily. Retrieved 25 March 2013. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  12. ^ . Italia Tourism Online. Archived from the original on 15 March 2013. Retrieved 25 March 2013. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  13. ^ a b Porter, Darwin; Prince, Danforth (2009). Frommer's Sicily. Frommer's. p. 268. ISBN 978-0-470-39899-9.
  14. ^ Barberi, F.; Civetta, L.; Gasparini, P.; Innocenti, F.; Scandone, R.; Villari, L. (1 May 1974). "Evolution of a section of the Africa-Europe plate boundary: Paleomagnetic and volcanological evidence from Sicily". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 22 (2): 123–132. Bibcode:1974E&PSL..22..123B. doi:10.1016/0012-821X(74)90072-7. ISSN 0012-821X.
  15. ^ Thomaidis, Konstantinos; Troll, Valentin R.; Deegan, Frances M.; Freda, Carmela; Corsaro, Rosa A.; Behncke, Boris; Rafailidis, Savvas (2021). "A message from the 'underground forge of the gods': history and current eruptions at Mt Etna". Geology Today. 37 (4): 141–149. doi:10.1111/gto.12362. ISSN 1365-2451. S2CID 238802288.
  16. ^ . Osservatorio delle Acque. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 14 October 2010.
  17. ^ "WMO Region VI (Europe, Continent only): Highest Temperature". World Meteorological Organization. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  18. ^ Trabia, Carlo (2002). "A Sicilian Desert?". Best of Sicily Magazine.
  19. ^ . Barilla online. 2005. Archived from the original on 18 October 2006. Retrieved 22 December 2006.
  20. ^ [1] Fallow Deer in Sicily Retrieved October 2022
  21. ^ Sicilia, flora e fauna-Specie vegetali e animali in Sicilia. Insicilia.org. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  22. ^ ''Riserva dello Zingaro''|. Best-italian-wine.com. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  23. ^ Cassell's Latin Dictionary, Marchant, J.R.V, & Charles, Joseph F., (Eds.), Revised Edition, 1928
  24. ^ "Sicilian Culture: The Folklore, Legends & Traditions: Trinacria." Sicilian Culture: The Folklore, Legends & Traditions: Trinacria. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 November 2014. "Sicily." Sicily. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 November 2014.
  25. ^ . Experience Festival. 7 October 2007. Archived from the original on 31 December 2013. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  26. ^ "Aapologetico de la literatura española contra los opiniones". Ensayo historico. 7 October 2007.
  27. ^ Fine, John Van Antwerp (1983). The Ancient Greeks: A Critical History. Harvard University Press. p. 72. ISBN 9780674033146. most scholars now believe that the sicans and Sicels, as well as the.
  28. ^ a b c "Sicilian Peoples: The Sicanians". Best of Sicily. 7 October 2007.
  29. ^ "Sicani". Britannica.com. 7 October 2007.
  30. ^ Piccolo, Salvatore; Darvill, Timothy (2013). Ancient Stones, The Prehistoric Dolmens of Sicily. Thornham/Norfolk: Brazen Head Publishing. ISBN 9780956510624. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  31. ^ Ibidem, p. 31.
  32. ^ a b c Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Sicily" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  33. ^ E. Zuppardo-S.Piccolo, Terra Mater: sulle sponde del Gela greco, Betania Ed., Caltanissetta 2005
  34. ^ a b c . knowital.com. 7 October 2007. Archived from the original on 1 August 2003.
  35. ^ "Valley of the Temples". Italiansrus.com. 7 October 2007.
  36. ^ . Livius.org. 7 October 2007. Archived from the original on 7 November 2016. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  37. ^ Miles, Richard (2010). Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization. New York: Viking. ISBN 978-0-143-12129-9.
  38. ^ . Hutchinson Encyclopedia. 7 October 2007. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008.
  39. ^ Miles, Richard (2010). Carthage Must Be Destroyed. New York: Viking.
  40. ^ . 10000BC.tv. 7 October 2007. Archived from the original on 18 December 2007. Alt URL
  41. ^ Stockton, David (1971). JqsqlajAPCoC&q=in+verrem+cicero+verres&pg=PA43 Cicero: A Political Biography. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-872033-1. {{cite book}}: Check |url= value (help)
  42. ^ a b "Early & Medieval History". BestofSicily.com. 7 October 2007.
  43. ^ a b c Privitera, John (2002). Sicily: An Illustrated History. Hippocrene Books. ISBN 978-0-7818-0909-2.
  44. ^ J.B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, 1958 edition, p. 254
  45. ^ Bury, p. 327.
  46. ^ Bury, pp. 410, 425.
  47. ^ "Theodoric". Encyclopædia Britannica. 7 October 2007.
  48. ^ Frassetto, Michael (2003), Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe: Society in Transformation. Santa Barbara, CA, p. 335: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-57607-263-9.
  49. ^ Hearder, Harry (25 January 1991). Italy: A Short History. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-33719-9.
  50. ^ a b . Historynet.com. 7 October 2007. Archived from the original on 2 November 2007.
  51. ^ Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991). Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford University Press. p. 1892. ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.
  52. ^ Davis-Secord, Sarah (2017). "Sicily in the Early Medieval Mediterranean". Where Three Worlds Met: Sicily in the Early Medieval Mediterranean. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. p. 79. ISBN 9781501704642. JSTOR 10.7591/j.ctt1qv5qfp.
  53. ^ a b . TravelMapofSicily.com. 7 October 2007. Archived from the original on 6 June 2008. Retrieved 4 December 2007.
  54. ^ "Sicilian Peoples: The Byzantines". BestofSicily.com. 7 October 2007.
  55. ^ Treadgold. History of the Byzantine State, pp. 354–355.
  56. ^ a b c d e f g (PDF). Archaeology.Stanford.edu. 7 October 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 June 2007.
  57. ^ "Where the Maltese language comes from". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  58. ^ Raphael Patai, The Jewish Mind, Scribners, 1977, p. 155–6
  59. ^ a b – History of the Crusades – Boise State University – Retrieved 15 July 2011.
  60. ^ a b . In Italy Magazine. 7 October 2007. Archived from the original on 27 July 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2007.
  61. ^ Johns, Jeremy (2002). Arabic Administration in Norman Sicily: The Royal Diwan. Cambridge studies in Islamic civilization. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. pp. 249–250. ISBN 978-0-521-81692-2.
  62. ^ Takayama, Hiroshi (1993). The Administration of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily. Leiden, the Netherlands: E.J. Brill. p. 123. ISBN 978-90-04-09920-3.
  63. ^ "Classical and Medieval Malta (60–1530)". AboutMalta.com. 7 October 2007.
  64. ^ Norwich, John Julius (1992). The Normans in Sicily: The Normans in the South 1016–1130 and the Kingdom in the Sun 1130–1194. Penguin Global. ISBN 978-0-14-015212-8.
  65. ^ a b "Norman Sicily of the 12th Century" – Inter-American Institute for Advanced Studies in Cultural History – Retrieved 15 July 2011.
  66. ^ a b Loud, G. A. (2007). The Latin Church in Norman Italy. Cambridge University Press. p. 494. ISBN 978-0-521-25551-6. ISBN 0-521-25551-1" "At the end of the twelfth-century  ... While in Apulia Greeks were in a majority – and indeed present in any numbers at all – only in the Salento peninsula in the extreme south, at the time of the conquest they had an overwhelming preponderance in Lucaina and central and southern Calabria, as well as comprising anything up to a third of the population of Sicily, concentrated especially in the north-east of the island, the Val Demone.
  67. ^ "Sicilian Peoples: The Normans". BestofSicily.com. 7 October 2007.
  68. ^ a b c d e f Dieli, Art (8 July 2015). "Sicilian History: An Abbreviated Chronology". Dieli.net.
  69. ^ Taylor, Julie (19 August 2003). Muslims in Medieval Italy: The Colony at Lucera. Lexington Books. ISBN 9780739157978 – via Google Books.
  70. ^ The Spread of the Black Death through Europe. Medieval History.
  71. ^ "Italy's earthquake history". BBC News. 31 October 2002.
  72. ^ Rees Davies, British Slaves on the Barbary Coast, BBC, 1 July 2003
  73. ^ "Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast and Italy, 1500–1800". Robert Davis (2004) ISBN 1-4039-4551-9
  74. ^ "The Treaties of Utrecht (1713)". Heraldica.org. 7 October 2007.
  75. ^ . RealCasaDiBorbone.it. 7 October 2007. Archived from the original on 4 August 2003.
  76. ^ "Campo Tenese". Clash-of-Steel.co.uk. 7 October 2007.
  77. ^ Regno Delle Due Sicilie nell'Enciclopedia Treccani. Treccani.it. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  78. ^ a b c . OAH.org. 7 October 2007. Archived from the original on 27 November 2010.
  79. ^ Sicily (island, Italy) – Britannica Online Encyclopaedia. Britannica.com. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  80. ^ . Capitol Hill. 7 October 2007. Archived from the original on 18 October 2007.
  81. ^ "fascio siciliano". Encyclopædia Britannica. 7 October 2007.
  82. ^ "Messina earthquake and tsunami". Britannica Online Encyclopedia.
  83. ^ . Carabinieri.it. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  84. ^ "Modern Sicilian History & Society". BestofSicily.com.
  85. ^ "Sicily autonomy". Grifasi-Sicilia.com. 7 October 2007.
  86. ^ . Storicamente.org (in Italian). Archived from the original on 24 May 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
  87. ^ "Due eroi italiani – Materiali didattici di Scuola d'Italiano Roma a cura di Roberto Tartaglione". Scudit.net (in Italian). 11 April 2004. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
  88. ^ "Italy – Land Reforms". Encyclopædia Britannica. 7 October 2007.
  89. ^ . Istat.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 15 November 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
  90. ^ Pantaleone, Wladimir (4 December 2018). "Italy police arrest alleged new mafia boss in Sicily". Global News. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  91. ^ Messia, Hada; Kent, Lauren (17 July 2019). "19 mafia suspects arrested in joint transatlantic raids". CNN. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  92. ^ Giuffrida, Angela (17 July 2019). "FBI and Italian police arrest 19 people in Sicily and US in mafia investigation". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  93. ^ . Demo.istat.it. Archived from the original on 30 June 2016. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  94. ^ . demo.istat.it. 2017. Archived from the original on 19 October 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  95. ^ . camera.it. Archived from the original on 12 May 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
  96. ^ "Corriere della Sera – Italia, quasi l'88% si proclama cattolico". corriere.it.
  97. ^ "La questione meridionale 3/ Il saccheggio del Banco delle due Sicilie". 9 December 2017.
  98. ^ "Disastro Sicilia: In fuga i suoi figli". 31 October 2017.
  99. ^ "Emigrazione, fuga dalla Sicilia: Ogni anno cancellato un paese di ventimila abitanti".
  100. ^ "Sicilia / Sicily (Italy): Provinces, Major Cities & Communes – Population Statistics, Maps, Charts, Weather and Web Information". www.citypopulation.de. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
  101. ^ Nebel, A; Filon, D; Brinkmann, B; Majumder, P; Faerman, M; Oppenheim, A (2001). "The Y Chromosome Pool of Jews as Part of the Genetic Landscape of the Middle East". The American Journal of Human Genetics. 69 (5): 1095–112. doi:10.1086/324070. PMC 1274378. PMID 11573163.
  102. ^ Peppe Cuva (12 May 2012). Sicilia, l'ex roccaforte del centro-destra. Latestatanews.it. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  103. ^ Population May 2011, data from Demo Istat 1 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Demo.istat.it. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  104. ^ Economia della Sicilia: agricoltura. Sicilyweb.com. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  105. ^ L'industria in Sicilia così antica e moderna. Il Sole 24 ORE (23 February 2011). Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  106. ^ .Treccani.it. Retrieved on 19 December 2012.
  107. ^ Investire nel turismo di qualità e negli eventi in Sicilia. Strumentires.com. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  108. ^ (in Italian) Conti economici regionali. Istat.it. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  109. ^ mafia in sicilia: la mappa del viminale. Uonna.it. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  110. ^ Sicilia: L'Economia. SicilyOnTour.com. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  111. ^ Pistacchio di Bronte D.O.P. Pistacchiodibronte.it. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  112. ^ Fico d'India dell'Etna dop. Tavolaegusto.it. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  113. ^ a b economia-sicilia. insicilia.org. Retrieved on 19 December 2012.
  114. ^ . siciliaonline.it. Retrieved on 19 December 2012.
  115. ^ Produzione vino in Italia nel 2010 – fonte: ISTAT | I numeri del vino. Inumeridelvino.it (30 May 2011). Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  116. ^ . bottlenotes.com. 18 August 2009. Archived from the original on 22 August 2009. Retrieved 30 November 2009.
  117. ^ Vini siciliani. sicilyontour.com. Retrieved on 19 December 2012.
  118. ^ a b (in Italian) . Esploriamo.com. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  119. ^ Oggi la chiamano Etna Valley: i progetti, le aziende, il lavoro nel territorio di Catania 27 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Etnavalley.com (27 November 2012). Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  120. ^ Economia della Sicilia. Sicilyweb.com. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  121. ^ Enna. Il nuovo volto dell'Area di Sviluppo Industriale di Dittaino. Vivienna.it (22 March 1999). Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  122. ^ Sicilia: L'Economia. SicilyOnTour.com. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  123. ^ La lavorazione del Sale a Trapani, Area Sale 15 December 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Sale-salute-benessere.it. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  124. ^ a b . Istat.it. Archived from the original on 9 March 2008. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  125. ^ Sicilia nel 2008 PIL a '0.7% 22 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine livesicilia.it
  126. ^ "Unemployment rate by NUTS 2 regions". ec.europa.eu. Eurostat. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  127. ^ "Tasso di disoccupazione - livello regionale". dati.istat.it (in Italian). Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  128. ^ . SiciliaEMoto.it. 2 January 2008. Archived from the original on 23 January 2019. Retrieved 2 January 2008.
  129. ^ "Autostrada A20: Messina – Palermo". Sicilia.Indettaglio.it. 24 October 2007.
  130. ^ . SiciliaEMoto.it. 2 January 2008. Archived from the original on 23 January 2019. Retrieved 2 January 2008.
  131. ^ "Autostrada: A18 Messina – Catania". Sicilia.Indettaglio.it. 24 October 2007.
  132. ^ "Sicily Travel and Transport". ItalyHeaven.co.uk. 2 January 2008.
  133. ^ . Traghetti Guida. 2 January 2008. Archived from the original on 14 November 2007.
  134. ^ . VirtuFerries.com. 2 January 2008. Archived from the original on 12 August 2008.
