INTRODUCTION -- GEOGRAPHY -- THE THREE EARLIEST RACES -- THREE NEW RACES: PHOENICIANS, CARTHAGINIANS, GREEKS -- A TEAT FOR ROME -- BARBARIANS, THEN BYZANTINES, THEN ARABS -- THE GLORIOUS NORMANS BUILD A DUOMO IN MONREALE -- THE SICILIAN VESPERS: FRENCH, THEN SPANISH RULE -- GARIBALDI, AND THE MAFIA MYTH -- IN CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION

Though smaller than the state of Massachusetts, the island of Sicily is one of the most interesting, culturally rich, and stunningly beautiful regions in the entire world.

The fact that Sicily has been inhabited and/or invaded by at least 15 different races has proven its great advantage. Sicily took as spoils the food, music, and architecture of the cultures that crossed its path. That's why today, no city in Greece has better preserved Greek ruins than Agrigenta. No city in Austria is more jam-packed with Baroque architecture than Noto. And nowhere in the world is there a more colossal and opulent example of Norman architecture then the Duomo in Monreale. Yet equally abundant are the wartime scars inflicted by these very nations. Thus Sicily, and its culture, remain a dichotomy of beauty and the pain of its attainment.

GEOGRAPHY

The sultry September sun and scirocco reminds one of just how close Sicily is to Africa. (A mere 125 nautical miles separate the ports of Trapani from Tunis). Sicily is the largest and most important island in the Mediterrean. Locating it is easy: it looks like it’s being “kicked” by the boot of Italy. Villa San Giovanni, Calabria, the city at the “toe,” is separated from Messina, Sicily, only by the narrow Strait of Messina, which is between 2 and 10 miles in width. (The treacherous whirlpools and undertoe in the strait inspired the ancient legend of Scylla and Charybdis.) Sicily is a triangular island, bounded on the Southwest by the Mediterrean Sea, on the North by the Tyrrhenian Sea, and on the East by the Ionian Sea.

Sicily is comprised of nine regions (Agrigento, Caltanissetta, Catania, Enna, Messina, Palermo, Ragusa, Siracusa, and Trapani) and many smaller islands (the Egadi Islands, the Lipari Islands, the Pelagie Islands which include Lampedusa, Pantelleria island, and Ustica island). The most important cities in Italy are Palermo (in the Northwest) and Catania (in the East), near Europe’s largest active volcano, the violent Mt. Etna.

The population of Sicily is about 4.7 million. Between the late 1800s and 1914, a staggering 1.5 million (!) people left Sicily for the Americas. An astonishing percentage. But if even today the unemployment rate in Sicily is around 15-20%, imagine how much more tragically the Sicilian people were suffering then.

THE THREE EARLIEST RACES

The afore-mentioned triangularity of Sicily gave it one of its earliest nicknames, Trinacria, the Greek word for triangle. However, the Greeks were relative latecomers to Sicily.

The island has been inhabited for at least 10,000 years -- at least 2,000 years before the Phoenicians. The earliest known ethnic groups were three: (from West to East) the Elimi (or Elymians), the Sicani, and the Siculi (who gave Sicily its name). Virtually nothing is known about the culture of these three races. The oldest were probably the Sicani. They may have been of Libyan-Iberian origin. The Elimi came next. Tradition has it that they were from Troy, but they probably came from Asia Minor. The Elimi were concentrated on the Northwest coast; their principal cities were Segesta and Erice -- both of which exist, under the same names, to this very day.

Lastly, we have the Siculi, who gave the island its name. (In fact, to this very day, many Sicilian-Americans use “Siculo-” as the prefix for Sicily, as one would Franco- for French, Italo- for Italian, Sino- for Chinese, etc.) Scholars seem to agree that the Siculi spoke an Indo-European language. Also, the Siculi may have been the first of the three tribes to come in contact with the subsequent Greek settlers a few thousand years later.

THREE NEW RACES: PHOENICIANS, CARTHAGINIANS, GREEKS

The Phoenicians arrived around the 8th century, B.C. The Phoenicians were followed by the Carthaginians and then the Greeks. The most important Phoenician city was Panormus (now Palermo). The Carthaginians founded Lilybaeum (now Marsala), Drepanum (now Trapani), and Solunto. (Some sources say they, not the Phoenicians, founded Panormus as well.) By the 6th century B. C. the Greeks had founded such cities as Siragusa (in English “Syracuse”), Catania, Zancle (now Messina), Gela, and Selinus and took over older towns like Segesta. These Greek cities flourished and in turn founded such cities as Acragas (now Agrigento) and Himera. (Himera was levelled by Carthage in 409 B.C. Its inhabitants moved to nearby Thermae, which to this day is called Termini.)

