If you want to live an unique travel across the centuries...then read this story...you'll discover incredible things about this island...

Index:
Name and symbols / Geologic age / The first inhabitants / The Greeks / The Romans and Byzantines / The Christians / The byzantin period / The Arabs / The Normans / The Svevians / The Angioins / The Aragoneses / The Spanish / The Sabaudo period / The Austrian period / The Borbonic period /  The Renaissance / The Autonomy / References / 

The Sicily, for its sea position, has been an encounter / crash point  between ancient civilizations.
Although many dominations, the Sicilian people has always maintained three characters:

In fact, in the VII century a.C., their unitary symbol was a woman's head encircled by three legs that represent the sunlights. You can find this symbol into the Archaeological Museum of Agrigento. Index

Name and symbol of Sicily.

The term Sicily means "earth of the fecundity", but the island has another ancient name: Trinacria.
It derives from its triangular shape. Its symbol is the head of Gorgone (A mythological monster that transformed in stone its adversaries). You can see this important myth in the Archaeological Museum of Palermo. On the Gorgone's head, were added some ears to indicate the fertility of the island. You can look this on the roman mosaics of Marsala and Tindari. Index

The geologic age of the Sicily.

The Sicily is a young territory. The most ancient zone is the Peloritani Mounts (Messina), that have approximately a billion of years. The volcano Etna, the Aeolian islands and the zone of Sciacca appeared in the neozoic (a million years ago). But the youngest lands in absolute are those ones of the Piana of Catania (Catania's flat), formed thousand of years ago. Index

The first inhabitants of the island.

The ancient inhabitants of Sicily, for the tradition, would been the "Sicani", a rural population that called "Sicania" the island. In fact, today, it's possible to see the "Sicani Mounts" in the center zones of Sicily. This people were hunted by the "Siculi", a warriors population coming from Italy.

These populations worked the obsidian, a typical volcanic glass of Lipari, and the metals. In the XIII century a.C they constructed a lot of villages like Pantàlica, in the valley of the Anapo river (near Syracuse), where its possible to visit a monumental cemetery of 6.000 tombs and a stone blocks palace called Anàktoron. In Pantelleria there are constructions called "sesi", tombs with large stone blocks not squared. Index

The Greeks Sicily

The Greek domination in Sicily begins in the VIII until the III century a.C. In the 735, Greek people with Teocle founded their first colony in Naxos, on the Taormina beach (Giardini Naxos).

In the 734, the Dorians occupied the center of Sùraka, then became Syracuse. In the 650 they founded Selinunte, name that derives from "sèlinon", the parsley that still grows in the zone.

Anàssila of Messene, lord of Reggio Calabria, in the 491 got hold of Zankle and changed its name in Messene (Messina). In the 480 Gelone of Syracuse with Terone of Agrigento, defeated the Cartaginesi in Imera (Termini Imerese) and inserted a clause in the peace treaty, that prohibited the human sacrifices in the religious rituals. (The custom was to sacrifice the first sons to the God Moloch, when they had completed 10 years, you can find more on this in Selinunte)

The Siculi tried to react to the intrusiveness of Greeks, with Ducezio of Nea that placed his capital in Palike (Palagonia), near the sanctuary of the divinity called "Fratelli Palìci".

Ducezio was defeated by Greeks of Syracuse and Agrigento and in the 450 was exiled to Corinto.

The V century a.C. marked a period of great splendor for the Greeks Sicily. They constructed the temples of Agrigento, defined by the poet Pindaro as the "most beautiful mortal city".

The expansive power of the island in the IV  century was a lot important. Dionisio I defeated the Cartaginesi in the 397 and in the 383 he conquered all the island.
He encircled Syracuse of a net walls long 22 Km. His bench mark was in Eurialo Castel, today an example of Greek - classic military architecture in Europe.

The culture of the Greeks, was manifested with Epicarmo from Syracuse that invented the comedy; with Cimone and Eveneto, the artists who coined the decagrams, the most beautiful coins of the ancient world; and above all with Archimedes from Syracuse (287-212).

He has been defined "one of the greatest geniuses of all the centuries", because he established the value of the "pi greco" in mathematics; he measured the parabolic segment area; he found his principle based on the airplane flight and invented the "cochlea", a machine still used in the Trapani's Saline for water raising. Index

The romans and byzantines Sicily
The roman period was the longest (from the III century a.C to VI century d.C.).
It started in the 264 a.C with the first punic war, and finished in the 535 d.C., with the Byzantines.

The main fights for the supremacy in the Mediterranean, between Rome and Cartagine, were in Sicily. The island constituted the first province of the roman empire and in the 212 a.C. Rome completed its occupation, conquering also the reign of Syracuse.

In Sicily, the Roman learned the meridian use (they saw a solar clock in Catania for the first time in the 263 a.C.); they learned also the usefulness of the public baths and the barbers. They appreciated the Sicily's gastronomic, as did the poet Orazio. In the roman authors, the admiration for the sicilian culture is constant.

Cicerone characterized the three spiritual characteristics of the Sicilian like intelligence, distrust and humour; Virgilio wrote the line "poemetto Etna", a sicilian legend of two devout fratres of Catania that save their old paralytic parents  from the flames of an eruption of the Etna.

The Sicily often was visited by great figures of the Rome history. Virgilio had an house; The emperor Adrian salted on the top of the Etna and constructed an altar, called "the philosopher tower", because it was attributed to Empedocle.