  135. ^ Italy revives Sicily bridge plan from BBC News. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
  136. ^ Hooper, John (2 January 2008). "Italian MPs kill plan to bridge Sicily and mainland". Guardian.co.uk. London. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
  137. ^ Kahn, Gabriel (10 April 2008). "No Italian Job Takes Longer Than This Bridge". Wall Street Journal.
  138. ^ The Godfather. Sicilian Shooting* Locations. thegodfathertrilogy.com
  139. ^ "Archaeological Area of Agrigento – UNESCO World Heritage Centre". Whc.unesco.org. 7 December 1997. Retrieved 6 May 2009.
  140. ^ R. J. A. Wilson: Piazza Armerina. In: Akiyama, Terakazu (Ed.): The dictionary of Art. Vol. 24: Pandolfini to Pitti. Oxford 1998, ISBN 0-19-517068-7.
  141. ^ "Isole Eolie (Aeolian Islands) – UNESCO World Heritage Centre". Whc.unesco.org. 30 November 2000. Retrieved 6 May 2009.
  142. ^ Noto (Italy) – No 1024rev, ICOMOS, January 2002, Advisory Body Evaluation, Unesco
  143. ^ "Mount Etna Becomes a World Heritage Site". Italy Magazine. 4 May 2013. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  144. ^ Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. "Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalú and Monreale".
  145. ^ "Taormina and Isola Bella". World Heritage Site. from the original on 22 May 2019.
  146. ^ "Mothia and Libeo Island: The Phoenician-Punic Civilization in Italy". World Heritage Site. from the original on 22 May 2019.
  147. ^ All Tentative Sites 14 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine. World Heritage Site. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  148. ^ ""Stretto Messina sia patrimonio dell'Umanità". Nasce l'asse tra i comuni di Calabria e Sicilia". 18 April 2015.
  149. ^ Jürgen, Järvik (13 October 2019). "Greek & Roman Sites in Sicily". Grande Flânerie. WordPress. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  150. ^ Kirk, Scott (2017). "Sicilian Castles and Coastal Towers". Open Archaeology. Albuquerque: De Gruyter. 3 (1): 318, 319–329. doi:10.1515/opar-2017-0021. S2CID 67397794. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  151. ^ "Goethe in Sicily - Best of Sicily Magazine". www.bestofsicily.com.
  152. ^ Calinger, Ronald S (1999). A Contextual History of Mathematics. Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-02-318285-3.
  153. ^ Talfourd, Thomas Noon (1851). History of Greek Literature. University of Michigan. p. 173. invented comedy Epicharmus.
  154. ^ . GreekNewsOnline.com. 2 January 2008. Archived from the original on 7 December 2008.
  155. ^ "Sicilian Ceramic Art". BestOfSicily.com. 2 January 2008.
  156. ^ Thrall Soby, James (1969). The Early Chirico. Ayer Co Pub. ISBN 978-0-405-00736-1.
  157. ^ "Palazzo" (pl. palazzi): is any large building in a town, state or private (often much smaller than the term palace implies in the English-speaking world). While palazzo is the technically correct appellation and postal address, no Sicilian aristocrat would ever use the word, instead referring to his or her own house, however large, as "casa". "Palazzo" followed by the family name was the term used by officials, tradesmen, and delivery men. Gefen, p. 15.
  158. ^ . SelectItaly.com. 2 January 2008. Archived from the original on 2 March 2012. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  159. ^ . LeoLuca-Criscione.net. 7 October 2007. Archived from the original on 2 March 2005.
  160. ^ . istat.it. Archived from the original on 30 October 2012.
  161. ^ Alighieri, Dante (10 October 1996). De vulgari eloquentia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-40064-0.
  162. ^ Centro Di Adroterapia Oculare 22 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Policlinico.unict.it. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  163. ^ LNS latest news. Lns.infn.it (13 December 2012). Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  164. ^ Noto VLBI home page. Noto.ira.inaf.it. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  165. ^ Hoskin, Michael (1999). The Cambridge Concise History of Astronomy. Cambridge University press. pp. 160–161. ISBN 978-0-521-57600-0.
  166. ^ Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania Homepage. Ct.astro.it. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  167. ^ Archimede 24 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Enel.com. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  168. ^ The world's first molten salt concentrating solar power plant | Environment | guardian.co.uk. Guardian (22 July 2010). Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  169. ^ Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture. Ccsem.infn.it (2 July 2012). Retrieved on 18 December 2012.
  170. ^ . Archived from the original on 8 September 2010.
  171. ^ "A Cosa Nostra Encounter on a Sicilian Vacation". 6 June 2016.
  172. ^ . ItalianFoodForevter.com. 24 June 2007. Archived from the original on 12 February 2008.
  173. ^ Piras, Claudia and Medagliani, Eugenio (March 2007). Culinaria Italy. Konemann. ISBN 978-3-8331-3446-3.
  174. ^ a b Senna, Luciana (1 July 2005). Authentic Sicily. Touring Club of Italy. ISBN 978-88-365-3403-6.
  175. ^ . FXCuisine.com. 24 June 2007. Archived from the original on 13 January 2008.
  176. ^ "Sicilian Cheese". BestofSicily.com. 24 June 2007.
  177. ^ "Sicilian Food and Wine". BestofSicily.com. 24 June 2007.
  178. ^ Maria, Anna. "Sicilian Fig Cookies". Anna Maria's Open Kitchen. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
  179. ^ a b c Bright, Richard (7 October 2007). "Sicilian derby takes centre stage". London: Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 30 March 2010.[dead link]
  180. ^ a b . Porsche.com. 7 October 2007. Archived from the original on 30 December 2010. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  181. ^ UNESCO Culture Sector. "El teatro de marionetas siciliano Opera dei Puppi". Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  182. ^ "George Petralia". Sicilian Wood Carver. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  183. ^ . Archived from the original on 5 June 2008.
  184. ^ a b Radicini, Ninni. "The Trinacria: History and Mythology | The Symbol of the Hellenic Nature of Sicily | Article by Ninni Radicini." The Trinacria: History and Mythology | The Symbol of the Hellenic Nature of Sicily | Article by Ninni Radicini. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 November 2014.
  185. ^ Trabia, Carlo. "The Trinacria - Best of Sicily Magazine." The Trinacria - Best of Sicily Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 November 2014.
  186. ^ Matthews, Jeff (2005) Symbols of Naples 30 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine

Further reading

  • Alio, Jacqueline (2018) Sicilian Studies: A Guide and Syllabus for Educators (Trinacria Editions, New York, ISBN 978-1-943-63918-2).
  • Bonacini, Elisa (2007) Il territorio calatino nella Sicilia imperiale e tardoromana (British Archeological Reports, International Series: 1694) Archaeopress, Oxford, England, ISBN 978-1-4073-0136-5, in Italian with abstract in English
  • Chaney, Edward. (2000), "British and American Travellers in Sicily from the eighth to the twentieth century", The Evolution of the Grand Tour, Routledge.
  • Leighton, Robert (1999) Sicily before History (Duckworth, London; Cornell University Press, Ithaca).
  • Mendola, Louis; Alio, Jacqueline (2013) The Peoples of Sicily: A Multicultural Legacy (Trinacria Editions, New York, ISBN 978-0-615-79694-9).
  • Spadi, Fabio. (2001) International and Comparative Law Quarterly 50: 411 ff.
  • "From Rome to Sicily: Plane or Train?" Expert Travel Advice, The New York Times, 7 February 2008 The New York Times.
  • Attilio L. Vinci, Magica Sicilia, Campo, Alcamo (Trapani), 2018. ISBN 978-88-943699-1-5
  • "Italy makes record mafia seizure". BBC News. 22 December 2008. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  • . Mafia News. 29 February 2008. Archived from the original on 1 January 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  • "Sicily: Art and Invention between Greece and Rome". Getty Publications, 2013.
  • To Noto: or London to Sicily in a Ford (London, 1989) by Duncan Fallowell

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sicily.
 
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Sicily.
  •   Geographic data related to Sicily at OpenStreetMap
  • Sicilian Region — Official website (in Italian)
  • The Wonders of Sicily – The Cities, Architecture, Culture, History, People
  • Piccolo, Salvatore (2018). Bronze Age Sicily. World History Encyclopedia.
  • Wilson, R.; Talbert, R.; Elliott, T.; Gillies, S. . Pleiades. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  • Piccolo, Salvatore (2018). The Dolmens of Sicily. World History Encyclopedia.

Coordinates: 37°30′N 14°00′E / 37.500°N 14.000°E / 37.500; 14.000

January 13, 2023
sicily, this, article, about, region, italy, other, uses, disambiguation, sicilia, redirects, here, roman, province, sicilia, roman, province, italian, film, about, sicilia, confused, with, isles, scilly, sicilian, sicilia, sɪˈʃiːlja, italian, sicilia, siˈtʃiː. This article is about the region of Italy For other uses see Sicily disambiguation Sicilia redirects here For the Roman province see Sicilia Roman province For the Italian film about Sicily see Sicilia Not to be confused with Isles of Scilly Sicily Sicilian Sicilia sɪˈʃiːlja Italian Sicilia siˈtʃiːlja is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 20 regions of Italy The Strait of Messina divides it from the region of Calabria in Southern Italy It is one of the five Italian autonomous regions and is officially referred to as Regione Siciliana The region has 5 million inhabitants Its capital city is Palermo Sicily Sicilia Italian Sicilia Sicilian Autonomous region of ItalyFlagCoat of armsAnthem Madreterra source source Country ItalyCapitalPalermoGovernment PresidentRenato Schifani FI Area Total25 711 km2 9 927 sq mi Population 2019 1 8 3 of Italy Total4 969 147 Density190 km2 500 sq mi Demonym s English SicilianItalian Siciliano man Italian Siciliana woman Ethnicity 2 Sicilian98 Time zoneUTC 1 CET Summer DST UTC 2 CEST ISO 3166 codeIT 82GDP nominal 89 2 billion 2018 3 GDP per capita 17 800 2018 3 HDI 2019 0 845 4 very high 21st of 21NUTS RegionITGWebsite 2 Sicily Sicily is in the central Mediterranean Sea south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe from which it is separated by the narrow Strait of Messina Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna the tallest active volcano in Europe 5 and one of the most active in the world currently 3 357 m 11 014 ft high The island has a typical Mediterranean climate The earliest archaeological evidence of human activity on the island dates from as early as 12 000 BC 6 7 By around 750 BC Sicily had three Phoenician and a dozen Greek colonies and it was later the site of the Sicilian Wars and the Punic Wars After the end of the Roman province of Sicilia with the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD Sicily was ruled during the Early Middle Ages by the Vandals the Ostrogoths the Byzantine Empire and the Emirate of Sicily The Norman conquest of southern Italy led to the creation of the County of Sicily in 1071 that was succeeded by Kingdom of Sicily a state that existed from 1130 until 1816 8 9 Later it was unified under the House of Bourbon with the Kingdom of Naples as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies The island became part of Italy in 1860 following the Expedition of the Thousand a revolt led by Giuseppe Garibaldi during the Italian unification and a plebiscite Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region on 15 May 1946 18 days before the Italian institutional referendum of 1946 Sicily has a rich and unique culture especially with regard to the arts music literature cuisine and architecture Contents 1 Geography 1 1 Rivers 1 2 Climate 2 Flora and fauna 3 History 3 1 Prehistory 3 2 Antiquity 3 3 Germanic rule 469 535 3 4 Byzantine period 535 965 3 5 Arab Period 827 1091 3 6 Norman Sicily 1038 1198 3 7 Kingdom of Sicily 3 8 Italian unification 3 9 20th and 21st centuries 4 Demographics 4 1 Emigration 4 2 Largest cities 4 3 Religion 5 Politics 5 1 Administrative divisions 6 Economy 6 1 Agriculture 6 2 Industry and manufacturing 6 3 Statistics 6 3 1 GDP growth 6 3 2 Economic sectors 6 3 3 Unemployment rate 7 Transport 7 1 Roads 7 2 Railways 7 3 Airports 7 4 Ports 7 5 Planned bridge 8 Tourism 8 1 UNESCO World Heritage Sites 8 1 1 Tentative Sites 8 2 Archeological sites 8 3 Castles 8 4 Coastal towers 9 Culture 9 1 Art and architecture 9 1 1 Ceramics 9 1 2 Sicilian Baroque 9 2 Music and film 9 3 Literature 9 4 Language 9 5 Science 9 6 Education 9 7 Cuisine 9 8 Sports 9 9 Popular culture 9 10 Traditional items 9 11 Flag and emblem 10 See also 11 References 12 Further reading 13 External linksGeography EditSee also Geology of Sicily The Monti Sicani in western Sicily Sicily has a roughly triangular shape earning it the name Trinacria To the north east it is separated from Calabria and the rest of the Italian mainland by the Strait of Messina about 3 km 1 9 mi wide in the north and about 16 km 9 9 mi wide in the southern part 10 The northern and southern coasts are each about 280 km 170 mi long measured as a straight line while the eastern coast measures around 180 km 110 mi total coast length is estimated at 1 484 km 922 mi The total area of the island is 25 711 km2 9 927 sq mi 11 while the Autonomous Region of Sicily which includes smaller surrounding islands has an area of 27 708 km2 10 698 sq mi 12 The terrain of inland Sicily is mostly hilly and is intensively cultivated wherever possible Along the northern coast the mountain ranges of Madonie 2 000 m 6 600 ft Nebrodi 1 800 m 5 900 ft and Peloritani 1 300 m 4 300 ft are an extension of the mainland Apennines The cone of Mount Etna dominates the eastern coast In the southeast lie the lower Hyblaean Mountains 1 000 m 3 300 ft 13 The mines of the Enna and Caltanissetta districts were part of a leading sulphur producing area throughout the 19th century but have declined since the 1950s Sicily and its surrounding small islands have some highly active volcanoes This is due to the fact Sicily is geographically on the northern edge of the African continental plate 14 Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe and casts black ash over the island with its recurrent eruptions It currently stands 3 329 metres 10 922 ft high though this varies with summit eruptions the mountain is 21 m 69 ft lower now than it was in 1981 It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps Etna covers an area of 1 190 km2 459 sq mi with a basal circumference of 140 km 87 mi This makes it by far the largest of the three active volcanoes in Italy being about two and a half times the height of the next largest Mount Vesuvius In Greek mythology the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under the mountain by Zeus the god of the sky 15 Mount Etna is widely regarded as a cultural symbol and icon of Sicily Mount Etna rising over suburbs of CataniaThe Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea to the northeast of mainland Sicily form a volcanic complex The three volcanoes of Vulcano Stromboli and Lipari are also currently active although the latter is usually dormant Off the southern coast of Sicily the underwater volcano of Ferdinandea which is part of the larger Empedocles volcano last erupted in 1831 It is located between the coast of Agrigento and the island of Pantelleria which itself is a dormant volcano From a geographical perspective also forming a part of Sicily is the Maltese Archipelago the islands home to the republic of Malta The autonomous region also includes several neighbouring islands the Aegadian Islands the Aeolian Islands Pantelleria and Lampedusa Rivers Edit View of the Ciane river Several rivers drain the island most of which flow through the central area and enter the sea at the south of the island The Salso flows through parts of Enna and Caltanissetta before entering the