Meanwhile, of the three original Sicilian races, the Siculi and the Sicani seem still to have been in existence (mostly in the mountainous center of the island) though, as time passed, the races and their unique cultures became Hellenistically diluted.

Obviously it was during these centuries that the famous Greek temples were built in Selinunte, Agrigento, Siragusa, etc. To this day, these temples are better preserved and have been less tourist-trampled than many temples in Greece itself.

One sometimes hears the term “Siciliots,” referring to the “Greek-Sicilians,” i.e. those of Greek descent who lived on the island of Sicily, as opposed to members of the three original tribes.

I will say, at this juncture: while Sicilians today debate, sometimes acrimoniously, who are the “true Sicilians,” my readers can see that such a race not only does not exist but has never existed.

A TEAT FOR ROME

In the 3rd century B.C. the island became the first Roman province. The Carthaginians by this time ruled half of the island and remained a mighty adversary for the Greeks, who owned the other half. Like the superpowers of today who like to “intervene,” in the name of “peace” (sound familiar?), Rome decided to interfere, precipitating the First Punic War (264-241 BC). After the Roman victory and the death of Hiero II of Siragusa, Rome gained control of most of the island.

Thus, Sicily’s role as military pawn of the Mediterrean was not a modern phenomenon. Although the Romans continued the cultural enrichment that Greece had started, they so exploited the island, in every way, that Sicily became known as the Breadbasket of Rome. The Roman statesman Cato the Younger (95 B.C.-46 B.C.) called Sicily “the nurse at whose breast the people of Rome suckle.”)

For instance, the wealthier Romans liked to buy up land in Sicily and turn the Sicilians into slaves. Needless to say, this caused great unrest. Slave revolts (135–132 B.C. and 104–100 B.C.) were cruelly suppressed. Roman’s corrupt rule reached a peak under governor Caius Verres (73–71 B.C.). And during the reign of Octavian (63 B.C.-A.D. 14), Roman immigration was on the increase. Many veterans of the Roman-Sicilian wars thought of Sicily as their Florida and decided to buy land on the island. Thus the Latinization of Sicily, which gradually displaced the island’s Hellenistic culture.

BARBARIANS, THEN BYZANTINES, THEN ARABS

After the fall of Rome, Sicily passed from the Vandals (mid-5th cent. A.D.) to the Goths (493) and then to the Byzantines (535), when Byzantine general Belisarius occupied Sicily at the start of hostilities with the Ostrogoths in Italy. Sicily remained under Byzantine rule for more than 400 years. During two of those four centuries the island was being raided by Muslim Arabs from North Africa. In 965 the island finally fell to that group, which, in its defense, did promote agriculture, commerce, and the arts and sciences. The Arab influence on Sicily’s dialect and music can be sensed even today. And it was probably the Arabs who introduced not only the gelsi (mulberry trees) but the lemon and orange trees which, to this day, are among Sicily’s greatest prides.

THE GLORIOUS NORMANS BUILD A DUOMO IN MONREALE

In 1060 the Arabs were driven out by the Normans, led by Roger of Altavilla (known as Roger I). In 1130 his successor, Roger II, became the first king of Sicily, in a coronation held in the Duomo of Palermo. Nine years later he confronted Pope Innocent II, who had claimed suzerainty over the island. The Pope gave Roger II Sicily as well as the Norman holdings in Southern Italy.

(These holdings would become Kingdom of Naples, while Sicily would be known as the Kingdom of Sicily. One could regard this as the embryo of the term “Kingdom of the Two Sicilies” which was to be coined many centuries later.)

The court of Roger II was a brilliant one. He was widely admired for his “wisdom, liberality, and valor.” Roger II was succeeded by William I (“The Bad”), who was succeeded by William II (“The Good”), Sicily’s last Norman king. Crowned in 1171 when only 18 years old, William II wasted no time in instigating the groundbreaking of Sicily’s architectural crown jewel, the hitherto mentioned Duomo di Monreale.

