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- Sicily, the largest and most densely populated island in the Mediterranean, has been the crossroads of civilizations since 10 thousand years ago. Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs and Normans had wrestled through the centuries over it until the 12th century, when it became part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
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Jul 21, 2015 · Critically acclaimed author John Julius Norwich weaves the turbulent story of Sicily into a spellbinding narrative that places the island at the crossroads of world history. “Sicily,” said Goethe, “is the key to everything.”.
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Eternal crossroads of the Mediterranean, the gorgeous island of Sicily continues to seduce travellers with its dazzling diversity of landscapes and cultural treasures.
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Sicily, island, southern Italy, the largest and one of the most densely populated islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Together with the Egadi, Lipari, Pelagie, and Panteleria islands, Sicily forms an autonomous region of Italy. It lies about 100 miles (160 km) northeast of Tunisia (northern Africa). The island is separated from the mainland by the St...
Sicily was inhabited 10,000 years ago. Its strategic location at the centre of the Mediterranean has made the island a crossroads of history, a pawn of conquest and empire, and a melting pot for a dozen or more ethnic groups whose warriors or merchants sought its shores. At the coming of the Greeks, three peoples occupied Sicily: in the east the Siculi, or Sicels, who gave their name to the island but were reputed to be latecomers from Italy; to the west of the Gelas River, the Sicani; and in the extreme west the Elymians, a people to whom a Trojan origin was assigned, with their chief centres at Segesta and at Eryx (Erice). The Siculi spoke an Indo-European language; there are no remains of the languages of the other peoples. There were also Phoenician settlements on the island. The Greeks settled Sicilian towns between the 8th and 6th centuries bce. The mountainous centre remained in the hands of Siculi and Sicani, who were increasingly Hellenized in ideas and material culture.
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In the 3rd century bce the island became the first Roman province. The Byzantine general Belisarius occupied Sicily in 535 ce, at the start of hostilities with the Ostrogoths in Italy, and after a short time Sicily came under Byzantine rule. In 965 the island fell to Arab conquest from North Africa, in 1060 to Normans, who progressively Latinized the island. In the 12th and 13th centuries the island formed a part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (or Naples), and in the 18th century Sicily was ruled by the Bourbons. During the 19th century the island was a major centre of revolutionary movements: in 1860, as a result of Giuseppe Garibaldi’s revolt, it was liberated from the Bourbons and in the following year was incorporated into the united kingdom of Italy. In 1947 Sicily gained regional autonomy.
The island is mostly mountainous, and seismic and volcanic activity is quite intense. Europe’s highest active volcano is Mount Etna (10,900 feet [3,220 metres]). The only wide valley is the fertile Plain of Catania in the east. The climate is subtropical and Mediterranean. Annual precipitation on the plains is 16–24 inches (400–600 mm), and in the mountains 47–55 inches (1,200–1,400 mm). Underground water and springs are plentiful. The natural vegetation of Sicily has been greatly reduced by human influence, and forests occupy only 4 percent of the territory.
Sicilians are a diverse people, having had contact with a great variety of ethnicities and physical types through the centuries. Despite its position at the crossroads of many Mediterranean civilizations, it retains many characteristics of more rural regions bred of its isolation and distance from mainland Italy. One peculiar feature of the separateness of Sicilian life is the persistence of the Mafia, an organization dating from the Middle Ages that gradually evolved into a paralegal criminal brotherhood. It gives certain parts of the island virtually a dual government, standard of conduct, and system of enforcement—one is the legitimate regime and the other a shadow, but a pervasive social, economic, and political network maintaining its powers through violence.
Sicily’s strong cultural traditions can be seen in the development of Italian lyrical poetry as well as in the works of modern writers such as Giovanni Verga, Luigi Pirandello, and Leonardo Sciascia. Several examples of folk art—such as embroidery, painting, and puppetry—and popular religious festivals also mark Sicily’s contribution to Italian culture.
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The island’s economy has remained relatively underdeveloped, but heavy industrial activity, based on the oil-refining and chemical industries, expanded markedly in the latter decades of the 20th century. Large quantities of natural gas and sulfur are produced, although the latter has been declining. Other industries include food processing, salt extraction, wine making, textiles, and shipbuilding. The region is mainly agricultural. Wheat, barley, corn (maize), olives, citrus fruit, almonds, wine grapes, and some cotton are produced, and cattle, mules, donkeys, and sheep are raised. Area 9,830 square miles (25,460 square km). Pop. (2011) 5,002,904.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
May 7, 2015 · A gentle introduction to the history of Sicily, at the crossroads of the Mediterranean. Norwich outlines how Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Aragonese and Spaniards wash over the island - each adding a little something to the cultural, linguistic and racial mix.
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Sep 12, 2023 · Book San Domenico Palace Here. San Domenico Palace sits at the edge of Taormina with Mt. Etna as its dramatic backdrop. Courtesy of Four Seasons. The other spot on the island that remains an...
Apr 24, 2023 · Throughout its history, Sicily has been shaped by its strategic location at the crossroads of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Sicily’s complex history has left a lasting legacy on the island’s culture, architecture, and cuisine.
Critically acclaimed author John Julius Norwich weaves the turbulent story of Sicily into a spellbinding narrative that places the island at the crossroads of world history. “Sicily,” said Goethe, “is the key to everything.”
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