Mediterranean Sea at the port of Licata To the east the Alcantara flows through the province of Messina and enters the sea at Giardini Naxos and the Simeto which flows into the Ionian Sea south of Catania Other important rivers on the island are the Belice and Platani in the southwest River LengthSalso 144 km 89 mi Simeto 113 km 70 mi Belice 107 km 66 mi Dittaino 105 km 65 mi Platani 103 km 64 mi Gornalunga 81 km 50 mi Gela 74 km 46 mi Salso Cimarosa 72 km 45 mi Torto 58 km 36 mi Irminio 57 km 35 mi Dirillo 54 km 34 mi Verdura 53 km 33 mi Alcantara 52 km 32 mi Tellaro 45 km 28 mi Anapo 40 km 25 mi Climate Edit Inner Sicily Sicily has a typical Mediterranean climate with mild and wet winters and hot dry summers with very changeable intermediate seasons On the coasts especially in the south west the climate is affected by the African currents and summers can be scorching Snow falls above 900 1000 metres but it can fall in the hills The interior mountains especially Nebrodi Madonie and Etna enjoy a full mountain climate with heavy snowfalls during winter The summit of Mount Etna is usually snow capped from October to May On the other hand especially in the summer it is not unusual that there is the sirocco the wind from the Sahara Rainfall is scarce and water proves deficient in some provinces where a water crisis can happen occasionally According to the Regional Agency for Waste and Water on 10 August 1999 the weather station of Catenanuova EN recorded a maximum temperature of 48 5 C 119 F 16 The official European record measured by minimum maximum thermometers is held by Athens Greece which reported a maximum of 48 0 C 118 F in 1977 17 Total precipitation is highly variable generally increasing with elevation In general the southern and southeast coast receives the least rainfall less than 50 cm 20 in and the northern and northeastern highlands the most over 100 cm 39 in Flora and fauna Edit The Sicilian wall lizard endemic to Sicily and the Aegadian Islands Sicilian wolf extinct Sicily is an often quoted example of man made deforestation which has occurred since Roman times when the island was turned into an agricultural region 13 This gradually dried the climate leading to a decline in rainfall and the drying of rivers The central and southwest provinces are practically devoid of any forest 18 In Northern Sicily there are three important forests near Mount Etna in the Nebrodi Mountains and in the Bosco della Ficuzza Natural Reserve near Palermo The Nebrodi Mountains Regional Park established on 4 August 1993 and covering 86 000 hectares 210 000 acres is the largest protected natural area of Sicily and contains the largest forest in Sicily the Caronia The Hundred Horse Chestnut Castagno dei Cento Cavalli in Sant Alfio on the eastern slopes of Mount Etna is the largest and oldest known chestnut tree in the world at 2 000 4 000 years old 19 Sicily has a wide variety of fauna Species include the European wildcat red fox least weasel pine marten roe deer dubious discuss fallow deer 20 wild boar crested porcupine European hedgehog common toad Vipera aspis golden eagle peregrine falcon Eurasian hoopoe and black winged stilt 21 The Sicilian wolf Canis lupus cristaldii was an endemic wolf subspecies that was driven to extinction in the 20th century The Zingaro Natural Reserve is one of the best examples of unspoiled coastal wilderness in Sicily 22 Surrounding waters including the Strait of Messina are home to varieties of birds and marine life including larger species such as greater flamingo and fin whale History EditMain article History of Sicily The name Sicilia was given to the Roman province in 241 BC It is derived from the name of the Sikeloi who inhabited the eastern part of the island The ancient name of the island is Trinacria Greek Trinakria having three headlands for its triangular shape likely a re interpretation of earlier Homeric Thrinacia The Greek name was rendered as Trinacrĭa in classical Latin Virgil Ovid 23 24 Prehistory Edit Dolmen of Avola east Sicily Megaliths of Argimusco Montalbano Elicona The original classical era inhabitants of Sicily comprised three defined groups of the ancient peoples of Italy The most prominent and by far the earliest of these the Sicani who Thucydides writes arrived from the Iberian Peninsula perhaps Catalonia 25 26 Some modern scholars however suggest classifying the Sicani as possibly an Illyrian tribe 27 Important historical evidence has been discovered in the form of cave drawings by the Sicani dated from the end of the Pleistocene epoch around 8000 BC 28 The arrival of the first humans on the island correlates with the extinction of the Sicilian hippopotamus and the Sicilian dwarf elephant The Elymians thought to have come from the area of the Aegean Sea became the next tribe to join the Sicanians on Sicily 29 Dolmen of Monte Bubbonia south Sicily Recent discoveries of dolmens on the island dating to the second half of the third millennium BC seem to offer new insights into the culture of primitive Sicily 30 It is well known that the Mediterranean region went through quite intricate prehistory so much so that it is difficult to piece together the muddle of different peoples who have followed each other The impact of two influences is clear however the European one coming from the Northwest and the Mediterranean influence of a clear eastern heritage 31 No evidence survives of any warring between the tribes but the Sicanians moved eastwards when the Elymians settled in the northwest corner of the island The Sicels are thought 28 to have originated in Liguria they arrived from mainland Italy in 1200 BC and forced the Sicanians to move back across Sicily and to settle in the middle of the island 28 Other minor Italic groups who settled in Sicily included the Ausones Aeolian Islands Milazzo and the Morgetes of Morgantina Antiquity Edit Main articles Magna Graecia Ancient Rome and Sicilia Roman province Ruins of the ancient Phoenician city of Motya Clockwise from top temples of Concordia and Hera Lacinia in Agrigento the temple of Segesta and the Temple E in Selinunte The Sicilian province within the Roman Empire The Phoenician settlements in the western part of the island predate the arrival of Greek colonists 32 From about 750 BC the Greeks began to live in Sicily Ancient Greek Sikelia Sikelia establishing many significant settlements The most important colony was in Syracuse others grew up at Akragas Selinunte Gela Himera and Zancle 33 The native Sicani and Sicel peoples became absorbed into the Hellenic culture with relative ease and the area became part of Magna Graecia along with the coasts of the south of the Italian peninsula which the Greeks had also colonised Sicily had very fertile soils and the successful introduction of olives and grape vines fostered a great deal of profitable trading 34 Greek culture significantly included Greek religion and the settlers built many temples throughout Sicily including several in the Valley of the Temples at Agrigento 35 Politics on the island became intertwined with those of Greece Syracuse became desired by the Athenians who set out on the Sicilian Expedition 415 413 BC during the Peloponnesian War Syracuse gained Sparta and Corinth as allies and as a result defeated the Athenian expedition The victors destroyed the Athenian army and their ships selling most of the survivors into slavery 36 Greco Roman theatre at Taormina Greek Syracuse controlled eastern Sicily while Carthage controlled the West 37 The two cultures began to clash leading to the Greek Punic wars between 580 and 265 BC The Greek states had begun to make peace with the Roman Republic in 262 BC citation needed and the Romans sought to annex Sicily as their republic s first province Rome attacked Carthage s holdings in Sicily in the First Punic War 264 to 241 BC and won making Sicily the first Roman province outside of the Italian Peninsula by 242 BC 38 In the Second Punic War 218 to 201 BC the Carthaginians attempted to recapture Sicily Some of the Greek cities on the island sided with the Carthaginians Archimedes who lived in Syracuse helped the Carthaginians Roman troops killed him after they invaded Syracuse in 213 BC 39 The Carthaginian attempt failed and Rome was even more unrelenting in its annihilation of the invaders this time Roman consul M Valerian told the Roman Senate in 210 BC that no Carthaginian remains in Sicily 40 As the Roman Republic s granary Sicily ranked as an important province divided into two quaestorships Syracuse to the east and Lilybaeum to the west 32 Roman rule introduced the Latin language to the island which underwent a slow process of latinisation but Sicily was remained largely Greek in a cultural sense and the Greek language did not become extinct on the island facilitating its re hellenisation under the Byzantines 32 The once prosperous and contented island went into sharp decline when Verres became governor of Sicily 73 to 71 BC In 70 BC noted figure Cicero condemned the misgovernment of Verres in his oration In Verrem 41 Various groups used the island as a power base at different times slave insurgents occupied it during the First 135 132 BC and Second 104 100 BC Servile Wars and Sextus Pompey had his headquarters there during the Sicilian revolt of 44 to 36 BC Christianity first appeared in Sicily during the years following AD 200 between this time and AD 313 when Emperor Constantine the Great finally lifted the prohibition on Christianity a significant number of Sicilians had become martyrs including Agatha Christina Lucy and Euplius 42 Christianity grew rapidly in Sicily over the next two centuries citation needed Sicily remained a Roman province for around 700 years 42 Germanic rule 469 535 Edit The Western Roman Empire began falling apart after the invasion of Vandals Alans and Sueves across the Rhine on the last day of 406 Eventually the Vandals after roaming about western and southern Hispania present day Iberia for 20 years moved to North Africa in 429 and occupied Carthage in 439 The Franks moved south from present day Belgium The Visigoths moved west and eventually settled in Aquitaine in 418 the Burgundians settled in present day Savoy in 443 The Vandals found themselves in a position to threaten Sicily only 100 miles away from their North African bases 43 After taking Carthage the Vandals personally led by King Gaiseric laid siege to Palermo in 440 as the opening act in an attempt to wrest the island from Roman rule 44 The Vandals made another attempt to take the island one year after the 455 sack of Rome at Agrigento but were defeated decisively by Ricimir in a naval victory off Corsica in 456 45 The island remained under Roman rule until 469 The Vandals lost possession of the island 8 years later in 477 to the East Germanic tribe of the Ostrogoths who then controlled Italy and Dalmatia 43 The island was returned to the Ostrogoths by payment of tribute to their king Odoacer He ruled Italy from 476 to 488 in the name of the Byzantine Eastern Roman Emperor The Vandals kept a toehold in Lilybaeum a port on the west coast They lost this in 491 after making one last attempt to conquer the island from this port 46 The Ostrogothic conquest of Sicily and of Italy as a whole under Theodoric the Great began in 488 The Byzantine Emperor Zeno had appointed Theodoric as a military commander in Italy The Goths were Germanic but Theodoric fostered Roman culture and government and allowed freedom of religion 47 In 461 from the age of seven or eight until 17 or 18 Theodoric had become a Byzantine hostage he resided in the great palace of Constantinople was favored by Emperor Leo I r 457 474 and learned to read and write and do arithmetic 48 Byzantine period 535 965 Edit Historic map of Sicily by Piri Reis Further information Byzantine Empire After taking areas occupied by the Vandals in North Africa Justinian decided to retake Italy as an ambitious attempt to recover the lost provinces in the West The re conquests marked an end to over 150 years of accommodationist policies with tribal invaders His first target was Sicily known as the Gothic War 535 554 began between the Ostrogoths and the Eastern Roman Empire also known as the Byzantine Empire His general Belisarius was assigned the task 49 Sicily was used as a base for the Byzantines to conquer the rest of Italy with Naples Rome Milan It took five years before the Ostrogoth capital Ravenna fell in 540 50 However the new Ostrogoth king Totila counterattacked moving down the Italian peninsula plundering and conquering Sicily in 550 Totila was defeated and killed in the Battle of Taginae by Byzantine general Narses in 552 but Italy was in ruins 50 At the time of the reconquest Greek was still the predominant language spoken on the island Sicily was invaded by the Arab forces of Caliph Uthman in 652 but the Arabs failed to make any permanent gains They returned to Syria with their booty 51 Raids seeking loot continued until the mid 8th century 52 The Eastern Roman Emperor Constans II decided to move from Constantinople to Syracuse in 660 The following year he launched an assault from Sicily against the Lombard Duchy of Benevento which occupied most of southern Italy 53 Rumors that the capital of the empire was to be moved to Syracuse probably cost Constans his life as he was assassinated in 668 53 His son Constantine IV succeeded him A brief usurpation in Sicily by Mezezius was quickly suppressed by this emperor Contemporary accounts report that the Greek language was widely spoken on the island during this period 54 In 740 Emperor Leo III the Isaurian transferred Sicily from the jurisdiction of the church of Rome to that of Constantinople placing the island within the eastern branch of the Church 55 In 826 Euphemius the Byzantine commander in Sicily having apparently killed his wife forced a nun to marry him Emperor Michael II caught wind of the matter and ordered general Constantine to end the marriage and cut off Euphemius head Euphemius rose up killed Constantine and then occupied Syracuse he in turn was defeated and driven out to North Africa 56 He offered the rule of Sicily to Ziyadat Allah the Aghlabid Emir of Tunisia in return for a position as a general and a place of safety A Muslim army was then sent to the island consisting of Arabs Berbers Cretans and Persians 56 The Muslim conquest of Sicily was a see saw affair and met with fierce resistance It took over a century for Byzantine Sicily to be conquered the largest city Syracuse held out until 878 and the Greek city of Taormina fell in 962 It was not until 965 that all of Sicily was conquered by the Arabs 56 In the 11th century Byzantine armies carried out a partial reconquest of the island under George Maniakes but it was their Norman mercenaries who would eventually complete the island s reconquest at the end of the century Arab Period 827 1091 Edit Main article Emirate of Sicily Arabesque on a wall in the Cuba Palace in Palermo The Arabs initiated land reforms which increased productivity and encouraged the growth of smallholdings undermining the dominance of the latifundia The Arabs further improved irrigation systems The language spoken in Sicily under Arab rule was Siculo Arabic and Arabic influence is still present in some Sicilian words today Although long extinct in Sicily the language has developed into what is now the Maltese language on the islands of Malta today 57 Trilingual sign in Palermo in Italian Hebrew and Arabic A description of Palermo was given by Ibn Hawqal an Arab merchant who visited Sicily in 950 A walled suburb called the Al Kasr the palace is the centre of Palermo to this day with the great Friday mosque on the site of the later Roman cathedral The suburb of al Khalisa modern Kalsa contained the Sultan s palace baths a mosque government offices and a private prison Ibn Hawqal reckoned 7 000 individual butchers trading in 150 shops During Muslim rule agricultural products such as oranges lemons pistachio and sugarcane were brought to Sicily 43 Western Sicily was overwhelmingly Muslim and contained large plantations run by slave labor often producing sugar 56 Around 1050 