Sicily (Italian: Sicilia [siˈtʃiːlja] ⓘ; Sicilian: Sicilia [sɪˈ(t)ʃiːlja] ⓘ) is the largest and most populous island in the

Mediterranean Sea and one of the 20 regions of Italy. It is one of the five Italian autonomous regions and is
officially referred to as Regione Siciliana. The island has 4.8 million inhabitants. Its capital city is Palermo. It is
named after the Sicels, who inhabited the eastern part of the island during the Iron Age.

Sicily is in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe; it is separated
from Calabria by the Strait of Messina. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano
in Europe, and is 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 record of human activity on the island is from around 14,000 BC. By around 750
BC, Sicily had three Phoenician and a dozen Greek colonies. The region thus became one of the centers of
Magna Graecia, with the foundation along its coasts of many Greek city-states (póleis). The Sicilian Wars
affected the island between 580 and 265 BC and the Punic Wars, between 264 and 146 BC, were fought
between Rome and Carthage. The Roman province of Sicilia ended 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.[5][6] In 1816,
it was unified under the House of Bourbon with the Kingdom of Naples, also officially known as the Kingdom
of Sicily, as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The island officially became part of Italy in 1860 following the
Expedition of the Thousand, a revolt led by Giuseppe Garibaldi during the unification of Italy, and a plebiscite.
Sicily was given special status as an autonomous administrative division on 15 May 1946, 18 days before the
1946 Italian institutional referendum.

Sicily has a rich and unique culture in arts, music, literature, cuisine, and architecture.

Geography[edit]
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.[7] 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),[8] while the Autonomous Region of Sicily (which includes smaller
surrounding islands) has an area of 27,708 km2 (10,698 sq mi).[9]
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).[10] 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 Sicily being
geographically on the northern edge of the African Plate.[11] Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe
and casts black ash over the island with its recurrent eruptions. It 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 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.[12] 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 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 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[edit]

Inner Sicily

Sicily has for the most part a typical Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa) with mild and
wet winters and hot, dry summers with changeable intermediate seasons. On the coasts, especially in the
southwest, the climate is affected by the African currents and summers can be hot.

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

In the summer, the sirocco – the wind from the Sahara – can be felt. Rainfall is scarce, and in some provinces
a water crisis can occur.

According to the Regional Agency for Waste and Water, on 10 August 1999, the weather station of
Catenanuova (EN) recorded an unofficial maximum temperature of 48.5 °C (119 °F).[13] On 11 August 2021, a
new highest temperature record for Europe with a reading of 48.8 °C (119.8 °F) was set near the city of
Syracuse.[14] 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.[10] 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 forest.[15] 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; it
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.[16]

Sicily has a wide variety of fauna. Species include the European wildcat, red fox, least weasel, pine marten,
fallow deer,[17] wild boar, crested porcupine, European hedgehog, common toad, Vipera aspis, golden eagle,
peregrine falcon, Eurasian hoopoe and black-winged stilt.[18] Roe deer were driven to extinction on the
island.[19] The Sicilian wolf (Canis lupus cristaldii) was an endemic wolf subspecies that was driven to extinction
in the 20th century. During the Late Pleistocene, a species of dwarf elephant, Palaeoloxodon mnaidriensis
inhabited the island, with its latest records on Sicily dating to around 20,000 years ago.[20]

The Riserva naturale dello Zingaro (Zingaro Natural Reserve) is one of the best examples of unspoiled coastal
wilderness in Sicily.[21]

Marine Life of the Straits of Messina includes varieties of birds and marine life, including larger species such
as greater flamingo and fin whale.

History[edit]
Main article: History of Sicily

The name Sicilia was given to the Roman province in 241 BC. It is named after the Sicels, who inhabited the
eastern part of the island during the Iron Age.

