Sicily

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Coordinates: 37°38′33″N, 14°11′34″E

Sicily
Flag
Geography
Status	Autonomous region
Capital	Palermo
President	Raffaele Lombardo, (2008-)
Provinces	Agrigento Caltanissetta Catania Enna Messina Palermo Ragusa Syracuse Trapani
Area	25,708 km²
- Ranked	1st (8.5 %)
Population (2006 est.)
- Total	5,017,509
- Ranked	4th (8.5 %)
- Density	195/km²

Sicily (Italian and Sicilian: Sicilia) is an autonomous region of Italy. Of all the regions of Italy, Sicily covers the largest land area at 25,708 km² and currently has five million inhabitants. It is also the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. In addition, several much smaller islands surrounding it are also considered to be part of Sicily. Along with Sardinia, the island is officially classified as a region of Insular Italy.

Throughout much of its history, Sicily has been considered a crucial strategic location due in large part to its importance for Mediterranean trade routes.^[1] The area was highly regarded as part of Magna Graecia, with Cicero describing Siracusa as the greatest and most beautiful city of all Ancient Greece.^[2]

Although a region of Italy today, Sicily was once its own country as the Kingdom of Sicily, ruled from Palermo. The kingdom originally ruled over the island, the southern Italian peninsula and Malta before the Sicilian Vespers. It later became a part of the Two Sicilies under the Bourbons, with the capital in Naples rather than Sicily. Since that time the Italian unification has taken place and Sicily is now an autonomous part of Italy.

Sicily is considered to be highly rich in its own unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, cuisine, architecture and even language. The Sicilian economy is largely based on agriculture (mainly orange and lemon orchards); this same rural countryside has attracted significant tourism in the modern age as its natural beauty is highly regarded.^[3] Sicily also holds importance for archeological and ancient sites such as the Necropolis of Pantalica and the Valley of the Temples.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Ancient tribes 1.2 Greek and Roman period 1.3 Early Middle Ages 1.4 Kingdom of Sicily 1.5 Italian unification 2 Politics 3 Geography 3.1 Climate 4 Transport 5 Society 5.1 Demographics 5.2 Major settlements 6 Culture 6.1 Cuisine 6.2 Arts 6.3 Language 6.4 Sports 7 World Heritage Sites 8 References 9 Further reading 10 See also 11 External links

[edit] History

Main article: History of Sicily

[edit] Ancient tribes

The original inhabitants of Sicily were three defined groups of the Ancient peoples of Italy. The most prominent and by far the earliest of which was the Sicani, who according to Thucydides arrived from the Iberian Peninsula (perhaps Catalonia).^[4][5] 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.^[6] The Elymians, thought to be from the Aegean, were the next tribe to migrate to join the Sicanians on Sicily.^[7] Although there is no evidence of any wars between the tribes, when the Elymians settled in the north-west corner of the island, the Sicanians moved across eastwards. From mainland Italy, thought to originally have been Ligures from Liguria came the Sicels in 1200 BC; forcing the Sicanians to move back across Sicily settling in the middle of the island.^[6]

[edit] Greek and Roman period

Main articles: Magna Graecia, Ancient Rome, and Sicilia (Roman province)

About 750 BC, the Greeks began to colonize Sicily, establishing many important settlements. The most important colony was Syracuse; other significant ones were Akragas, Gela, Himera, Selinunte, and Zancle. The native Sicani and Sicel peoples were absorbed by the Hellenic culture with relative ease, and the area was part of Magna Graecia along with the rest of Southern Italy, which the Greeks had also colonized. Sicily was very fertile, and the introduction of olives and grape vines flourished, creating a great deal of profitable trading;^[8] a significant part of Greek culture on the island was that of Greek religion and many temples were built across Sicily, such as the Valley of the Temples at Agrigento.^[9] Politics on the island was intertwined with that of Greece; Syracuse became desired by the Athenians, who during Peloponnesian War set out on the Sicilian Expedition. Syracuse gained Sparta and Corinth as allies, as a result the Athenian army and ships were destroyed, with most of the survivors being sold into slavery.^[10]