Monreale is about a half-hour bus ride from Palermo. A visit to this Duomo is a prerequisite for anyone who makes the otherwise false claim that he or she has seen the most beautiful cathedrals in Europe. Imagine a large cathedral, 345 feet long by 131 feet wide (larger than a football field). Now imagine that the entire ceiling and walls are covered with over 68,000 square feet (!) of gilded mosaics (not gold paint -- real gold!), depicting the history of the life of Christ in 130 scenes! Considering the richness of the different cultures which were melded into this edifice (Romanesque, Byzantine, Arabic, and of course Norman -- with Greek and Latin inscriptions throughout), the Duomo of Monreale would make a good candidate for the icon of Sicily, just as David is the icon of Florence or the Colosseum that of Rome.

William II’s only heir, Roger II’s last direct descendant, was Constance. Constance married Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, son of Frederick I Hohenstaufen (aka Barbarossa or “Redbeard”). Henry and Constance’s son was Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. The legendary Frederick II was King of Sicily for 53 years, from 1197 (when he was three years old!) to his death in 1250 at age 56.

Like his ancestor Roger II, Frederick II held brilliant court and introduced many positive reforms to the island. Frederick didn’t hide the fact that he liked Sicily much better than he liked the other lands of the Holy Roman Empire. When Frederick visited the Holy Land (with which he was unimpressed), Salimbene quoted him as having said, “If the God of the Jews had seen his land of Terra di Lavoro, Calabria, Sicily, and Apulia, then He would not so have commended the land which He promised to the Jews.”

Meanwhile, during this era the island gradually was becoming Latinized, for the second time in its history.

This Norman era, especially the reign of Frederick II, saw Sicily at its most prosperous, most artistic, and most peaceful. Many great Norman churches and palaces remind us, to this day, of this glorious era in Sicily’s history.

THE SICILIAN VESPERS: FRENCH, THEN SPANISH RULE

All good things must come to an end. Frederick II was followed by weak rulers whom the Papacy found easier to outmaneuver. After 16 years (1266), the Angevin Charles I became ruler of Sicily and Naples as a papal vassal. And after 16 more years (1282), the French monarch’s oppression was answered by a huge revolt, known today as the Sicilian Vespers (subject of Verdi’s eponymous opera). The Sicilians chose Peter III of Aragón as their king, but although the Aragonese secured control of Sicily, the Angevins retained Naples. The two kingdoms warred until 1373, when Joanna I of Naples formally renounced Sicily. (That sentiment still exists, in full strength, today.)

After the Sicilian branch of Aragón became extinct (1409 or 1410), Sicily reverted to the main branch. The Aragonese era was a peaceful one, the Sicilians enjoying a good amount of autonomy and personal liberty. (They even had a powerful national assembly.) The honeymoon ended with the unification of Spain and the accession to the Spanish throne of the Habsburg dynasty (early 16th cent.). Spain created more centralization, and Spanish governors arrived on the island to “tighten the imperial bonds.” Corruption increased as a few powerful nobles and church officials began to have some power.

Sicily passed briefly to the house of Savoy (1713) and then to the Austrian Habsburgs (1720), but in 1734, during the War of the Polish Succession, both Sicily and Naples were conquered by the Spanish Bourbon prince Charles.

When Charles succeeded (1759) to the Spanish throne (as Charles III), Sicily and Naples passed to his son Ferdinand I. The Bourbons ruled from Naples until the French forced Ferdinand to flee to Sicily in 1806. Ten years later (8 December 1816), after the Napoleonic Wars, Ferdinand combined his realms, formally giving them the previously alluded to title “the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.”

Sicily and Naples didn’t want to merge, any more than the Carthaginians and the Greeks would have wanted to merge millennia previous, or the Israelis and the Palestinians would want to merge today. But Ferdinand I wanted to have himself a nice big kingdom. Not surprisingly, therefore, it was not a peaceful 42-year stretch which followed the birth of “the Two Sicilies.” Of the many unsuccessful revolts which ensued (1820, 1837, etc.), those of 1848-9 were so mercilessly and brutally surpressed that Ferdinand II earned the nickname “King Bomba.”

Finally, a revolt on 4 April 1860 set the scene for a man whose name you may have heard: Giuseppe Garibaldi.