the western half of Sicily was ethnically and culturally distinct from central and eastern Sicily During this time there was also a small Jewish presence in Sicily 58 Palermo was initially ruled by the Aghlabids later it was the centre of the Emirate of Sicily which was under the nominal suzerainty of the Fatimid Caliphate citation needed During the reign of this dynasty revolts by Byzantine Sicilians continuously occurred especially in the east where Greek speaking Christians predominated Parts of the island were re occupied before revolts were being quashed Under the Arab rule the island was divided in three administrative regions or vals roughly corresponding to the three points of Sicily Val di Mazara in the west Val Demone in the northeast and Val di Noto in the southeast As dhimmis that is as members of a protected class of approved monotheists the Eastern Orthodox Christians were allowed freedom of religion but had to pay a tax the jizya in lieu of the obligatory alms tax the zakat paid by Muslims and were restricted from active participation in public affairs By the 11th century the Emirate of Sicily began to fragment as intra dynastic quarreling fractured the Muslim regime 56 Norman Sicily 1038 1198 Edit See also Norman conquest of southern Italy Roger I conqueror and first count of Sicily depicted on a Trifollaris The cathedral of Cefalu at night In 1038 seventy years after losing their last cities in Sicily the Byzantines under the Greek general George Maniakes invaded the island together with their Varangian and Norman mercenaries Maniakes was killed in a Byzantine civil war in 1043 before completing a reconquest and the Byzantines withdrew Later the Normans invaded in 1061 and after taking Apulia and Calabria Roger I occupied Messina with an army of 700 knights 56 59 In 1068 Roger I was victorious at Misilmeri Most crucial was the siege of Palermo whose fall in 1071 eventually resulted in all Sicily coming under Norman control 60 The conquest was completed in 1091 when they captured Noto the last Arab stronghold Palermo continued to be the capital under the Normans The Normans formed a small but violent ruling class They destroyed many of the Arab towns in Sicily and very few physical remains survive from the Arab era 56 The Norman Hauteville family descendants of Vikings appreciated and admired the rich and layered culture in which they now found themselves They also introduced their own culture customs and politics in the region Many Normans in Sicily adopted the habits and comportment of Muslim rulers and their Byzantine subjects in dress language literature even to the extent of having palace eunuchs and according to some accounts a harem 61 62 Kingdom of Sicily Edit Main articles Kingdom of Sicily and List of monarchs of Sicily The Cathedral of Monreale While Roger I died in 1101 his wife Adelaide ruled until 1112 when their son Roger II of Sicily came of age 59 Having succeeded his brother Simon as Count of Sicily Roger II was ultimately able to raise the status of the island to a kingdom in 1130 along with his other holdings which included the Maltese Islands and the Duchies of Apulia and Calabria 60 63 Roger II appointed the powerful Greek George of Antioch to be his emir of emirs and continued the syncretism of his father During this period the Kingdom of Sicily was prosperous and politically powerful becoming one of the wealthiest states in all of Europe even wealthier than the Kingdom of England 64 The court of Roger II became the most luminous centre of culture in the Mediterranean both from Europe and the Middle East like the multi ethnic Caliphate of Cordoba then only just eclipsed This attracted scholars scientists poets artists and artisans of all kinds Laws were issued in the language of the community to whom they were addressed in Norman Sicily at the time when the culture was still heavily Arab and Greek 65 66 Governance was by rule of law which promoted justice Muslims Jews Byzantine Greeks Lombards and Normans worked together fairly amicably During this time many extraordinary buildings were constructed 65 However this situation changed as the Normans imported immigrants from Normandy England Lombardy Piedmont Provence and Campania to secure the island Linguistically the island shifted from being one third Greek and two thirds Arabic speaking at the time of the Norman conquest to becoming fully Latinised 66 In terms of religion the island became completely Roman Catholic bearing in mind that until 1054 the Churches owing allegiance to the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople belonged to one Church Sicily before the Norman conquest was under Eastern Orthodox Patriarch 67 After Pope Innocent III made him Papal Legate in 1098 Roger I created several Catholic bishoprics while still allowing the construction of 12 Greek speaking monasteries the Greek language monasteries and 1500 parishes continued to exist until the adherents of the Greek Rite were forced in 1585 to convert to Catholicism or leave a small pocket of Greek speakers still live in Messina Interior of Castello Maniace After a century the Norman Hauteville dynasty died out the last direct descendant and heir of Roger II Constance married Emperor Henry VI 68 This eventually led to the crown of Sicily being passed on to the Hohenstaufen Dynasty who were Germans from Swabia The last of the Hohenstaufens Frederick II the only son of Constance was one of the greatest and most cultured men of the Middle Ages His mother s will had asked Pope Innocent III to undertake the guardianship of her son Frederick was four when at Palermo he was crowned King of Sicily in 1198 Frederick received no systematic education and was allowed to run free in the streets of Palermo There he picked up the many languages he heard spoken such as Arabic and Greek and learned some of the lore of the Jewish community At age twelve he dismissed Innocent s deputy regent and took over the government at fifteen he married Constance of Aragon and began his reclamation of the imperial crown Subsequently due to Muslim rebellions Frederick II destroyed the remaining Muslim presence in Sicily estimated at 60 000 persons moving all to the city of Lucera in Apulia between 1221 and 1226 69 Conflict between the Hohenstaufen house and the Papacy led in 1266 to Pope Innocent IV crowning the French prince Charles count of Anjou and Provence as the king of both Sicily and Naples 68 Depiction of the Sicilian Vespers Strong opposition to French officialdom due to mistreatment and taxation saw the local peoples of Sicily rise up leading in 1282 to an insurrection known as the War of the Sicilian Vespers which eventually saw almost the entire French population on the island killed 68 During the war the Sicilians turned to Peter III of Aragon son in law of the last Hohenstaufen king for support after being rejected by the Pope Peter gained control of Sicily from the French who however retained control of the Kingdom of Naples A crusade was launched in August 1283 against Peter III and the Kingdom of Aragon by Pope Martin IV a pope from Ile de France but it failed The wars continued until the peace of Caltabellotta in 1302 which saw Peter s son Frederick III recognized as the king of the Isle of Sicily while Charles II was recognized as the king of Naples by Pope Boniface VIII 68 Sicily was ruled as an independent kingdom by relatives of the kings of Aragon until 1409 and then as part of the Crown of Aragon 34 In October 1347 in Messina Sicily the Black Death first arrived in Europe 70 Between the 15th 18th centuries waves of Greeks from the Peloponnese such as the Maniots and Arvanites migrated to Sicily in large numbers to escape persecution after the Ottoman conquest of the Peloponnese They brought with them Eastern Orthodoxy as well as the Greek and Arvanitika languages to the island once again adding onto the extensive Byzantine Greek influence citation needed Sicilian Baroque in Catania The onset of the Spanish Inquisition in 1492 led to Ferdinand II decreeing the expulsion of all Jews from Sicily 68 The eastern part of the island was hit by very destructive earthquakes in 1542 and 1693 Just a few years before the latter earthquake the island was struck by a ferocious plague 68 The earthquake in 1693 took an estimated 60 000 lives 71 There were revolts during the 17th century but these were quelled with significant force especially the revolts of Palermo and Messina 34 North African slave raids discouraged settlement along the coast until the 19th century 72 73 The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 saw Sicily assigned to the House of Savoy however this period of rule lasted only seven years as it was exchanged for the island of Sardinia with Emperor Charles VI of the Austrian Habsburg Dynasty 74 While the Austrians were concerned with the War of the Polish Succession a Bourbon prince Charles from Spain was able to conquer Sicily and Naples 75 At first Sicily was able to remain as an independent kingdom under personal union while the Bourbons ruled over both from Naples However the advent of Napoleon s First French Empire saw Naples taken at the Battle of Campo Tenese and Bonapartist King of Naples were installed Ferdinand III the Bourbon was forced to retreat to Sicily which he was still in complete control of with the help of British naval protection 76 Following this Sicily joined the Napoleonic Wars and subsequently the British under Lord William Bentinck established a military and diplomatic presence on the island to protect against a French invasion After the wars were won Sicily and Naples formally merged as the Two Sicilies under the Bourbons Major revolutionary movements occurred in 1820 and 1848 against the Bourbon government with Sicily seeking independence the second of which the 1848 revolution resulted in a short period of independence for Sicily However in 1849 the Bourbons retook control of the island and dominated it until 1860 77 Italian unification Edit See also Risorgimento Battle of Calatafimi 1860 The Expedition of the Thousand led by Giuseppe Garibaldi captured Sicily in 1860 as part of the Risorgimento 78 The conquest started at Marsala and native Sicilians joined him in the capture of the southern Italian peninsula Garibaldi s march was completed with the Siege of Gaeta where the final Bourbons were expelled and Garibaldi announced his dictatorship in the name of Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia 79 Sicily became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia after a referendum where more than 75 of Sicily voted in favour of the annexation on 21 October 1860 but not everyone was allowed to vote As a result of the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy Sicily became part of the kingdom on 17 March 1861 The Sicilian economy and the wider mezzogiorno economy remained relatively underdeveloped after the Italian unification in spite of the strong investments made by the Kingdom of Italy in terms of modern infrastructure and this caused an unprecedented wave of emigration 78 In 1894 organisations of workers and peasants known as the Fasci Siciliani protested against the bad social and economic conditions of the island but they were suppressed in a few days 80 81 The Messina earthquake of 28 December 1908 killed more than 80 000 people 82 This period was also characterized by the first contact between the Sicilian mafia the crime syndicate also known as Cosa Nostra and the Italian government The Mafia s origins are still uncertain but it is generally accepted that it emerged in the 18th century initially in the role of private enforcers hired to protect the property of landowners and merchants from the groups of brigands briganti who frequently pillaged the countryside and towns The battle against the Mafia made by the Kingdom of Italy was controversial and ambiguous The Carabinieri the military police of Italy and sometimes the Italian army were often involved in terrible fights against the mafia members but their efforts were frequently useless because of the secret cooperation between the mafia and local government and also because of the weakness of the Italian judicial system 83 20th and 21st centuries Edit Private Roy W Humphrey of Toledo Ohio is being given blood plasma after he was wounded by shrapnel in Sicily on 9 August 1943 In the 1920s the Fascist regime began a stronger military action against the Mafia which was led by prefect Cesare Mori who was known as the Iron Prefect because of his iron fisted campaigns This was the first time in which an operation against the Sicilian mafia ended with considerable success 78 There was an Allied invasion of Sicily during World War II starting on 10 July 1943 In preparation for the invasion the Allies revitalised the Mafia to aid them The invasion of Sicily contributed to the 25 July crisis in general the Allied victors were warmly embraced by Sicily 84 Italy became a Republic in 1946 and as part of the Constitution of Italy Sicily was one of the five regions given special status as an autonomous region 85 Both the partial Italian land reform and special funding from the Italian government s Cassa per il Mezzogiorno Fund for the South from 1950 to 1984 helped the Sicilian economy During this period the economic and social condition of the island was generally improved thanks to important investments on infrastructures such as motorways and airports and thanks to the creation of important industrial and commercial areas 86 In the 1980s the Mafia was deeply weakened by a second important campaign led by magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino 87 Between 1990 and 2005 the unemployment rate fell from about 23 to 11 88 89 The Cosa Nostra has traditionally been the most powerful group in Sicily especially around Palermo 90 A police investigation in summer 2019 also confirmed strong links between the Palermo area Sicilian Mafia and American organized crime particularly the Gambino crime family 91 According to La Repubblica Off they go through the streets of Passo di Rigano Boccadifalco Torretta and at the same time Brooklyn Staten Island New Jersey Because from Sicily to the US the old mafia has returned 92 Demographics EditMain article Sicilians The city of Palermo Historical populationYearPop 18612 409 000 18712 590 000 7 5 18812 933 000 13 2 19013 568 000 21 7 19113 812 000 6 8 19214 223 000 10 8 19313 906 000 7 5 19364 000 000 2 4 19514 487 000 12 2 19614 721 000 5 2 19714 681 000 0 8 19814 907 000 4 8 19914 966 000 1 2 20014 969 000 0 1 20115 002 904 0 7 20194 969 147 0 7 Source ISTAT 2017About five million people live in Sicily making it the fourth most populated region in Italy In the first century after the Italian unification Sicily had one of the most negative net migration rates among the regions of Italy because of the emigration of millions of people to Northern Italy other European countries North America South America and Australia Like the South of Italy and Sardinia immigration to the island is very low compared to other regions of Italy because workers tend to head to Northern Italy instead due to better employment and industrial opportunities According to ISTAT figures from 2017 93 show around 175 000 immigrants out of the total 5 029 615 population 94 Romanians with more than 50 000 make up the most immigrants followed by Tunisians Moroccans Sri Lankans Albanians and others mostly from Eastern Europe failed verification As in the rest of Italy the official language is Italian and the primary religion is Roman Catholicism 95 96 Emigration Edit See also Sicilian Americans A Sicilian cafe in New York 1889 Sicilian emigration started shortly after the Italian unification and has not stopped ever since citation needed After the Italian unification Sicily along with the entire Italian peninsula has also been strongly marked by coerced emigration citation needed Most of the assets of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies s former national bank Banco delle Due Sicilie were transferred to Piedmont 97 During the first decades of Risorgimento a rising