While Greek Syracuse controlled much of Sicily, there were a few Carthaginian colonies in the far west of the island. When the two cultures began to clash, the Sicilian Wars erupted.^[11] Greece began to make peace with the Roman Republic in 262 BC and the Romans sought to annex Sicily as its empire's first province. Rome intervened in the First Punic War, crushing Carthage so that by 242 BC Sicily had become the first Roman province outside of the Italian Peninsula.^[11] The Second Punic War, in which Archimedes was killed, saw Carthage trying to take Sicily from the Roman Empire. They failed and this time Rome was even more unrelenting in the annihilation of the invaders; during 210 BC the Roman consul M. Valerian, told the Roman Senate that "no Carthaginian remains in Sicily".^[12]

Sicily served a level of high importance for the Romans as it acted as the empire's granary, it was divided into two quaestorships in the form of Syracuse to the east and Lilybaeum to the west.^[13] Although under Augustus some attempt was made to introduce the Latin language to the island, Sicily was allowed to remain largely Greek in a cultural sense, rather than a complete cultural Romanisation.^[13] When Verres became governor of Sicily, the once prosperous and contented people were put into sharp decline, in 70 BC noted figure Cicero condemned the misgovernment of Verres in his oration In Verrem.^[14] The religion of Christianity first appeared in Sicily during the years following 200 AD, between this time and 313 AD when Constantine the Great finally lifted the prohibition, a significant number of Sicilians became martyrs such as Agatha, Christina, Lucy, Euplius and many more.^[15] Christianity grew rapidly in Sicily during the next two centuries, the period of history where Sicily was a Roman province lasted for around 700 years in total.^[15]

[edit] Early Middle Ages

Main articles: Byzantine Empire and Emirate of Sicily

As the Roman Empire was falling apart, a Germanic tribe known as the Vandals took Sicily in 440 AD under the rule of their king Geiseric. The Vandals had already invaded parts of Roman France and Spain, inserting themselves as an important power in western Europe.^[16] However, they soon lost these newly acquired possessions to another East Germanic tribe in the form of the Goths.^[16] The Ostrogothic conquest of Sicily (and Italy as a whole) under Theodoric the Great began in 488; although the Goths were Germanic, Theodoric sought to revive Roman culture and government and allowed freedom of religion.^[17] The Gothic War took place between the Ostrogoths and the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire. Sicily was the first part of Italy to be taken under general Belisarius who was commissioned by Eastern Emperor Justinian I.^[18] Sicily was used as a base for the Byzantines to conquer the rest of Italy, with Naples, Rome, Milan and the Ostrogoth capital Ravenna falling within five years.^[19] However, a new Ostrogoth king Totila, drove down the Italian peninsula, plundering and conquering Sicily in 550. Totila, in turn, was defeated and killed in the Battle of Taginae by the Byzantine general Narses in 552.^[19]

Byzantine Emperor Constans II decided to move from the capital Constantinople to Syracuse in Sicily during 660, the following year he launched an assault from Sicily against the Lombard Duchy of Benevento, which then occupied most of Southern Italy.^[20] The rumours that the capital of the empire was to be moved to Syracuse, along with small raids^[clarify] probably cost Constans his life as he was assassinated in 668.^[20] His son Constantine IV succeeded him, a brief usurpation in Sicily by Mezezius being quickly suppressed by the new emperor. Contemporary accounts report that the Greek language was widely spoken on the island during this period.^[21]

In 826, Euphemius the commander of the Byzantine fleet of Sicily forced a nun to marry him. Emperor Michael II caught wind of the matter and ordered that general Constantine end the marriage and cut off Euphemius' nose. Euphemius rose up, killed Constantine and then occupied Syracuse; he in turn was defeated and drove out to North Africa.^[22] He offered rule of Sicily over to Ziyadat Allah the Aghlabid Emir of Tunisia in return for a place as a general and safety; a Muslim army of Arabs, Berbers, Spaniards, Cretans and Persians was sent.^[22] The conquest was a see-saw affair: with considerable resistance and many internal struggles, it took over a century for Byzantine Sicily to be conquered. Syracuse held for a long time, Taormina fell in 902, and all of the island was eventually conquered by 965.^[22]