GARIBALDI, AND THE MAFIA MYTH

Though the Piemontese annexation freed Sicily of Bourbon oppression, the acute disadvantages of Garibaldi’s victory can be felt even today. After Italy’s full unification, Sicily was neglected by the central government (and in many ways still is), and the island’s economic and social problems long remained unattended (and in many ways still are). From 1866 to 1894, the island was in a sorry state. No wonder the mass exodus to America originated at this time. And no wonder that Fascism also came into being.

During World War II, the Allies availed themselves of Sicily’s strategic location in the Mediterrean. Scars from the heavy fighting on July 9-10, 1943, can still be seen today in certain cities.

In April 1947 the first Sicilian parlament was elected, and on 26 February 1948 -- for the first time in the island’s long, long history -- Sicily gained its autonomy. But it still struggles. Though the Mafia is on the wane, it has at times been a damaging force in Sicily.

Please note, and note well: American organized crime as portrayed in the American media was cultivated HERE, in America, not on that beautiful Mediterranean island. (Note that I will refrain from using the term “American Mafia,” which as you will see is an incorrect one.)

The Sicilian Mafia and American organized crime à la Capone and Luciano were two completely different things.

In the early days of law enforcement, the American media needed to prove that organized crime really does exist. They had to call it something. So they took two Italian terms, “Mafia” and “La Cosa Nostra,” and applied them to American organized crime. Thus the birth of the misnomer “American Mafia” (a term at which many Italian-Americans take great offence).

Yes, there is a Sicilian Mafia, the roots of which go back to the Arab occupation. The oppressed native Sicilians took refuge in the surrounding hills, forming a secret society to protect themselves against their conquerers. Thus the term mafia, which comes from the Arabic word for refuge.

All it took was some bad weather to plunge this arid, agrarian island into even deeper poverty. There was no welfare. There was no government to be attentive to its needs. (There still isn’t.) Post-1860 Sicily was a hard place to survive, and it was only natural to try to protect one’s own interests.

American organized crime, as romanticized in the Godfather movies, was infinitely stronger and more perfidious. Sicily was an impoverished little island; what rackets were there for the mafiosi to get into? In America you had lots of big cities, with industries a lot more lucrative than almonds and chick peas! You had prostitution, gambling, bootlegging, and opportunities galore for extortion. Thus, the most ambitious, infamous mafiosi didn’t stay and corrupt the island but, instead, came to America.

It’s important to state that despite all the books on the topic, no one fully knows the true history of the Sicilian Mafia and the American crime families. Crime bosses didn’t exactly send press releases to the media! So there’s an awful lot of guesswork. The earliest significant mafioso on record was Don Vito Cascio Ferro, reputed to be Sicily’s first “Capo di Tutti i Capi.” Don Vito fled Sicily in 1901 to escape arrest. In America, he allegedly was responsible for forming the Black Hand, enlisting other Sicilian fugitives. Slowly but surely, mafiosi followed suit and left the island for America. In 1924 the emigration swelled further, as Mussolini was determined to rid Italy of these hoods.

Thanks to Hollywood, however, everyone thinks that Sicily is one big racket, a den of thievery and criminality. Tragically, the Italian media has been infected as well. Even as far south as Sicily’s nemesis, Naples, one watches the news on television and hears of Sicily only in relation to a shooting. The truth? I could write a huge article on crime in Naples. The minority of American tourists pass through Naples without something bad happening. In Palermo, the supposed seat of crime, I have walked the streets with no problem.

IN CONCLUSION

No doubt these things are factors in answering the perplexing question: Why don’t more tourists (Italian and American) visit Sicily?! Thanks to hoodlums like Al Capone (who had never even BEEN to Sicily) and the American journalists and screenwriters over the years with a demented fascination in these hoodlums, Sicily has been slandered almost beyond repair. Thus, the island remains one of the world’s best-kept secrets, one of the most fantastically beautiful and cultural inexhaustible places on Earth.

The Elimi, the Sicani, the Siculi. The Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, the Greeks. The Romans. The Vandals, The Goths, The Byzantines. The Arabs, the Normans. The Angevins, the Aragonese, the Bourbons. Fifteen different races that have at one point or another controlled the beautiful triagular island. But in ten thousand years of war there is one victor: the Island of Sicily. It remains the most culturally rich, the most interesting, and the most beautiful region of Italy.

Leonardo A. Ciampa
15 July 2002
(Revised September 2002)
Revere Beach, MA (U.S.A.)