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).[22][23]
Prehistory[edit]

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

Humans first colonized Sicily towards the end of the Late Pleistocene, around 16,000 years ago, by people
associated with the Epigravettian culture.[24]

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.[25] The impact of at least two influences is clear: the European one
coming from the Northwest, and the Mediterranean influence of an eastern heritage.[26]

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 original classical-era inhabitants of Sicily comprised three defined groups of the ancient peoples of Italy:
the Sicani, the Elymians and the Sicels. The most prominent and by far the earliest of these were the Sicani,
who (Thucydides writes) arrived from the Iberian Peninsula (perhaps Catalonia).[27][28] Some modern scholars,
however, suggest classifying the Sicani as possibly an Illyrian tribe.[29] 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.[30] The Elymians, thought to have come from the area of the Aegean Sea, became the next tribe to
join the Sicanians on Sicily.[31]

Dolmen of Monte Bubbonia, south Sicily

No evidence survives of warring between tribes, but the Sicanians moved eastwards when the Elymians
settled in the northwest corner of the island. The Sicels are thought[30] 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.[30] Other minor Italic groups who settled in Sicily included the Ausones (Aeolian Islands,
Milazzo) and the Morgetes of Morgantina.

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 fertile soils, and the successful introduction
of olives and grape vines fostered 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 became more unrelenting in its annihilation of the invaders; 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. 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 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, write and do arithmetic.[48]

Byzantine period (535–827)[edit]

Further information: Byzantine Empire

Historic map of Sicily by Piri Reis

After taking areas occupied by the Vandals in North Africa, Justinian I retook 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, and 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 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 moved 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 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 estimated there were 7,000 butchers
trading in 150 shops. During Muslim rule agricultural products such as oranges, lemons, pistachios 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 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 government.[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 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]

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 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 the 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).
Kingdom of Sicily (1198–1860)[edit]
Main articles: Kingdom of Sicily and List of monarchs of Sicily

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 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 people, 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]

The Sicilian Vespers, Francesco Hayez, oil on canvas, 1846

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 Crown 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 and 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,
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 destructive earthquakes in 1542 and 1693. Just a few years
before the latter earthquake, the island was struck by a 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 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 was
installed. Ferdinand III, the Bourbon, was forced to retreat to Sicily which he was still in 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 in which more than
75% of Sicily voted in favour of the annexation on 21 October 1860 (although 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 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 due to
investments in infrastructure such as motorways and airports, and thanks to the creation of industrial and
commercial areas.[86] In the 1980s, the Mafia was weakened by another 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,
[and] New Jersey. Because from Sicily to the US, the old mafia has returned".[92

Sicily (Italian: Sicilia [siˈtʃiːlja] ⓘ; Sicilian: Sicilia [sɪˈ(t)ʃiːlja] ⓘ) is the largest and most populous island in the
Mediterranean Sea and one of the 20 regions of Italy. It is one of the five Italian autonomous regions and is
officially referred to as Regione Siciliana. The island has 4.8 million inhabitants. Its capital city is Palermo. It is
named after the Sicels, who inhabited the eastern part of the island during the Iron Age.

Sicily is in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe; it is separated
from Calabria by the Strait of Messina. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano
in Europe, and is 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 record of human activity on the island is from around 14,000 BC. By around 750
BC, Sicily had three Phoenician and a dozen Greek colonies. The region thus became one of the centers of
Magna Graecia, with the foundation along its coasts of many Greek city-states (póleis). The Sicilian Wars
affected the island between 580 and 265 BC and the Punic Wars, between 264 and 146 BC, were fought
between Rome and Carthage. The Roman province of Sicilia ended 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.[5][6] In 1816,
it was unified under the House of Bourbon with the Kingdom of Naples, also officially known as the Kingdom
of Sicily, as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The island officially became part of Italy in 1860 following the
Expedition of the Thousand, a revolt led by Giuseppe Garibaldi during the unification of Italy, and a plebiscite.
Sicily was given special status as an autonomous administrative division on 15 May 1946, 18 days before the
1946 Italian institutional referendum.

Sicily has a rich and unique culture in arts, music, literature, cuisine, and architecture.

Geography[edit]
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.[7] 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),[8] while the Autonomous Region of Sicily (which includes smaller
surrounding islands) has an area of 27,708 km2 (10,698 sq mi).[9]

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).[10] 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 Sicily being
geographically on the northern edge of the African Plate.[11] Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe
and casts black ash over the island with its recurrent eruptions. It 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 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.[12] 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 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 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[edit]

Inner Sicily

Sicily has for the most part a typical Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa) with mild and
wet winters and hot, dry summers with changeable intermediate seasons. On the coasts, especially in the
southwest, the climate is affected by the African currents and summers can be hot.

