Sicily

Located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily is the largest region in Italy.

Totally insular, consisting of the main island and a series of archipelagos (the Aeolian, Egadi and Pelagie Islands) and smaller islands (including Ustica and Pantelleria), it faces the Tyrrhenian Sea to the north. To the northeast, the Strait of Messina divides the island from the Italian peninsula. Sicily is washed by the Ionian Sea to the east, while to the south-west it is divided from Africa by the Strait of Sicily.

Also called 'island of the sun' because of its identification with the island described by Omero in Book XI of the “Odissea”, in ancient times it was called 'Trinacria' for its almost triangular shape (from the greek treis, tre- and àkra, promontories).

Today, for the variety of its naturalistic, historical and cultural aspects it is called 'island-continent'. 

The territory is mainly hilly (61.4%) and mountainous (25%), the remaining part is flat, mostly concentrated in the area of Catania; but the sea surrounds this corner of paradise immersed in the Mediterranean.

The Peloritani mountains, the Nebrodi and the Madonie are the reliefs present in Eastern Sicily: it is here that we find the Pizzo Carbonara, the second highest peak of the island, with 1977 meters high.

At the center of the region, we find the Erei mountains, on which stands (948 meters high) the city of Enna, while between the province of Ragusa and Syracuse are the wonderful Iblei mountains to welcome us. Finally, to the west, we find the Sicani, mountains of variable height, whose highest peak is mount Cammarata, 1580 meters.

The geography of Sicily is characterized by a wide biodiversity and a wide variety of geological and morphological.

The rivers are of limited flow and extent, often torrential like the rivers of Nebrodi, Madonie and Peloritani, which in summer are almost perpetually dry.

For its inestimable cultural value, having one of the oldest documented stories in the world, Etna 'a muntagna' - is certainly the most important European volcano, whose activity has lasted at least 2700 years. The most restless and fascinating mountain in all of Sicily has become in 2013, in fact, a World Heritage Site. Mount Etna, with its 3300 meters high, is a place where nature expresses its power to the maximum, where often fire and snow meet and give life to a unique and fascinating show.

The longest watercourse of the island is the southern Imera, while the one with the largest catchment area is the Simeto.

On the Ionian coast flow the Alcantara, whose waters flow on a bed of lava stone, the Anapo, the San Leonardo, the Simeto and its tributary Gornalunga. In the depth of the city of Catania, as covered by the eruption of the eighteenth century, flows an underground river called Amenano.

The Torto and the northern Imera flow on the Tyrrhenian coast, while on the coast of the southern coast flow the Dirillo, the Gela, the southern Imera, the Platani and the Belice.

There are very few lakes of natural origin. Among the few extant are Lake Pergusa, of paleo volcanic origin, and Lake Lentini (a semi-natural lake): the latter has the particularity of hosting a remarkable variety of fish and birds.

Many coastal lakes, almost all in reserves.

Over 70 are the natural reserves of Sicily to protect forests, mountains, rivers, lakes, salt pans, islands, caves and wildlife oasis. 5 parks, including the Alcantara river park in which, over 25 meters high, we can admire the picturesque Alcantara Gorges.

The capital of Sicily, Palermo, has been elected European Capital of Street Food: among the cities with excellent street food, according to a ranking of Forbes, it is in first place in Europe.

The provinces in which the Sicilian territory is divided are nine, whose capitals are Agrigento, Caltanissetta, Catania, Enna, Messina, Palermo, Ragusa, Siracusa, Trapani.

Within these provinces there are numerous municipalities, villages and villages among the most beautiful in Italy, it is certainly not a coincidence if the German author Goethe fell in love with it to the point of defining Sicily 'the key to everything'

Thanks to its privileged central position, Sicily has always been the meeting point of civilizations. Influenced by the many ethnic groups that have passed on its territory, it owes its culture to the Normans, who created Sicily as we know it today.

There is no place in the world that has undergone so many transformations always remaining the same, without losing the peculiarity of its traditions and its historical individuality: Sicily was in fact Phoenician, Greek, Byzantine, Arab, Norman, Swabian, Angevin, Aragonese, Spanish, Savoy, Austrian and Bourbon. Everyone has left something that was then incorporated into a great time machine that is this wonderful land, that has been able to value the past to be able to face the future.

Sicily is also the birthplace of a series of records: the first Parliament in the world (organized under the Normans), the first state in the modern sense of the term, the birth of Italian literature, the most important European popular movement (the Sicilian Vespers revolt of 1282), the first revolutionary socialist movement (Fasci siciliani dei lavoratori of 1893-94).

The first inhabitants were the Siculi (or Sicans); but with the Phoenicians, who settled in the western part of the island and founded Palermo, there were the first contacts among the Mediterranean people. The Greeks arrived in the eighth century B.C. founding or expanding the centers of Catania, Messina, Taormina, Syracuse, Gela and Agrigento.

The Romans arrived in the third century B.C., making Sicily a Roman province and increasing, thanks to its agricultural wealth and its culture, the imperial power of Rome.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Sicily suffered numerous barbarian invasions, until the passage under Byzantine rule in the sixth century A.D. Later the Arabs arrived, making the island shine, both culturally and economically.

We are in 827 A.D. The re-Christianization occurred at the end of 1000, thanks to the Normans, successors of the Arabs. Then Swabians, Angevins and Aragonese until 1412, opening the doors to the Spanish domination and the annexed catastrophes, famines, epidemics and wars that afflicted Sicily.

Thanks to the Peace of Utrecht of 1713 Sicily went into the hands of the Austrians, and then passed, in 1735, to the Bourbons, who remained in Sicily until 1860, the year of the famous enterprise of the Thousand, which united the island to the other Italian regions.