Throughout this reign, continued revolts by Byzantine Sicilians happened especially in the east and part of the lands were even re-occupied before being quashed. Agricultural items such as oranges, lemons, pistachio and sugar cane were brought to Sicily.^[16] As dhimmis, the native Christians were allowed freedom of religion but had to pay an extra tax to their rulers. However, the Emirate of Sicily began to fragment as inner-dynasty related quarrels took place between the Muslim regime.^[22] During this time there was also a minority Jewish presence.^[23] By the 11th century mainland southern Italian powers were hiring ferocious Norman merecenaries, who were Christian descendants of the Vikings based in the Duchy of Normandy; it was the Normans under Roger I who conquered Sicily from the Arabs.^[22] After taking Apulia and Calabria, he occupied Messina with an army of 700 knights. In 1068, Roger Guiscard and his men defeated the Arabs at Misilmeri but the most crucial battle was the siege of Palermo, which led to Sicily being completely in Norman control by 1091.^[24]

[edit] Kingdom of Sicily

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

Palermo continued on as the capital under the Normans. Roger's son, Roger II of Sicily, was ultimately able to raise the status of the island to a kingdom in 1130, along with his other holdings which included the Duchy of Apulia and Calabria and the Maltese Islands.^[25][24] 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 England.^[26] Significantly, immigrants from Northern Italy and Campania arrived during this period. Linguistically, the island became Latinised. In terms of church, it would become completely Roman Catholic; previously, under the Byzantines, it had been more Eastern Christian.^[27]

After a century the Norman Hauteville dynasty died out, the last direct descendent and heir of Roger; Constance married Emperor Henry VI.^[28] This eventually led to the crown of Sicily been passed on to the Hohenstaufen Dynasty who were Germans from Swabia. Conflict between the Hohenstaufen house and the Papacy, led in 1266 to Pope Innocent IV crowning Angevin Dynasty duke Charles I as the king of both Sicily and Naples.^[28] Strong opposition of the 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.^[28] During the war the Sicilians turned to Peter III of the Kingdom of Aragon for support after being rejected by the Pope. Peter gained control of Sicily from the French though the French retained control of the Kingdom of Naples. The wars continued until the peace of Caltabellotta in 1302, which saw Frederick III recognised as king of the Isle of Sicily, while Charles II was recognised as the king of Naples by Pope Boniface VIII.^[28] 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.^[8]

The Spanish Inquisition in 1492 saw Ferdinand I decreeing the expulsion of every single Jew from Sicily.^[28] The island was hit by two very serious earthquakes in the east in both 1542 and 1693, just a few years before the latter earthquake the island was struck by a ferocious plague.^[28] There were revolts during the 17th century, but these were quelled with significant force especially the revolts of Palermo and Messina.^[8] 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.^[29]

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.^[30] 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 Kings of Naples were instated. 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.^[31] Following this Sicily joined the Napoleonic Wars, 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 was successful and resulted in a sixteen month period of independence for Sicily, until the armed forces of the Bourbons regained control by May 1849.^[32]

[edit] Italian unification

After the Expedition of the Thousand led by Giuseppe Garibaldi, Sicily became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1860 as part of the risorgimento.^[33] The conquest started at Marsala and was finally 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 Sardinia. An anti-Savoy revolt pushing for Sicilian independence erupted in 1866 at Palermo: this was quelled brutally by the Italians within just a week.^[34][33] The Sicilian (and the wider mezzogiorno) economy collapsed, leading to an unprecedented wave of emigration.^[33] Organisations of workers and peasants known as the Fasci Siciliani, who were leftist and separatist groups rose and caused the Italian government to impose martial law again in 1894.^[35][36]

The Mafia, a loose confederation of organised crime networks, grew in influence in the late 19th century; the Fascist regime began suppressing them in the 1920s with some success.^[33] There was an allied invasion of Sicily during World War II starting on July 10, 1943. The invasion of Sicily was one of the causes of the July 25 crisis; in general the Allied victors were warmly embraced by the Sicilian population. ^[33] 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.^[37] 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 improve.^[38][39]

[edit] Politics

Main article: Politics of Sicily

[edit] Geography

Sicily is directly adjacent to the Italian region of Calabria, via the Strait of Messina to the east. The early Roman name for Sicily was Trinacria, alluding to its triangular shape. Sicily has been noted for two millennia as a grain-producing territory. Citrons, oranges, lemons, olives, olive oil, almonds, and wine are among its other agricultural products. The mines of the Enna and Caltanissetta district became a leading sulfur-producing area in the 19th century but have declined since the 1950s.