number of southern Italian manufactories were driven into ruin due to high taxation imposed by the central government citation needed Furthermore an embargo which imposed on goods coming from southern Italian manufacturers that effectively barred them from exporting to the north and abroad were also key factors that led to further impoverishment of the entire region citation needed The aforementioned factors along with a failed land reform resulted in a never before seen wave of Sicilians emigrating first to the United States between the 1880s and the 1920s later to Northern Italy and from the 1960s onwards also to Belgium France Germany Switzerland as well as Australia and South America Today Sicily is the Italian region with the highest number of expatriates as of 2017 750 000 Sicilians 14 4 of the island s population lived abroad 98 For lack of employment every year many Sicilians especially young graduates still leave the island to seek jobs abroad 99 Today an estimated 10 million people of Sicilian origins live around the world Largest cities Edit See also List of communes of SicilyThese are the ten largest cities of Sicily 100 Rank Name Pop 2017 Area km2 Pop per km21 Palermo 668 405 159 4 2072 Catania 311 620 181 1 7233 Messina 234 293 212 1 1074 Syracuse 121 605 204 5965 Marsala 82 802 242 3436 Gela 74 858 277 2707 Ragusa 73 638 442 1668 Trapani 67 923 272 2509 Vittoria 64 212 181 35410 Caltanissetta 62 317 416 150Religion Edit See also Italo Albanian Catholic Church History of the Jews in Sicily and History of Islam in southern Italy Noto Cathedral As in most Italian regions Roman Catholicism is the predominant religious denomination in Sicily and the church still plays an important role in the lives of most people There is also a notable small minority of Eastern rite Byzantine Catholics which has a mixed congregation of ethnic Albanians it is operated by the Italo Albanian Catholic Church Most people still attend church weekly or at least for religious festivals and many people get married in churches There was a wide presence of Jews in Sicily for at least 1 400 years and possibly for more than 2 000 years Some scholars believe that the Sicilian Jewry are partial ancestors of the Ashkenazi Jews 101 However much of the Jewish community faded away when they were expelled from the island in 1492 Islam was present during the Emirate of Sicily although Muslims were also expelled Today mostly due to immigration to the island there are also several religious minorities such as Jehovah s Witnesses Hinduism Islam Judaism and Sikhism There are also a some Evangelical Christians who live on the island Politics EditMain article Politics of Sicily The politics of Sicily takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democracy whereby the President of Regional Government is the head of government and of a pluriform multi party system Executive power is exercised by the Regional Government Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Sicilian Regional Assembly The capital of Sicily is Palermo Traditionally Sicily votes for centre right parties during elections 102 From 1943 51 there was also a separatist political party called Sicilian Independence Movement Movimento Indipendentista Siciliano MIS Their most successful result was at the 1946 general election when MIS obtained 0 7 of national votes 8 8 of votes in Sicily and four seats However the movement lost all their seats following the 1948 general election and the 1951 regional election Even though it has never been formally disbanded today the movement is no longer part of the politics of Sicily After World War II Sicily became a stronghold of the Christian Democracy in opposition to the Italian Communist Party The Communists and their successors the Democratic Party of the Left the Democrats of the Left and the present day Democratic Party had never won any seats in the region until 2012 Sicily is now governed by a centre right coalition Nello Musumeci is the current President and has served since 2017 Sicily s internal politics are heavily corrupt since they are very influenced by the Sicilian Mafia Administrative divisions Edit Provinces of Sicily Administratively Sicily is divided into nine provinces each with a capital city of the same name as the province Small surrounding islands are also part of various Sicilian provinces the Aeolian Islands Messina isle of Ustica Palermo Aegadian Islands Trapani isle of Pantelleria Trapani and Pelagian Islands Agrigento Province Area km2 Population 103 Density Pop per km2 Number of communesAgrigento 3 042 453 594 149 1 43Caltanissetta 2 128 271 168 127 4 22Catania 3 552 1 090 620 307 0 58Enna 2 562 172 159 67 2 20Messina 3 247 652 742 201 0 108Palermo 4 992 1 249 744 250 3 82Ragusa 1 614 318 980 197 6 12Siracusa 2 109 403 559 191 3 21Trapani 2 460 436 240 177 3 24Economy EditSee also Economy of Italy Olive groves Thanks to regular growth in recent years Sicily is the eighth largest regional economy of Italy in terms of total GDP see List of Italian regions by GDP A series of reforms and investments in agriculture such as the introduction of modern irrigation systems has made this important industry competitive 104 In the 1970s some factories were opened resulting in growth in the industrial sector 105 In recent years the service industry has become more important due to the opening of several shopping malls and some modest growth in financial and telecommunication activities 106 Tourism is an important source of income for the island which attracts visitors due to its rich natural and historical heritage Today Sicily is investing a large amount of money into the development of its hospitality industry to attract even more tourism 107 However Sicily continues to have a GDP per capita below the Italian average and higher unemployment than the rest of Italy 108 This difference is mostly caused by the negative influence of the Mafia which is still active in some areas although it is much weaker than in the past 109 Agriculture Edit A sample of Marsala a DOC wine produced in the city of Marsala Sicily has long been noted for its fertile soil which is the result of past volcanic eruptions The local agriculture is also helped by the pleasant climate of the island The main agricultural products are wheat citrons oranges Arancia Rossa di Sicilia IGP lemons tomatoes Pomodoro di Pachino IGP olives olive oil artichokes prickly pear Fico d India dell Etna DOP almonds grapes pistachios Pistacchio di Bronte DOP and wine Cattle and sheep are raised The production of cheese is particularly important thanks to the Ragusano DOP and the Pecorino Siciliano DOP Ragusa is noted for its honey Miele Ibleo and chocolate Cioccolato di Modica IGP products 110 111 112 113 114 Sicily is the third largest wine producer in Italy after Veneto and Emilia Romagna and Italy is the world s largest wine producer 115 The region is known mainly for fortified Marsala wines In recent decades the wine industry has improved new winemakers are experimenting with less well known native varieties and Sicilian wines have become better known 116 The best known local variety is Nero d Avola named for a small town not far from Syracuse the best wines made with these grapes come from Noto a famous old city close to Avola Other important native varieties are Nerello Mascalese used to make the Etna Rosso DOC wine Frappato a component of the Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG wine Moscato di Pantelleria also known as Zibibbo which is used to make different Pantelleria wines Malvasia di Lipari used for the Malvasia di Lipari DOC wine and Catarratto mostly used to make a white wine Alcamo DOC Furthermore in Sicily high quality wines are also produced using non native varieties like Syrah Chardonnay and Merlot 117 Sicily is also known for its liqueurs such as Amaro Averna produced in Caltanissetta and the local limoncello Fishing is another fundamental resource for Sicily It has important tuna sardine swordfish and European anchovy fisheries Mazara del Vallo is the largest fishing centre in Sicily and one of the most important in Italy 118 Industry and manufacturing Edit Palermo shipyards Oilfields near Ragusa Improvements in Sicily s road system have helped to promote industrial development The region has three important industrial districts Catania Industrial District where there are several food industries and one of the best European electronics industry centres called Etna Valley in honour of the best known Silicon Valley which contains offices and factories of international companies such as STMicroelectronics and Numonyx 118 119 Syracuse Petrochemical District with chemical industries oil refineries and important power stations as the innovative Archimede combined cycle power plant 120 the latest Enna Industrial District in which there are food industries 121 In Palermo there are important shipyards such as Fincantieri mechanical factories of famous Italian companies as Ansaldo Breda publishing and textile industries Chemical industries are also in the Province of Messina Milazzo and in the Province of Caltanissetta Gela 113 There are petroleum natural gas and asphalt fields in the Southeast mostly near Ragusa and massive deposits of halite in Central Sicily 122 The Province of Trapani is one of the largest sea salt producers in Italy 123 Statistics Edit GDP growth Edit A table showing Sicily s different GDP nominal and per capita growth between 2000 and 2008 124 125 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2008Gross Domestic Product Millions of Euros 67 204 70 530 72 855 75 085 77 327 80 358 82 938 88 328GDP PPP per capita Euro 13 479 14 185 14 662 15 053 15 440 16 023 16 531 17 533Economic sectors Edit After the table which shows Sicily s GDP growth 124 this table shows the sectors of the Sicilian economy in 2006 Economic activity GDP millions sector Sicily sector Italy Agriculture farming fishing 2 923 3 3 52 1 84 Industry 7 712 9 9 30 18 30 Constructions 4 582 1 5 52 5 41 Commerce hotels and restaurants transport services and tele communications 15 159 7 18 28 20 54 Financial activity and real estate 17 656 1 21 29 24 17 Other economic activities 24 011 5 28 95 18 97 VAT and other forms of taxes 10 893 1 13 13 10 76 GDP of Sicily 82 938 6Unemployment rate Edit The unemployment rate stood at 21 5 in 2018 and was one of the highest in Italy and Europe 126 127 Year 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018Unemployment rate 13 4 12 9 13 7 13 8 14 6 14 3 18 4 21 0 22 2 21 4 22 1 21 5 21 5 Transport EditRoads Edit The A20 Messina Palermo motorway near Torregrotta Messina tramway system Highways have been built and expanded in the last four decades The most prominent Sicilian roads are the motorways known as autostrade in the north of the island Much of the motorway network is elevated on pillars due to the island s mountainous terrain 128 129 130 131 Other main roads in Sicily are the Strade Statali such as the SS 113 that connects Trapani to Messina via Palermo the SS 114 Messina Syracuse via Catania and the SS 115 Syracuse Trapani via Ragusa Gela and Agrigento Sign Motorway Length Toll Services A18 Messina Catania 76 km 47 mi Yes Yes RA15 Catania s Bypass West 24 km 15 mi Free Yes Motorway Catania Siracusa 25 km 16 mi Free No A18 Siracusa Rosolini 40 km 25 mi Free No A19 Palermo Catania 199 km 124 mi Free Yes A20 Palermo Messina 181 km 112 mi Yes Yes A29 Palermo Mazara del Vallo 119 km 74 mi Free No A29dir Alcamo Trapani Marsala 38 km 24 mi and44 km 27 mi Free NoRailways Edit Two trains inside Punta Raisi railway station within Palermo International Airport Palermo AMAT tramway system map Catania Metro The first railway in Sicily was opened in 1863 Palermo Bagheria and today all of the Sicilian provinces are served by a network of railway services linking to most major cities and towns this service is operated by Trenitalia Of the 1 378 km 856 mi of railway tracks in use over 60 has been electrified whilst the remaining 583 km 362 mi are serviced by diesel engines 88 of the lines 1 209 km are single track and only 169 km 105 mi are double track serving the two main routes Messina Palermo Tyrrhenian and Messina Catania Syracuse Ionian which are the main lines of this region Of the narrow gauge railways the Ferrovia Circumetnea is the only one that still operates going round Mount Etna From the major cities of Sicily there are services to Naples Rome and Milan this is achieved by the trains being loaded onto ferries which cross the Strait 132 In Catania there is an underground railway service metropolitana di Catania in Palermo the national railway operator Trenitalia operates a commuter rail Palermo metropolitan railway service the Sicilian Capital is also served by 4 AMAT Comunal Public Transport Operator tramlines Messina is served by a tramline Airports Edit Main article List of airports in Sicily Catania International Airport Mainland Sicily has several airports that serve numerous Italian and European destinations and some extra European Catania Fontanarossa Airport located on the east coast is the busiest on the island and one of the busiest in all of Italy Palermo International Airport which is also a substantially large airport with many national and international flights Trapani Birgi Airport a military civil joint use airport third for traffic on the island Recently the airport has seen an increase in traffic thanks to a low cost carrier Comiso Ragusa Airport has recently been refurbished and re converted from military use to a civil airport It was opened to commercial traffic and general aviation on 30 May 2013 Palermo Boccadifalco Airport is the old airport of Palermo and is currently used for general aviation and as a base for the Guardia di Finanza and police helicopters NAS Sigonella Airport it is an Italian Air Force and US Navy installation Lampedusa Airport Pantelleria Airport Ports Edit The port of Catania By sea Sicily is served by several ferry routes and cargo ports and in all major cities cruise ships dock on a regular basis Mainland Italy Ports connecting to the mainland are Messina route to Villa San Giovanni and Salerno the busiest passenger port in Italy Palermo routes to Genoa Civitavecchia and Naples and Catania route to Naples Sicily s small surrounding islands The port of Milazzo serves the Aeolian Islands the ports of Trapani and Marsala the Aegadian Islands and the port of Porto Empedocle the Pelagie Islands From Palermo there is a service to the island of Ustica and to Sardinia International connections From Palermo and Trapani there are weekly services to Tunisia and there is also a daily service between Malta and Pozzallo 133 134 Commercial and cargo ports The port of Augusta is the fifth largest cargo port in Italy and handles tonnes of goods Other major cargo ports are Palermo Catania Trapani Pozzallo and Termini Imerese Touristic ports Several ports along the Sicilian coast are in the service of private boats that need to moor on the island The main ports for this traffic are in Marina di Ragusa Riposto Portorosa Syracuse Cefalu and Sciacca In Sicily Palermo is also a major centre for boat rental with or without crew in the Mediterranean Fishing ports Like all islands Sicily also has many fishing ports The most important is in Mazara del Vallo followed by Castellamare del Golfo Licata Scoglitti and Portopalo di Capo Passero Planned bridge Edit Main article Strait of Messina Bridge Plans for a bridge linking Sicily to the mainland have been discussed since 1865 Throughout the last decade plans were developed for a road and rail link to the mainland via what would be the world s longest suspension bridge the Strait of Messina Bridge Planning for the project has experienced several false starts over the past few years On 6 March 2009 Silvio Berlusconi s government declared that the construction works for the Messina Bridge would begin on 23 December 2009 and announced a pledge of 1 3 billion as a contribution to the bridge s total cost estimated at 6 1 billion 135 The plan has been criticized by environmental associations and some local Sicilians