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

In the summer, the sirocco – the wind from the Sahara – can be felt. Rainfall is scarce, and in some provinces
a water crisis can occur.

According to the Regional Agency for Waste and Water, on 10 August 1999, the weather station of
Catenanuova (EN) recorded an unofficial maximum temperature of 48.5 °C (119 °F).[13] On 11 August 2021, a
new highest temperature record for Europe with a reading of 48.8 °C (119.8 °F) was set near the city of
Syracuse.[14] 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.[10] 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 forest.[15] 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; it
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.[16]

Sicily has a wide variety of fauna. Species include the European wildcat, red fox, least weasel, pine marten,
fallow deer,[17] wild boar, crested porcupine, European hedgehog, common toad, Vipera aspis, golden eagle,
peregrine falcon, Eurasian hoopoe and black-winged stilt.[18] Roe deer were driven to extinction on the
island.[19] The Sicilian wolf (Canis lupus cristaldii) was an endemic wolf subspecies that was driven to extinction
in the 20th century. During the Late Pleistocene, a species of dwarf elephant, Palaeoloxodon mnaidriensis
inhabited the island, with its latest records on Sicily dating to around 20,000 years ago.[20]

The Riserva naturale dello Zingaro (Zingaro Natural Reserve) is one of the best examples of unspoiled coastal
wilderness in Sicily.[21]

Marine Life of the Straits of Messina includes varieties of birds and marine life, including larger species such
as greater flamingo and fin whale.

History[edit]
Main article: History of Sicily

The name Sicilia was given to the Roman province in 241 BC. It is named after the Sicels, who inhabited the
eastern part of the island during the Iron Age.

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).[22][23]

Prehistory[edit]

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

Humans first colonized Sicily towards the end of the Late Pleistocene, around 16,000 years ago, by people
associated with the Epigravettian culture.[24]

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.[25] The impact of at least two influences is clear: the European one
coming from the Northwest, and the Mediterranean influence of an eastern heritage.[26]
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 original classical-era inhabitants of Sicily comprised three defined groups of the ancient peoples of Italy:
the Sicani, the Elymians and the Sicels. The most prominent and by far the earliest of these were the Sicani,
who (Thucydides writes) arrived from the Iberian Peninsula (perhaps Catalonia).[27][28] Some modern scholars,
however, suggest classifying the Sicani as possibly an Illyrian tribe.[29] 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.[30] The Elymians, thought to have come from the area of the Aegean Sea, became the next tribe to
join the Sicanians on Sicily.[31]

Dolmen of Monte Bubbonia, south Sicily

No evidence survives of warring between tribes, but the Sicanians moved eastwards when the Elymians
settled in the northwest corner of the island. The Sicels are thought[30] 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.[30] Other minor Italic groups who settled in Sicily included the Ausones (Aeolian Islands,
Milazzo) and the Morgetes of Morgantina.

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 fertile soils, and the successful introduction
of olives and grape vines fostered 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 became more unrelenting in its annihilation of the invaders; 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. 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 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, write and do arithmetic.[48]

Byzantine period (535–827)[edit]

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

After taking areas occupied by the Vandals in North Africa, Justinian I retook 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, and 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 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 moved 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 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 estimated there were 7,000 butchers
trading in 150 shops. During Muslim rule agricultural products such as oranges, lemons, pistachios 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 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 government.[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 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]
 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 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 the 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).

Kingdom of Sicily (1198–1860)[edit]

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

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 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 people, 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]

The Sicilian Vespers, Francesco Hayez, oil on canvas, 1846

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 Crown 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 and 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,
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 destructive earthquakes in 1542 and 1693. Just a few years
before the latter earthquake, the island was struck by a 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 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 was
installed. Ferdinand III, the Bourbon, was forced to retreat to Sicily which he was still in 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 in which more than
75% of Sicily voted in favour of the annexation on 21 October 1860 (although 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 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 due to
investments in infrastructure such as motorways and airports, and thanks to the creation of industrial and
commercial areas.[86] In the 1980s, the Mafia was weakened by another 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,
[and] New Jersey. Because from Sicily to the US, the old mafia has returned".[92