Administratively Sicily is divided into nine provinces; Agrigento, Caltanissetta, Catania, Enna, Messina, Palermo, Ragusa, Syracuse and Trapani. Also part of various Sicilian provinces are small surrounding islands: Aeolian Islands of Messina, isle of Ustica (Palermo), Aegadian Islands (Trapani), isle of Pantelleria (Trapani) and Pelagian Islands (Agrigento).

The island of Sicily is drained by several rivers, most of which flow through the central area and enter the sea at the south of the island. The Salso River flows through parts of Enna and Caltanissetta before entering the Mediterranean Sea at the port of Licata. To the east the Alcantara in the province of Messina, it exits at Giardini-Naxos. The other two main rivers on the island are to the south-west with Belice and Platani.

Sicily and its small surrounding islands are highly significant in the area of volcanology. Mount Etna, located in the east, is the only volcano on mainland Sicily; with a height of 3,320 m (10,900 ft) it is the tallest active volcano in Europe and one of the most active in the world. As well as Etna, there are several non-volcanic mountain ranges in Sicily: Sicani to the west, Eeri in the central area and Iblei in the south-east. Across the north of Sicily there are three others: Madonie, Nebrodi and Peloritani.

The Aeolian Islands to the north-east are volcanically significant with Stromboli currently active, also in the Tyrrhenian Sea are the three dormant volcanos of Vulcano, Vulcanello and Lipari. Off the Southern coast of Sicily, the underwater volcano of Ferdinandea, which is part of the larger Empedocles last erupted in 1831. It is located between the coast of Agrigento and the island of Pantelleria (which itself is a dormant volcano), on the Phlegraean Fields of the Strait of Sicily.

[edit] Climate

Sicily's position means that it enjoys a Mediterranean climate with mild to warm, wet winters and warm to hot, dry summers.

Weather averages for Sicily
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °C (°F)	15 (59)	15 (59)	16 (61)	18 (64)	22 (72)	25 (77)	28 (82)	29 (84)	27 (81)	23 (73)	19 (66)	16 (61)	20 (68)
Average low °C (°F)	10 (50)	10 (50)	11 (52)	13 (55)	16 (61)	20 (68)	23 (73)	24 (75)	22 (72)	18 (64)	14 (57)	11 (52)	16 (61)
Precipitation mm (inches)	72 (2.83)	65 (2.56)	60 (2.36)	44 (1.73)	26 (1.02)	12 (0.47)	5 (0.2)	13 (0.51)	42 (1.65)	98 (3.86)	94 (3.7)	80 (3.15)	611 (24.06)
Source: The Sicily Site[40] 2008-02-19

[edit] Transport

The most prominent Sicilian roads are the motorways (known as autostrade) running through the northern section of the island, this includes the A19 Palermo-Catania, the A20 Palermo-Messina, the A29 Palermo-Trapani-Mazara del Vallo and the toll road A18 Messina-Catania. Much of the motorway network is elevated by columns due to the mountainous terrain of the island.^{[41][42][43][44]} The Sicilian public is served by a network of railway services, linking to most major cities and towns; this service is operated by Trenitalia. There are services to Naples and Rome; this is achieved by the trains being loaded onto ferries which cross to the mainland.^[45]

Plans for a bridge linking Sicily to the mainland have been around since 1865. In the modern age, there are plans to link the railway to the mainland via the world's longest suspension bridge, the Strait of Messina Bridge, however planning for the project has been started, stopped and re-started during the 2000s; as of 2008 it is currently on course for planning. Some have criticised the plans particularly environmentalist Sicilians, leftists who argue the money should be spent elsewhere and the local ferry operators.^[46][47] In two of the main cities there are underground railway services; these feature in the cities of Palermo and Catania.