and Calabrians concerned with its environmental impact economical sustainability and even possible infiltrations by organized crime 136 137 Tourism Edit Lampedusa Pelagie Islands Sicily s sunny dry climate scenery cuisine history and architecture attract many tourists from mainland Italy and abroad The tourist season peaks in the summer months although people visit the island all year round Mount Etna the beaches the archaeological sites and major cities such as Palermo Catania Syracuse and Ragusa are the favourite tourist destinations but the old town of Taormina and the neighbouring seaside resort of Giardini Naxos draw visitors from all over the world as do the Aeolian Islands Erice Castellammare del Golfo Cefalu Agrigento the Pelagie Islands and Capo d Orlando The last features some of the best preserved temples of the ancient Greek period Many Mediterranean cruise ships stop in Sicily and many wine tourists also visit the island Some scenes of several Hollywood and Cinecitta films were shot in Sicily This increased the attraction of Sicily as a tourist destination 138 UNESCO World Heritage Sites Edit One of the mosaics in Villa Romana del Casale There are seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites on Sicily By the order of inscription Valle dei Templi 1997 is one of the most outstanding examples of Greater Greece art and architecture and is one of the main attractions of Sicily as well as a national monument of Italy The site is located in Agrigento 139 Villa Romana del Casale 1997 is a Roman villa built in the first quarter of the 4th century and located about 3 km 2 mi outside the town of Piazza Armerina It contains the richest largest and most complex collection of Roman mosaics in the world 140 Aeolian Islands 2000 are a volcanic archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea named after the demigod of the winds Aeolus The Aeolian Islands are a tourist destination in the summer and attract up to 200 000 visitors annually 141 Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto 2002 represent the culmination and final flowering of Baroque art in Europe 142 It includes several towns Caltagirone Militello in Val di Catania Catania Modica Noto Palazzolo Acreide Ragusa and Scicli Necropolis of Pantalica 2005 is a large Necropolis in Sicily with over 5 000 tombs dating from the 13th to the 7th centuries BC Syracuse is notable for its rich Greek history culture amphitheatres and architecture They are situated in south eastern Sicily Mount Etna 2013 is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is in an almost constant state of activity and generated myths legends and naturalistic observation from Greek Celts and Roman classic and medieval times 143 Arab Norman Palermo and the cathedral churches of Cefalu and Monreale includes a series of nine civil and religious structures dating from the era of the Norman kingdom of Sicily 1130 1194 144 Cathedral of San Giorgio in Modica Tentative Sites Edit Taormina s central square at sunset Taormina and Isola Bella 145 Motya and Libeo Island The Phoenician Punic Civilisation in Italy 146 Scala dei Turchi 147 Strait of Messina 148 Archeological sites Edit Because many different cultures settled dominated or invaded the island Sicily has a huge variety of archaeological sites Also some of the most notable and best preserved temples and other structures of the Greek world are located in Sicily 149 Here is a short list of the major archaeological sites Sicels Sicans Elymians Greeks Segesta Eryx Cava Ispica Thapsos Pantalica Greeks Syracuse Agrigento Segesta Selinunte Gela Kamarina Himera Megara Hyblaea Naxos Heraclea Minoa Phoenicians Motya Soluntum Marsala Palermo Romans Piazza Armerina Centuripe Taormina Palermo Arabs Palermo Mazara del Vallo The excavation and restoration of one of Sicily s best known archaeological sites the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento was at the direction of the archaeologist Domenico Antonio Lo Faso Pietrasanta Fifth Duke of Serradifalco known in archaeological circles simply as Serradifalco He also oversaw the restoration of ancient sites at Segesta Selinunte Siracusa and Taormina Castles Edit In Sicily there are hundreds of castles the most relevant are Castello Ursino in Catania Zisa Castle in Palermo Castle of the Counts of Modica Alcamo in Alcamo Castello di Donnafugata near Ragusa Province Castles CommuneCaltanisetta Castello Manfredonico MussomeliU Cannuni MazzarinoCastelluccio di Gela GelaCatania Castello Ursino CataniaCastello Normanno AdranoCastello Normanno PaternoCastello di Aci Aci CastelloEnna Castello di Lombardia EnnaMessina Forte dei Centri MessinaCastello di Milazzo MilazzoCastello di Federico II Montalbano EliconaCastello di Sant Alessio Siculo Sant Alessio SiculoCastello di Pentefur SavocaCastello di Schiso Giardini NaxosPalermo Zisa Palermo PalermoCastello di Caccamo CaccamoCastello di Carini CariniCastello dei Ventimiglia CastelbuonoRagusa Castello di Donnafugata RagusaTorre Cabrera PozzalloCastello Dei Conti ModicaSyracuse Castello Maniace SyracuseTrapani Castello di Venere EriceCastle of the Counts of Modica AlcamoCastle of Calatubo AlcamoCoastal towers Edit The Coastal towers in Sicily Torri costiere della Sicilia are 218 old watchtowers along the coast In Sicily the first coastal towers date back to 1313 and 1345 of the Aragonese monarchy From 1360 the threat came from the south from North Africa to Maghreb mainly to Barbary pirates and corsairs of Barbary Coast In 1516 the Turks settled in Algiers and from 1520 the corsair Hayreddin Barbarossa under the command of Ottoman Empire operated from that harbour Most existing towers were built on architectural designs of the Florentine architect Camillo Camilliani from 1583 to 1584 and involved the coastal periple of Sicily The typology changed completely in 800 because of the new higher fire volumes of cannon vessels the towers were built on the type of Martello towers that the British built in the UK and elsewhere in the British Empire The decline of Mediterranean piracy caused by the Second Barbary War led to a smaller number of coastal towers built during the 19th Century 150 Torre Capo Rama Terrasini Torre di Altavilla Milicia Torre Spalmatore Ustica Torre Pozzillo Cinisi Ligny Tower Trapani Torre Nubia Paceco Torre Manfria Gela Torre Cabrera Marina di Ragusa Marina di Ragusa Torre Cabrera Pozzallo Pozzallo Vignazza Tower Giardini Naxos Culture EditSee also List of museums in Sicily To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is to not have seen Italy at all for Sicily is the clue to everything Goethe 151 better source needed Virgin Annunciate Antonello da Messina Sicily has long been associated with the arts many poets writers philosophers intellectuals architects and painters have roots on the island The history of prestige in this field can be traced back to Greek philosopher Archimedes a Syracuse native who has gone on to become renowned as one of the greatest mathematicians of all time 152 Gorgias and Empedocles are two other highly noted early Sicilian Greek philosophers while the Syracusan Greek Epicharmus is held to be the inventor of comedy 153 154 Art and architecture Edit Palazzo Beneventano del Bosco Syracuse Sicilian Baroque Baglio are traditional living structures in Western Sicily Ceramics Edit Terracotta ceramics from the island are well known the art of ceramics on Sicily goes back to the original ancient peoples named the Sicanians it was then perfected during the period of Greek colonisation and is still prominent and distinct to this day 155 Nowadays Caltagirone is one of the most important centres in Sicily for the artistic production of ceramics and terra cotta sculptures Famous painters include Renaissance artist Antonello da Messina Pietro Novelli Bruno Caruso Renato Guttuso and Greek born Giorgio de Chirico who is commonly dubbed the father of Surrealist art and founder of the metaphysical art movement 156 The most noted architects are Filippo Juvarra one of the most important figures of the Italian Baroque and Ernesto Basile Sicilian Baroque Edit Main article Sicilian Baroque Syracuse Cathedral The Sicilian Baroque has a unique architectural identity Noto Caltagirone Catania Ragusa Modica Scicli and particularly Acireale contain some of Italy s best examples of Baroque architecture carved in the local red sandstone Noto provides one of the best examples of the Baroque architecture brought to Sicily The Baroque style in Sicily was largely confined to buildings erected by the church and palazzi built as private residences for the Sicilian aristocracy 157 The earliest examples of this style in Sicily lacked individuality and were typically heavy handed pastiches of buildings seen by Sicilian visitors to Rome Florence and Naples However even at this early stage provincial architects had begun to incorporate certain vernacular features of Sicily s older architecture By the middle of the 18th century when Sicily s Baroque architecture was noticeably different from that of the mainland it typically included at least two or three of the following features coupled with a unique freedom of design that is more difficult to characterize in words Music and film Edit See also Music of Sicily Teatro Massimo Palermo Palermo hosts the Teatro Massimo which is the largest opera house in Italy and the third largest in all of Europe 158 In Catania there is another important opera house the Teatro Massimo Bellini with 1 200 seats which is considered one of the best European opera houses for its acoustics Sicily s composers vary from Vincenzo Bellini Sigismondo d India Giovanni Pacini and Alessandro Scarlatti to contemporary composers such as Salvatore Sciarrino and Silvio Amato Vincenzo Bellini Alessandro Scarlatti Many award winning and acclaimed films of Italian cinema have been filmed in Sicily amongst the most noted of which are Visconti s La Terra Trema and Il Gattopardo Pietro Germi s Divorzio all Italiana and Sedotta e Abbandonata Tornatore s Cinema Paradiso Literature Edit See also Italian Literature and Sicilian School Luigi Pirandello The golden age of Sicilian poetry began in the early 13th century with the Sicilian School of Giacomo da Lentini which was highly influential on Italian literature Some of the most noted figures among writers and poets are Luigi Pirandello Nobel laureate 1934 Salvatore Quasimodo Nobel laureate 1959 Giovanni Verga the father of the Italian Verismo Domenico Tempio Giovanni Meli Luigi Capuana Mario Rapisardi Federico de Roberto Leonardo Sciascia Vitaliano Brancati Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa Elio Vittorini Vincenzo Consolo and Andrea Camilleri noted for his novels and short stories with the fictional character Inspector Salvo Montalbano as protagonist On the political side notable philosophers include Gaetano Mosca and Giovanni Gentile who wrote The Doctrine of Fascism Language Edit Main article Sicilian language Today in Sicily most people are bilingual and speak both Italian and Sicilian a distinct and historical Romance language Some of the Sicilian words are loan words from Greek Catalan French Arabic Spanish and other languages 159 Dialects related to Sicilian are also spoken in Calabria and Salento it had a significant influence on the Maltese language However the use of Sicilian is limited to informal contexts mostly in family and in a majority of cases it is replaced by the so called regional Italian of Sicily an Italian dialect that is a kind of mix between Italian and Sicilian 160 Sicilian was an early influence in the development of the first Italian standard although its use remained confined to an intellectual elite This was a literary language in Sicily created under the auspices of Frederick II and his court of notaries or Magna Curia which headed by Giacomo da Lentini also gave birth to the Sicilian School widely inspired by troubadour literature Its linguistic and poetic heritage was later assimilated into the Florentine by Dante Alighieri the father of modern Italian who in his De vulgari eloquentia claims that In effect this vernacular seems to deserve higher praise than the others since all the poetry written by Italians can be called Sicilian 161 It is in this language that appeared the first sonnet whose invention is attributed to Giacomo da Lentini himself Science Edit Catania has one of the four laboratories of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare National Institute for Nuclear Physics in which there is a cyclotron that uses protons both for nuclear physics experiments and for particle therapy to treat cancer proton therapy 162 163 Noto has one of the largest radio telescopes in Italy that performs geodetic and astronomical observations 164 There are observatories in Palermo and Catania managed by the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica National Institute for Astrophysics In the Observatory of Palermo the astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi discovered the first and the largest asteroid to be identified Ceres today considered a dwarf planet on 1 January 1801 165 Catania has two observatories one of which is situated on Mount Etna at 1 800 metres 5 900 feet 166 Syracuse is also an experimental centre for solar technologies through the creation of the project Archimede solar power plant that is the first concentrated solar power plant to use molten salt for heat transfer and storage which is integrated with a combined cycle gas facility All the plant is owned and operated by Enel 167 168 The touristic town of Erice is also an important science place thanks to the Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture which embraces 123 schools from all over the world covering all branches of science offering courses seminars workshops and annual meetings It was founded by the physicist Antonino Zichichi in honour of another scientist of the island Ettore Majorana known for the Majorana equation and Majorana fermions 169 Sicily s famous scientists include also Stanislao Cannizzaro chemist Giovanni Battista Hodierna and Niccolo Cacciatore astronomers Department of Engineering University of Messina Education Edit Sicily has four universities The University of Catania dates back to 1434 and it is the oldest university in Sicily Nowadays it hosts 12 faculties and over 62 000 students and it offers undergraduate and postgraduate programs Catania hosts also the Scuola Superiore an academic institution linked to the University of Catania aiming for excellence in education 170 The University of Palermo is the island s second oldest university It was officially founded in 1806 although historical records indicate that medicine and law have been taught there since the late 15th century The Orto botanico di Palermo Palermo botanical gardens is home to the university s Department of Botany and is also open to visitors The University of Messina founded in 1548 by Ignatius of Loyola It is organized in 11 Faculties The Kore University of Enna founded in 1995 is the latest Sicilian university and the first university founded in Sicily after the Italian Unification Cuisine Edit Main articles Sicilian cuisine and Sicilian pizza Cannoli a popular pastry associated with Sicilian cuisine The island has a long history of producing a variety of noted cuisines and wines to the extent that Sicily is sometimes nicknamed God s Kitchen because of this 171 Every part of Sicily has its speciality e g Cassata is typical of Palermo although available everywhere in Sicily as is Granita The ingredients are typically rich in taste while remaining affordable to the general public 172 The savoury dishes of Sicily are viewed to be healthy using fresh vegetables and fruits such as tomatoes artichokes olives including olive oil citrus apricots aubergines onions beans raisins commonly coupled with seafood freshly caught from the surrounding coastlines including tuna sea bream sea bass cuttlefish swordfish sardines and others 173 Arancini rice balls fried in breadcrumbs The most well known part of Sicilian cuisine is the rich sweet dishes including ice creams and