Mainland Sicily has three airports which serve numerous European destinations; to the east is the Catania-Fontanarossa Airport which is the busiest on the island (and one of the busiest in all of Italy). Palermo hosts the Palermo International Airport, which is also substantially large, the third airport actually on the island is the Trapani-Birgi Airport which is smaller. There are also two small airports on smaller islands which are considered part of Sicily; Lampedusa Airport and Pantelleria Airport. By sea, Sicily is served by several ferry routes most of which are to Sicily's small surrounding islands and mainland Italy (as well as Sardinia), there is also a daily service between Malta and Pozzallo.^[48][49]

[edit] Society

[edit] Demographics

Main article: List of Sicilians

The people of Sicily are often portrayed as very proud of their island, identity and culture and it is not uncommon for people to describe themselves as Sicilian, before the more national description of Italian.^[50] Despite the existence of major cities such as Palermo, Catania, Messina and Syracuse, popular stereotypes of Sicilians commonly allude to ruralism, for example the coppola is one of the main symbols of Sicilian identity; it is derived from the flat cap of rural Northern England which arrived in 1800 when Bourbon king Ferdinand I had fled to Sicily and was protected by the British Royal Navy.^[51]

Throughout history Sicily has had various different rulers, from various different cultures, who have contributed elements to the overall culture of the island, especially from a gastronomical and architectural point of view. Sicilian people tend to most closely associate themselves with other southern Italians, with whom they share the most common history. Of the ethnicities outside of Italy itself, Sicilians and other southern Italians tend to associate most closely with the Greeks, especially due to the Magna Græcia and Greco-Roman cultures. This is exemplified in the saying "una faccia, una razza", meaning "one face, one race", a phrase Greeks and Southern Italians sometimes use in reference to each other.^[52] Modern methods of genetic testing show that aside from other Italians, southern Italians and Greeks are indeed the closest genetically. Approximately 60% of the Sicilian haplotypes are also prevalent in Southern Italy and Greece. In fact an average 15-20 percent Greek admixture in the southern Italian population has been noted,[1]^{[53][54][55][56][57]} while other former rulers gene flows (etc. Normans) are very limited.^{[54][58][59][60][61][62]}

The island of Sicily itself has a population of approximately five million, and there are an additional ten million people of Sicilian descent around the world, mostly in North America, Argentina, Australia and other European countries. Like the rest of Southern Italy, 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. The most recent ISTAT figures show around 74 thousand immigrants out of the total five million population; Tunisians with 14 thousand make up the most immigrants, followed by Moroccans, Sri Lankans, Albanians, Romanians, Ukrainians and other Eastern Europeans.^[63] Other immigrant communities in Sicily are Brazilians, Nigerians, Russians and Turks. There is also a growing number of Chinese and other Asians like Filipinos and Indians.

[edit] Major settlements

In Sicily there are fifteen cities and towns which have a population level above 50,000 people, these are;

[edit] Culture

[edit] Cuisine

Main article: Cuisine of Sicily

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.^[64] The ingredients are typically rich in taste while remaining affordable to the general populance.^[65] The savory dishes of Sicily are viewed to be healthy, implementing fresh vegetables and fruits, such as tomatos, artichokes, olives (including olive oil), citrus, apricots, aubergines, onions, beans, raisins commonly coupled with sea food, freshly caught from the surrounding coastlines, including tuna, sea bream, sea bass, cuttlefish, swordfish, sardines and others.^[66]

Perhaps the most well known part of Sicilian cuisine is the rich sweet dishes including ice creams and pastries. Cannoli, a tube-shaped shell of fried pastry dough filled with a sweet filling usually containing ricotta cheese, is in particular strongly associated with Sicily worldwide.^[67] Biancomangiare, biscotti ennesi (cookies native to Enna), braccilatte a Sicilian version of doughnuts, buccellato, ciarduna, pignoli, bruccellati, sesame seed cookies, a sweet confection with sesame seeds and almonds (torrone in Italy) is cubbaita, from the Arabic sweet qubbayt, frutta martorana, cassata, pignolata, granita and cuccìa are amongst some of the most notable sweet dishes.^[67]

Like the cuisine of the rest of southern Italy, pasta plays an important part in Sicilian cuisine, as does rice; for example with arancini.^[68] As well as using some other cheeses, Sicily has spawned some of its own, using both cows and sheeps milk, such as pecorino and caciocavallo.^[69] Spices used include saffron, nutmeg, clove, pepper, and cinnamon which were introducted by the Arabs. Although commonly associated with sea food cuisines, meat dishes including goose, lamb, goat, rabbit, and turkey are also found in Sicily, it was the Normans and Hohenstaufen who first introduced a fondness for meat dishes to the island.^[70]

[edit] Arts

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.^[71] Gorgias and Empedocles are two other highly noted early Sicilian-Greek philosophers, while the Syracusan Epicharmus is held to be the inventor of comedy.^[72][73] The golden age of Sicilian poetry began in the early 13th century with the Sicilian School, which was highly influential. Some of the most noted figures in the area of Sicilian poetry and writing are Luigi Pirandello, Salvatore Quasimodo, Antonio Veneziano and Giovanni Verga. On the political side notable Sicilian philosophers include: Giovanni Gentile who wrote The Doctrine of Fascism and Julius Evola.

“	Give me a lever and a place to stand and I will move the Earth!	”
—Archimedes[74]

Terra cotta 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.^[75] There are two prominent folk art traditions on Sicily, both draw heavily from Norman influence; Sicilian cart is the painting of wooden carts with intricate decorations of scenes from the Norman romantic poems, such as The Song of Roland.^[76] The same tales are told in traditional puppet theatres which feature hand-made wooden marionettes, this is especially popular in Acireale.^[77] Famous Sicilian painters include Renaissance artist Antonello da Messina, Renato Guttuso and Greek born Giorgio de Chirico who is commonly dubbed the "father of Surrealist art" and founder of the metaphysical art movement.^[78]

Palermo hosts the Teatro Massimo, which is the largest opera house in Italy and the third largest in all of Europe.^[79] Sicilian composers vary from Vincenzo Bellini, Sigismondo d'India, Giovanni Pacini and Alessandro Scarlatti, to contemporary composers such as Salvatore Sciarrino. 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", Rosi's "Salvatore Giuliano" and Antonioni's "L'avventura".

[edit] Language

Main article: Sicilian language

Many Sicilians are bilingual in Italian and Sicilian, an entirely separate Romance language which is not derived from Italian and has a sizeable vocabulary with at least 250,000 words. Some of the words are loan words with slight changes, taking influence from Greek, Latin, Catalan, Arabic, Spanish and others.^[80] The Sicilian language is also spoken to some extent in Calabria and Apulia; it had a significant influence on the Maltese language. In the modern age as Italian is taught in schools and is the language of the media, especially in some of the urban areas Sicilian is now a secondary language amongst much of the youth.

The Sicilian language was an early influence in the development of the first Italian standard, although its use remained confined to an intellectual élite. 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 a higher praise than the others, since all the poetry written by Italians can be called Sicilian".^[81] It is in this language that appeared the first sonnet, whose invention is attributed to Giacomo da Lentini himself.

There are also a couple of less common, unofficial languages spoken on the island. In around five small Palermitan villages, Arbëreshë dialect of the Albanian language has been spoken since a wave of refugees settled there in the 15th century; these people are predominantly Byzantine Catholics and chant Greek at local Byzantine liturgy.^[82] There are also several Ennese towns where dialects of the Lombard language of the Gallo-Italic family are spoken.^[83] Much of these two groups of people are tri-lingual, being able to also speak Italian and Sicilian.

[edit] Sports

The best known and most popular sport on the island of Sicily is football, which was introduced in the late 1800s under the influence of the English. Some of the oldest football clubs in all of Italy are Sicilian: the three most successful are Palermo, Messina and Catania, who have all, at some point, played in the prestigious Serie A. To date, no Sicilian side has ever won Serie A, however football is deeply embeded in local culture, all over Sicily each town has its own representative team.^[84]

Palermo and Catania have a heated rivalry and compete in the Sicilian derby together: to date Palermo is the only Sicilian team to have played on the European stage, in the UEFA Cup. The most noted Sicilian footballer is Salvatore Schillaci who won the Golden Boot at the 1990 FIFA World Cup with Italy.^[84] Other noted Sicilian players include Giuseppe Furino, Pietro Anastasi, Francesco Coco, Christian Riganò and Roberto Galia.^[84] There have also been some noted managers from the island, such as Carmelo Di Bella and Franco Scoglio.