pastries Cannoli singular cannolo a tube shaped shell of fried pastry dough filled with a sweet filling usually containing ricotta is strongly associated with Sicily worldwide 174 Biancomangiare biscotti ennesi cookies native to Enna braccilatte a Sicilian version of doughnuts buccellato ciarduna pignoli Biscotti Regina giurgiulena frutta martorana cassata pignolata granita cuccidati a variety of fig cookie also known as buccellati and cuccia are some notable sweet dishes 174 Like the cuisine of the rest of southern Italy pasta plays an important part in Sicilian cuisine as does rice for example with arancini 175 As well as using some other cheeses Sicily has spawned some of its own using both cow s and sheep s milk such as pecorino and caciocavallo 176 Spices used include saffron nutmeg clove pepper and cinnamon which were introduced by the Arabs Parsley is used abundantly in many dishes Although Sicilian cuisine is commonly associated with sea food meat dishes including goose lamb goat rabbit and turkey are also found in Sicily It was the Normans and Swabians who first introduced a fondness for meat dishes to the island 177 Some varieties of wine are produced from vines that are relatively unique to the island such as the Nero d Avola made near the baroque town of Noto 178 Sports Edit Giuseppe Gibilisco pole vaulter from Syracuse 2003 World Champion and bronze Olympic medalist The most popular sport in Sicily is football which came to the fore in the late 19th century under the influence of the English Some of the oldest football clubs in Italy are from Sicily the three most successful are Palermo Catania and Messina which have played 29 17 and 5 seasons in the Serie A respectively No club from Sicily has ever won Serie A but football is still deeply embedded in local culture and all over Sicily most towns have a representative team 179 Palermo and Catania have a heated rivalry and compete in the Sicilian derby together Palermo is the only team in Sicily to have played on the European stage in the UEFA Cup In the island the most noted footballer is Salvatore Schillaci who won the Golden Boot at the 1990 FIFA World Cup with Italy 179 Other noted players include Giuseppe Furino Pietro Anastasi Francesco Coco Christian Rigano and Roberto Galia 179 There have also been some noted managers from the island such as Carmelo Di Bella and Franco Scoglio Although football is the most popular sport in Sicily the island also has participants in other fields Amatori Catania have competed in the top Italian national rugby union league called National Championship of Excellence They have even participated at the European level in the European Challenge Cup Competing in the basketball variation of Serie A is Orlandina Basket from Capo d Orlando in the province of Messina where the sport has a reasonable following Various other sports that are played to some extent include volleyball handball and water polo Previously in motorsport Sicily held the prominent Targa Florio sports car race that took place in the Madonie Mountains with the start finish line in Cerda 180 The event was started in 1906 by Sicilian industrialist and automobile enthusiast Vincenzo Florio and ran until it was canceled due to safety concerns in 1977 180 From 28 September to 9 October 2005 Trapani was the location of Acts 8 and 9 of the Louis Vuitton Cup This sailing race featured among other entrants all boats that took part in the 2007 America s Cup Popular culture Edit Sicilian arrotino at a living nativity scene wearing traditional Sicilian clothing The Misteri a Religious festival in Trapani A carnival float in Acireale Each town and city has its own patron saint and the feast days are marked by colourful processions through the streets with marching bands and displays of fireworks Sicilian religious festivals also include the presepe vivente living nativity scene which takes place at Christmas time Deftly combining religion and folklore it is a constructed mock 19th century Sicilian village complete with a nativity scene and has people of all ages dressed in the costumes of the period some impersonating the Holy Family and others working as artisans of their particular assigned trade It is normally concluded on Epiphany often highlighted by the arrival of the magi on horseback Oral tradition plays a large role in Sicilian folklore Many stories passed down from generation to generation involve a character named Giufa Anecdotes from this character s life preserve Sicilian culture as well as convey moral messages Sicilians also enjoy outdoor festivals held in the local square or piazza where live music and dancing are performed on stage and food fairs or sagre are set up in booths lining the square These offer various local specialties as well as typical Sicilian food Normally these events are concluded with fireworks A noted sagra is the Sagra del Carciofo or Artichoke Festival which is held annually in Ramacca in April The most important traditional event in Sicily is the carnival Famous carnivals are in Acireale Misterbianco Regalbuto Paterno Sciacca Termini Imerese The marionettes used in the Opera dei Pupi The Opera dei Pupi Opera of the Puppets Sicilian Opira di pupi is a marionette theatrical representation of Frankish romantic poems such as the Song of Roland or Orlando furioso that is one of the characteristic cultural traditions of Sicily The sides of donkey carts are decorated with intricate painted scenes these same tales are enacted in traditional puppet theatres featuring hand made marionettes of wood The opera of the puppets and the Sicilian tradition of cantastori singers of tales are rooted in the Provencal troubadour tradition in Sicily during the reign of Frederick II Holy Roman Emperor in the first half of the 13th century A great place to see this marionette art is the puppet theatres of Palermo The Sicilian marionette theatre Opera dei Pupi was proclaimed in 2001 and inscribed in 2008 in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists 181 Today there are only a few troupes that maintain the tradition They often perform for tourists However there are no longer the great historical families of marionettists such as the Greco of Palermo the Canino of Partinico and Alcamo Crimi Trombetta and Napoli of Catania Pennisi and Macri of Acireale Profeta of Licata Gargano and Grasso of Agrigento One can however admire the richest collection of marionettes at the Museo Internazionale delle Marionette Antonio Pasqualino and at the Museo Etnografico Siciliano Giuseppe Pitre in Palermo Other elaborate marionettes are on display at the Museo Civico Vagliasindi in Randazzo Traditional items Edit A traditional Sicilian cart The Sicilian cart is an ornate colourful style of a horse or donkey drawn cart native to Sicily Sicilian woodcarver George Petralia states that horses were mostly used in the city and flat plains while donkeys or mules were more often used in rough terrain for hauling heavy loads 182 The cart has two wheels and is primarily handmade out of wood with iron components The Sicilian coppola is a traditional kind of flat cap typically worn by men in Sicily First used by English nobles during the late 18th century the tascu began being used in Sicily in the early 20th century as a driving cap usually worn by car drivers The coppola is usually made in tweed Today it is widely regarded as a definitive symbol of Sicilian heritage 183 Flag and emblem Edit Triskelion painted on Ancient Greek vase Agrigento The Triskelion symbol of Sicily Main articles Triskelion Sicily and Flag of Sicily The Flag of Sicily regarded as a regional icon was first adopted in 1282 after the Sicilian Vespers of Palermo It is characterised by the presence of the triskeles in the middle depicting the head of Medusa and three wheat ears representing the extreme fertility of the land of Sicily 184 additional citation s needed In early mythology when Medusa was slain and beheaded by Perseus the Medusa head was placed in the centre of Athena s shield 185 Palermo and Corleone were the first two cities to found a confederation against the Angevin rule The triskeles symbol came to be on the Sicilian flag in 1943 during World War II when Andrea Finocchiaro Aprile led an independence movement in collaboration with the allies Their plan was to help Sicily become independent and form a free republic The colours likewise introduced in the 1940s respectively represent the cities of Palermo and Corleone The separatist behind the movement used a yellow and red flag with the Trinacria in the centre of it When World War II ended Sicily was recognized as an autonomous region in the Italian Republic The flag became the official public flag of the Regione Siciliana in January 2000 after the passing of an apposite regional law which advocates its use on public buildings schools and city halls along with the national Italian flag and the European one Familiar as an ancient symbol of the region the Triskelion is also featured on Greek coins of Syracuse such as coins of Agathocles 317 289 BC The symbol dates back to when Sicily was part of Magna Graecia the colonial extension of Greece beyond the Aegean 186 The triskelion was revived as a neoclassic and non Bourbon emblem for the new Napoleonic Kingdom of the Two Sicilies by Joachim Murat in 1808 In the case of Sicily the triskelion symbol is said to represent the three capes headlands or promontories of the island of Sicily namely Pelorus Peloro Tip of Faro Messina North East Pachynus Passero Syracuse South and Lilybaeum Lilibeo Cape Boeo Marsala West which form three points of a triangle 184 See also EditList of islands of Italy List of people from SicilyReferences Edit Statistiche demografiche ISTAT Demo istat it Archived from the original on 24 July 2019 Retrieved 16 June 2020 Statistiche demografiche ISTAT Demo istat it Archived from the original on 21 January 2012 Retrieved 23 April 2010 a b Regional GDP per capita ranged from 30 to 263 of the EU average in 2018 Press release ec europa eu Retrieved 1 September 2020 Sub national HDI Area Database Global Data Lab hdi globaldatalab org Retrieved 13 September 2018 Etna amp Aeolian Islands 2012 Cambridge Volcanology Maric Vesna 2008 Sicily Ediz Inglese google it ISBN 9781740599696 Bain Keith Bramblett Reid Bruyn Pippa de Nadeau Barbie Latza Fink William 7 August 2006 Pauline Frommer s Italy google it ISBN 9780471778608 Pasquale Hamel L invenzione del regno Dalla conquista normanna alla fondazione del Regnum Siciliae 1061 1154 Sicilia nell Enciclopedia Treccani www treccani it in Italian Retrieved 22 December 2020 Britannica Travel amp Geography Sicily Italian Sicilia retrieved 11 May 2010 Territory and Environment PDF Official page of the Region of Sicily Retrieved 25 March 2013 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help Regioni d Italia Sicily Italia Tourism Online Archived from the original on 15 March 2013 Retrieved 25 March 2013 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help a b Porter Darwin Prince Danforth 2009 Frommer s Sicily Frommer s p 268 ISBN 978 0 470 39899 9 Barberi F Civetta L Gasparini P Innocenti F Scandone R Villari L 1 May 1974 Evolution of a section of the Africa Europe plate boundary Paleomagnetic and volcanological evidence from Sicily Earth and Planetary Science Letters 22 2 123 132 Bibcode 1974E amp PSL 22 123B doi 10 1016 0012 821X 74 90072 7 ISSN 0012 821X Thomaidis Konstantinos Troll Valentin R Deegan Frances M Freda Carmela Corsaro Rosa A Behncke Boris Rafailidis Savvas 2021 A message from the underground forge of the gods history and current eruptions at Mt Etna Geology Today 37 4 141 149 doi 10 1111 gto 12362 ISSN 1365 2451 S2CID 238802288 Agenzia Regionale per i Rifiuti e le Acque Osservatorio delle Acque Archived from the original on 22 July 2011 Retrieved 14 October 2010 WMO Region VI Europe Continent only Highest Temperature World Meteorological Organization Retrieved 18 December 2016 Trabia Carlo 2002 A Sicilian Desert Best of Sicily Magazine Chestnut Dinner in the Mountains of Italy Barilla online 2005 Archived from the original on 18 October 2006 Retrieved 22 December 2006 1 Fallow Deer in Sicily Retrieved October 2022 Sicilia flora e fauna Specie vegetali e animali in Sicilia Insicilia org Retrieved on 18 December 2012 Riserva dello Zingaro Best italian wine com Retrieved on 18 December 2012 Cassell s Latin Dictionary Marchant J R V amp Charles Joseph F Eds Revised Edition 1928 Sicilian Culture The Folklore Legends amp Traditions Trinacria Sicilian Culture The Folklore Legends amp Traditions Trinacria N p n d Web 9 November 2014 Sicily Sicily N p n d Web 10 November 2014 Sicily Encyclopedia II Sicily History Experience Festival 7 October 2007 Archived from the original on 31 December 2013 Retrieved 18 March 2016 Aapologetico de la literatura espanola contra los opiniones Ensayo historico 7 October 2007 Fine John Van Antwerp 1983 The Ancient Greeks A Critical History Harvard University Press p 72 ISBN 9780674033146 most scholars now believe that the sicans and Sicels as well as the a b c Sicilian Peoples The Sicanians Best of Sicily 7 October 2007 Sicani Britannica com 7 October 2007 Piccolo Salvatore Darvill Timothy 2013 Ancient Stones The Prehistoric Dolmens of Sicily Thornham Norfolk Brazen Head Publishing ISBN 9780956510624 Retrieved 17 October 2013 Ibidem p 31 a b c Herbermann Charles ed 1913 Sicily Catholic Encyclopedia New York Robert Appleton Company E Zuppardo S Piccolo Terra Mater sulle sponde del Gela greco Betania Ed Caltanissetta 2005 a b c History of Sicily knowital com 7 October 2007 Archived from the original on 1 August 2003 Valley of the Temples Italiansrus com 7 October 2007 Siege of Syracuse Livius org 7 October 2007 Archived from the original on 7 November 2016 Retrieved 26 March 2020 Miles Richard 2010 Carthage Must Be Destroyed The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization New York Viking ISBN 978 0 143 12129 9 Sicily Hutchinson Encyclopedia 7 October 2007 Archived from the original on 2 December 2008 Miles Richard 2010 Carthage Must Be Destroyed New York Viking Sensational Sicily 10000BC tv 7 October 2007 Archived from the original on 18 December 2007 Alt URL Stockton David 1971 JqsqlajAPCoC amp q in verrem cicero verres amp pg PA43 Cicero A Political Biography Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 872033 1 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a Check url value help a b Early amp Medieval History BestofSicily com 7 October 2007 a b c Privitera John 2002 Sicily An Illustrated History Hippocrene Books ISBN 978 0 7818 0909 2 J B Bury History of the Later Roman Empire 1958 edition p 254 Bury p 327 Bury pp 410 425 Theodoric Encyclopaedia Britannica 7 October 2007 Frassetto Michael 2003 Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe Society in Transformation Santa Barbara CA p 335 ABC CLIO ISBN 978 1 57607 263 9 Hearder Harry 25 January 1991 Italy A Short History Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 33719 9 a b Gothic War Byzantine Count Belisarius Retakes Rome Historynet com 7 October 2007 Archived from the original on 2 November 2007 Kazhdan Alexander ed 1991 Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium Oxford University Press p 1892 ISBN 978 0 19 504652 6 Davis Secord Sarah 2017 Sicily in the Early Medieval Mediterranean Where Three Worlds Met Sicily in the Early Medieval Mediterranean Ithaca Cornell University Press p 79 ISBN 9781501704642 JSTOR 10 7591 j ctt1qv5qfp a b Syracuse Sicily TravelMapofSicily com 7 October 2007 Archived from the original on 6 June 2008 Retrieved 4 December 2007 Sicilian Peoples The Byzantines BestofSicily com 7 October 2007 Treadgold History of the Byzantine State pp 354 355 a b c d e f g Brief history of Sicily PDF Archaeology Stanford edu 7 October 2007 Archived from the original PDF on 9 June 2007 Where the Maltese language comes from The Economist ISSN 0013 0613 Retrieved 26 October 2022 Raphael Patai The Jewish Mind Scribners 1977 p 155 6 a b Italy during the Crusades Sicily under the Normans History of the Crusades Boise State University Retrieved 15 July 2011 a b Chronological Historical Table of Sicily In Italy Magazine 7 October 2007 Archived from the original on 27 July 2016 Retrieved 12 December 2007 Johns Jeremy 2002 Arabic Administration in Norman Sicily The Royal Diwan Cambridge studies in Islamic civilization Cambridge England Cambridge University Press pp 249 250 ISBN 978 0 521 81692 2 Takayama Hiroshi 1993 The Administration of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily Leiden the Netherlands E J Brill p 123 ISBN 978 90 04 09920 3 Classical and Medieval Malta 60 1530 AboutMalta com 7 October 2007 Norwich John Julius 1992 The Normans in Sicily The Normans in the South 1016 1130 and the Kingdom in the Sun 1130 1194 Penguin Global ISBN 978 0 14 015212 8 a b Norman Sicily of the 12th Century Inter American Institute for Advanced Studies in Cultural History Retrieved 15 July 2011 a b Loud G A 2007 The Latin Church in Norman Italy Cambridge University Press p 494 ISBN 978 0 521 25551 6 ISBN 0 521 25551 1 At the end of the twelfth century While in Apulia Greeks were in a majority and indeed present in any numbers at all only in the Salento peninsula in the extreme south at the time of the conquest they had an overwhelming preponderance in Lucaina and central and southern Calabria as well as comprising anything up to a third of the population of Sicily concentrated especially in the north east of the island the Val Demone Sicilian Peoples The Normans BestofSicily com 7 October 2007 a b c d e f Dieli Art 8 July 2015 Sicilian History An Abbreviated Chronology Dieli net Taylor Julie 19 August 2003 Muslims in Medieval Italy The Colony at Lucera Lexington Books ISBN 9780739157978 via Google Books The Spread of the Black Death through Europe Medieval History Italy s earthquake history BBC News 31 October 2002 Rees Davies British Slaves on the Barbary Coast BBC 1 July 2003 Christian Slaves Muslim Masters White Slavery in the Mediterranean the Barbary Coast and Italy 1500 1800 Robert Davis 2004 ISBN 1 4039 4551 9 The Treaties of Utrecht 1713 Heraldica org 7 October 2007 Charles of Bourbon the restorer of the Kingdom of Naples RealCasaDiBorbone it 7 October 2007 Archived from the original on 4 August 2003 Campo Tenese Clash of Steel co uk 7 October 2007 Regno Delle Due Sicilie nell Enciclopedia Treccani Treccani it Retrieved on 18 December 2012 a b c Italians around the World Teaching Italian Migration from a Transnational Perspective OAH org 7 October 2007 Archived from the original on 27 November 2010 Sicily island Italy Britannica Online Encyclopaedia Britannica com Retrieved on 18 December 2012 Sicily Capitol Hill 7 October 2007 Archived from the original on 18 October 2007 fascio siciliano Encyclopaedia Britannica 7 October 2007 Messina earthquake and tsunami Britannica Online Encyclopedia Arma dei Carabinieri Home L Arma Ieri Storia Vista da Fascicolo 22 Carabinieri it Retrieved on 18 December 2012 Modern Sicilian History amp Society BestofSicily com Sicily autonomy Grifasi Sicilia com 7 October 2007 Le spinte e i ritorni gli anni delle riforme per lo sviluppo in Sicilia 1947 1967 Storicamente org in Italian Archived from the original on 24 May 2013 Retrieved 18 December 2012 Due eroi italiani Materiali didattici di Scuola d Italiano Roma a cura di Roberto Tartaglione Scudit net in Italian 11 April 2004 Retrieved 18 December 2012 Italy Land Reforms Encyclopaedia Britannica 7 October 2007 Sicilia Istat it in Italian Archived from the original on 15 November 2012 Retrieved 18 December 2012 Pantaleone Wladimir 4 December 2018 Italy police arrest alleged new mafia boss in Sicily Global News Retrieved 22 June 2021 Messia Hada Kent Lauren 17 July 2019 19 mafia suspects arrested in joint transatlantic raids CNN Retrieved 22 June 2021 Giuffrida Angela 17 July 2019 FBI and Italian police arrest 19 people in Sicily and US in mafia investigation The Guardian Retrieved 22 June 2021 Statistiche demografiche ISTAT Demo istat it Archived from the original on 30 June 2016 Retrieved 29 May 2016 Bilancio demografico anno 2017 Regione Sicilia demo istat it 2017 Archived from the original on 19 October 2019 Retrieved 14 September 2017 Legge 482 camera it Archived from the original on 12 May 2015 Retrieved 28 February 2013 Corriere della Sera Italia quasi l 88 si proclama cattolico corriere it La questione meridionale 3 Il saccheggio del Banco delle due Sicilie 9 December 2017 Disastro Sicilia In fuga i suoi figli 31 October 2017 Emigrazione fuga dalla Sicilia Ogni anno cancellato un paese di ventimila abitanti Sicilia Sicily Italy Provinces Major Cities amp Communes Population Statistics Maps Charts Weather and Web Information www citypopulation de Retrieved 28 April 2019 Nebel A Filon D Brinkmann B Majumder P Faerman M Oppenheim A 2001 The Y Chromosome Pool of Jews as Part of the Genetic Landscape of the Middle East The American Journal of Human Genetics 69 5 1095 112 doi 10 1086 324070 PMC 1274378 PMID 11573163 Peppe Cuva 12 May 2012 Sicilia l ex roccaforte del centro destra Latestatanews it Retrieved on 18 December 2012 Population May 2011 data from Demo Istat Archived 1 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Demo istat it Retrieved on 18 December 2012 Economia della Sicilia agricoltura Sicilyweb com Retrieved on 18 December 2012 L industria in Sicilia cosi antica e moderna Il Sole 24 ORE 23 February 2011 Retrieved on 18 December 2012 Sicilia Congiuntura economica Treccani it Retrieved on 19 December 2012 Investire nel turismo di qualita e negli eventi in Sicilia Strumentires com Retrieved on 18 December 2012 in Italian Conti economici regionali Istat it Retrieved on 18 December 2012 mafia in sicilia la mappa del viminale Uonna it Retrieved on 18 December 2012 Sicilia L Economia SicilyOnTour com Retrieved on 18 December 2012 Pistacchio di Bronte D O P Pistacchiodibronte it Retrieved on 18 December 2012 Fico d India dell Etna dop Tavolaegusto it Retrieved on 18 December 2012 a b economia sicilia insicilia org Retrieved on 19 December 2012 miele ibleo siciliaonline it Retrieved on 19 December 2012 Produzione vino in Italia nel 2010 fonte ISTAT I numeri del vino Inumeridelvino it 30 May 2011 Retrieved on 18 December 2012 Sicily An Island You Can t Refuse bottlenotes com 18 August 2009 Archived from the original on 22 August 2009 Retrieved 30 November 2009 Vini siciliani sicilyontour com Retrieved on 19 December 2012 a b in Italian Economia Regione Siciliana Esploriamo com Retrieved on 18 December 2012 Oggi la chiamano Etna Valley i progetti le aziende il lavoro nel territorio di Catania Archived 27 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine Etnavalley com 27 November 2012 Retrieved on 18 December 2012 Economia della Sicilia Sicilyweb com Retrieved on 18 December 2012 Enna Il nuovo volto dell Area di Sviluppo Industriale di Dittaino Vivienna it 22 March 1999 Retrieved on 18 December 2012 Sicilia L Economia SicilyOnTour com Retrieved on 18 December 2012 La lavorazione del Sale a Trapani Area Sale Archived 15 December 2012 at the Wayback Machine Sale salute benessere it Retrieved on 18 December 2012 a b Dati Istat Tavole regionali Istat it Archived from the original on 9 March 2008 Retrieved 23 April 2010 Sicilia nel 2008 PIL a 0 7 Archived 22 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine livesicilia it Unemployment rate by NUTS 2 regions ec europa eu Eurostat Retrieved 19 September 2019 Tasso di disoccupazione livello regionale dati istat it in Italian Retrieved 19 September 2019 A 19 autostrada Palermo Catania SiciliaEMoto it 2 January 2008 Archived from the original on 23 January 2019 Retrieved 2 January 2008 Autostrada A20 Messina Palermo Sicilia Indettaglio it 24 October 2007 A 29 autostrada Palermo Trapani Mazara del Vallo SiciliaEMoto it 2 January 2008 Archived from the original on 23 January 2019 Retrieved 2 January 2008 Autostrada A18 Messina Catania Sicilia Indettaglio it 24 October 2007 Sicily Travel and Transport ItalyHeaven co uk 2 January 2008 Traghetti Sicily 2008 Traghetti Guida 2 January 2008 Archived from the original on 14 November 2007 High speed car passenger ferry service VirtuFerries com 2 January 2008 Archived from the original on 12 August 2008 Italy revives Sicily bridge plan from BBC News Retrieved 8 March 2009 Hooper John 2 January 2008 Italian MPs kill plan to bridge Sicily and mainland Guardian co uk London Retrieved 30 March 2010 Kahn Gabriel 10 April 2008 No Italian Job Takes Longer Than This Bridge Wall Street Journal The Godfather Sicilian Shooting Locations thegodfathertrilogy com Archaeological Area of Agrigento UNESCO World Heritage Centre Whc unesco org 7 December 1997 Retrieved 6 May 2009 R J A Wilson Piazza Armerina In Akiyama Terakazu Ed The dictionary of Art Vol 24 Pandolfini to Pitti Oxford 1998 ISBN 0 19 517068 7 Isole Eolie Aeolian Islands UNESCO World Heritage Centre Whc unesco org 30 November 2000 Retrieved 6 May 2009 Noto Italy No 1024rev ICOMOS January 2002 Advisory Body Evaluation Unesco Mount Etna Becomes a World Heritage Site Italy Magazine 4 May 2013 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help Centre UNESCO World Heritage Arab Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalu and Monreale Taormina and Isola Bella World Heritage Site Archived from the original on 22 May 2019 Mothia and Libeo Island The Phoenician Punic Civilization in Italy World Heritage Site Archived from the original on 22 May 2019 All Tentative Sites Archived 14 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine World Heritage Site Retrieved on 18 December 2012 Stretto Messina sia patrimonio dell Umanita Nasce l asse tra i comuni di Calabria e Sicilia 18 April 2015 Jurgen Jarvik 13 October 2019 Greek amp Roman Sites in Sicily Grande Flanerie WordPress Retrieved 10 May 2022 Kirk Scott 2017 Sicilian Castles and Coastal Towers Open Archaeology Albuquerque De Gruyter 3 1 318 319 329 doi 10 1515 opar 2017 0021 S2CID 67397794 Retrieved 7 October 2019 Goethe in Sicily Best of Sicily Magazine www bestofsicily com Calinger Ronald S 1999 A Contextual History of Mathematics Prentice Hall ISBN 978 0 02 318285 3 Talfourd Thomas Noon 1851 History of Greek Literature University of Michigan p 173 invented comedy Epicharmus Discovering the Similarity of the Greek and Sicilian Spirit GreekNewsOnline com 2 January 2008 Archived from the original on 7 December 2008 Sicilian Ceramic Art BestOfSicily com 2 January 2008 Thrall Soby James 1969 The Early Chirico Ayer Co Pub ISBN 978 0 405 00736 1 Palazzo pl palazzi is any large building in a town state or private often much smaller than the term palace implies in the English speaking world While palazzo is the technically correct appellation and postal address no Sicilian aristocrat would ever use the word instead referring to his or her own house however large as casa Palazzo followed by the family name was the term used by officials tradesmen and delivery men Gefen p 15 Teatro Massimo in Palermo SelectItaly com 2 January 2008 Archived from the original on 2 March 2012 Retrieved 18 March 2016 The Sicilian Language LeoLuca Criscione net 7 October 2007 Archived from the original on 2 March 2005 La lingua italiana i dialetti e le lingue straniere istat it Archived from the original on 30 October 2012 Alighieri Dante 10 October 1996 De vulgari eloquentia Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 40064 0 Centro Di Adroterapia Oculare Archived 22 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine Policlinico unict it Retrieved on 18 December 2012 LNS latest news Lns infn it 13 December 2012 Retrieved on 18 December 2012 Noto VLBI home page Noto ira inaf it Retrieved on 18 December 2012 Hoskin Michael 1999 The Cambridge Concise History of Astronomy Cambridge University press pp 160 161 ISBN 978 0 521 57600 0 Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania Homepage Ct astro it Retrieved on 18 December 2012 Archimede Archived 24 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine Enel com Retrieved on 18 December 2012 The world s first molten salt concentrating solar power plant Environment guardian co uk Guardian 22 July 2010 Retrieved on 18 December 2012 Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture Ccsem infn it 2 July 2012 Retrieved on 18 December 2012 Scuola Superiore di Catania Official site Archived from the original on 8 September 2010 A Cosa Nostra Encounter on a Sicilian Vacation 6 June 2016 The Foods of Sicily A Culinary Journey ItalianFoodForevter com 24 June 2007 Archived from the original on 12 February 2008 Piras Claudia and Medagliani Eugenio March 2007 Culinaria Italy Konemann ISBN 978 3 8331 3446 3 a b Senna Luciana 1 July 2005 Authentic Sicily Touring Club of Italy ISBN 978 88 365 3403 6 Arancini the cult Sicilian dish FXCuisine com 24 June 2007 Archived from the original on 13 January 2008 Sicilian Cheese BestofSicily com 24 June 2007 Sicilian Food and Wine BestofSicily com 24 June 2007 Maria Anna Sicilian Fig Cookies Anna Maria s Open Kitchen Retrieved 29 March 2011 a b c Bright Richard 7 October 2007 Sicilian derby takes centre stage London Telegraph co uk Retrieved 30 March 2010 dead link a b Targa Florio 1906 1977 Porsche com 7 October 2007 Archived from the original on 30 December 2010 Retrieved 18 March 2016 UNESCO Culture Sector El teatro de marionetas siciliano Opera dei Puppi Retrieved 22 August 2010 George Petralia Sicilian Wood Carver Retrieved 9 April 2011 Virgin Express Inflight Magazine Catania Archived from the original on 5 June 2008 a b Radicini Ninni The Trinacria History and Mythology The Symbol of the Hellenic Nature of Sicily Article by Ninni Radicini The Trinacria History and Mythology The Symbol of the Hellenic Nature of Sicily Article by Ninni Radicini N p n d Web 9 November 2014 Trabia Carlo The Trinacria Best of Sicily Magazine The Trinacria Best of Sicily Magazine N p n d Web 9 November 2014 Matthews Jeff 2005 Symbols of Naples Archived 30 October 2009 at the Wayback MachineFurther reading EditAlio Jacqueline 2018 Sicilian Studies A Guide and Syllabus for Educators Trinacria Editions New York ISBN 978 1 943 63918 2 Bonacini Elisa 2007 Il territorio calatino nella Sicilia imperiale e tardoromana British Archeological Reports International Series 1694 Archaeopress Oxford England ISBN 978 1 4073 0136 5 in Italian with abstract in English Chaney Edward 2000 British and American Travellers in Sicily from the eighth to the twentieth century The Evolution of the Grand Tour Routledge Leighton Robert 1999 Sicily before History Duckworth London Cornell University Press Ithaca Mendola Louis Alio Jacqueline 2013 The Peoples of Sicily A Multicultural Legacy Trinacria Editions New York ISBN 978 0 615 79694 9 Spadi Fabio 2001 The Bridge on the Strait of Messina Lowering the Right of Innocent Passage International and Comparative Law Quarterly 50 411 ff From Rome to Sicily Plane or Train Expert Travel Advice The New York Times 7 February 2008 The New York Times Attilio L Vinci Magica Sicilia Campo Alcamo Trapani 2018 ISBN 978 88 943699 1 5 Italy makes record mafia seizure BBC News 22 December 2008 Retrieved 23 April 2010 Sicily Mafia restoring US links Mafia News 29 February 2008 Archived from the original on 1 January 2016 Retrieved 23 April 2010 Sicily Art and Invention between Greece and Rome Getty Publications 2013 To Noto or London to Sicily in a Ford London 1989 by Duncan FallowellExternal links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sicily Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Sicily Geographic data related to Sicily at OpenStreetMap Sicilian Region Official website in Italian The Wonders of Sicily The Cities Architecture Culture History People Piccolo Salvatore 2018 Bronze Age Sicily World History Encyclopedia Wilson R Talbert R Elliott T Gillies S Places 462492 Sicilia Pleiades Archived from the original on 13 July 2012 Retrieved 8 March 2012 Piccolo Salvatore 2018 The Dolmens of Sicily World History Encyclopedia Portals Geography Islands Italy Coordinates 37 30 N 14 00 E 37 500 N 14 000 E 37 500 14 000 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Sicily amp oldid 1133262130, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.