Although football is by far the most popular sport in Sicily, the island also has participants in other fields. Amatori Catania compete in the top Italian national rugby union league called Super 10, they have even participated at 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, the sport has a reasonable following. Various other sports which are played to some extent includes 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.^[85] The event was started in 1906 by Sicilian industrialist and automobile enthusiast Vincenzo Florio, and ran until it was cancelled due to safety concerns in 1977.^[85]

[edit] World Heritage Sites

Noto, Ragusa, and particularly Acireale contain some of Italy's best examples of Baroque architecture, carved in the local red sandstone.

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Fabio Spadi (2001) "The Bridge on the Strait of Messina: 'Lowering' the Right of Innocent Passage?" International and Comparative Law Quarterly 50: 411 ff.
• Mary Spicuzza (2004) "Sicily: A Bridge Too Far?" PBS Frontline/World Fellows.
• "From Rome to Sicily: Plane or Train?" Expert Travel Advice, The New York Times, Feb. 7, 2008 The New York Times.

[edit] See also

• Sicilian Defence

[edit] External links

• (Italian) Sicily Region — Official website

Geographic locale
v • d • e Sicily Provinces and places Agrigento  • Caltanissetta • Catania • Enna • Messina • Palermo • Ragusa • Syracuse • Trapani • Islands • Cities, towns and villages History Magna Græcia • Sicilia province • Sicilian revolt • Emirate of Sicily • County of Sicily • Kingdom of Sicily • War of the Sicilian Vespers • Monarchs • Viceroys • Two Sicilies • 1848 Sicilian revolution • 1908 Messina earthquake • Allied invasion of Sicily Culture and heritage Cuisine • Language • People • Music • Sicilian Baroque • Sicilian School • Sicilian cart • Coppola • Flags • Triskelion • Mount Etna • Chestnut Tree of One Hundred Horses v • d • e Non-sovereign territories of Europe Dependent territories and autonomous regions Adjara (Georgia) · Adygeya (Russia) · Akrotiri and Dhekelia1 (UK) · Åland (Finland) · Azores (Portugal) · Bashkortostan(Russia) · Canary Islands1 (Spain) · Ceuta1 (Spain) · Corsica (France) · Chechnya (Russia) · Chuvashia (Russia) · Crimea (Ukraine) · Dagestan (Russia) · Faroe Islands (Denmark) · Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Italy) · Gagauzia (Moldova) · Gibraltar (UK) · Greenland1 (Denmark) · Guernsey (UK) · Ingushetiya (Russia) · Jersey (UK) · Kabardino-Balkariya (Russia) · Kalmykiya (Russia) · Karachay-Cherkessia (Russia) · Karelia (Russia) · Komi (Russia) · Madeira1 (Portugal) · Mordovia (Russia) · Man, Isle of (UK) · Mari El (Russia) · Melilla1 (Spain) · Mount Athos (Greece) · Nakhchivan1 (Azerbaijan) · Nenetsia (Russia) · North Ossetia (Russia) · Sardinia (Italy) · Sicily (Italy) · Tatarstan (Russia) · Trentino-Alto Adige (Italy) · Udmurtia (Russia) · Valle d'Aosta (Italy) Unrecognized republics, territories, or regions Abkhazia (Georgia) · Kosovo (Serbia) · Nagorno-Karabakh (Azerbaijan)1 · South Ossetia (Georgia) · Székely Land (Romania) · Transnistria (Moldova) · Northern Cyprus (Cyprus)1, 2 1 Entirely on another continent but having sociopolitical connections with Europe.  2 Recognized only by Turkey. v • d • e Regions of Italy Abruzzo · Aosta Valley · Apulia · Basilicata · Calabria · Campania · Emilia-Romagna · Friuli-Venezia Giulia · Lazio · Liguria · Lombardy · Marche · Molise · Piedmont · Sardinia · Sicily · Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol · Tuscany · Umbria · Veneto