In the island, the rests of roman monuments are:

• The roman amphitheaters of Syracuse, of Catania and Termini Imerese;
• The greek-roman theatres of Syracuse, of Taormina and Catania     the aqueduct "Cornelio" of Termini Imerese;
• The roman hole of Tindari;
• The roman houses of Eloro in Noto, of Patti (Messina) and above all of Piazza Armerina (Enna), where there are 3500 mq. of beautiful mosaics.

Index

The Christians Sicily.

The cathedral of Syracuse was the first European religion center (in reality it was a greek temple of the V century a.C.). Here there is this written: "ECCLESIA SYRACUSANA PRIMA DIVI PETRI FILIA ET PRIMA POST ANTIOCHENAM CHRISTO DICATA". The first Christian community in Europe was in Syracuse.

Sicily had martyrs of the new faith, like Marziano from Syracuse and Euplio from Catania, S. Agata from Catania and S. Lucia from Syracuse. There were also five Popes: S. Agatone from Palermo (678-681), S. Leone II from Aidone (682-683), Conone (686-687), S. Sergio from Palermo (687-701) and Stefano IV from Syracuse (768-772). Index

The byzantin period
The byzantin domination had a duration from the 535 to the 827. In this period the general conditions of the island were aggravated by the Arabic incursions, because of the new Muslim faith. It was just the Muslim pressure on Costantinopoli, to transfer the capital of the byzantin empire in Sicily. In the 663, the emperor Constante II transferred the court from Costantinopoli to Syracuse. Here he reigned until the 668 (year in which was killed).

In this period, the sicilian culture was exclusively ecclesiastic, with figures like S. Gregorio from Agrigento and Gregorio Asbesta. Index

The Arabic, Norman, Svevians and Angioins in Sicily

The Arabs.
The Arabs dominated the Sicily from the 827 to 1060. From Tunisia, they disembarked to capo Granitola in the 17 june 827 and in the 831 they occupied Palermo, in the 842 Messina, in the 859 Enna, in the 878 Syracuse, in the 900 Catania, in the 902 Taormina and in the 965 they completed the occupation in Rometta (Messina).

There were some ancient local lords that hunt the Christians to convert them to the Islam; but, then they consented the freedom on religious cult.

The Arabs divided Sicily in:
    • “Val di Mazara” for the center - western part of the island;
while the orient part was divided in:
    • “Val Dèmone” for the northern part
    • “Val di Noto” for the southern part.

The arabic did a great contribution to the economic and civil development of Sicily. They changed the agricultural production with the new rice and citrus cultivations. Palermo became a Mediterranean metropolis , with 300 mosques and a population of 300.000 inhabitants, with industries and commerce.

The memory of the Arabic domination in Sicily is still not vanished.

The Arabic names are most numerous:
    • Caltanissetta, Caltagirone, Calascibetta derive their names from kalat, castle;
    • Marsala and Marzamemi from marsa, port;
    • Mongibello, Gibellina from gebel, mount; (The ancient name of the Etna)
    • names of rivers like Alcantara (the bridge) or Dittaino (the river of mud);
   • city centres like Favara (the source), Canicattì (the muddy source), Donnalucata (the source in hours) and       Donnafugata (the source of the health),
    • Bagheria (the beach) and trade terms still in use.
Index

The Normans.
The Arabs did not constitute an ordered structure in Sicily, because often the different  Kaìd (local lords) ware in fight between themself.

In fact, cause a combat between the kaìd of Catania and that one of Agrigento, in the 1060, were called the Normans in Sicily.

They were guided by Robert the Guiscardo and Roger d' Altavilla. In the 1060 they occupied Messina. In the 1071 they entered in Catania, in 1072 in Palermo, 1087 in Enna, 1091 in Noto.

The Normans built the basis of a modern State in Sicily. The king did not command through the feud pyramid but with his civil employees; and the Parliament controlled the king through the “state property arm”, that is the representations of free cities.

The greatest norman king was Roger the II°, that reigned from 1130 to 1154 and was crowned in Palermo. He created splendid buildings, like the "Cappella Palatina", the Martorana church in Palermo and the Dome of Cefalù, with wonderful mosaics.

When Roger died, there were Wiliam I (1154-1166) and Wiliam II (1166-1189), that constructed the beautiful Dome of Monreale. He had not direct heirs and gave the crown of Sicily to Henry VI of Svevia.
The Normans monuments are:
    • the mosaics of Monreale;
    • the Dome of Cefalù, Catania and Messina;
    • the Castle of Adrano and Paternò

   • the Abbey of Casalvecchio (Messina);
    • in Palermo the Cuba and the Zisa,
    • the Churches of Saint Giovanni of the Hermits, the Martorana and Saint Cataldo;
    • the Admiral's Bridge on the Oreto river,
    • the Normans Palace, today center of the Sicilian Regional Assembly
Index

The Svevians

The svevian domination in Sicily began with Henry VI, emperor of Germany and king of Sicily from 1194 to 1197. It continued with Federico II from 1198 to 1250 and concluded with the king Manfredi from 1258 to 1266. Henry VI reigned with the cruelty and the terror.

His exceptional son, Federico II of Svevia, was called “the wonder of the world” for its extraordinary philosophical, scientific and astrological culture. At his court, in Palermo, was born the Italian literature, with the “Sicilian Poetic School”. He was victorious in his fights against the Italian Commons and the German barons; he organized the IV Crusade and in the 1228 he was crowned king in Jerusalem. He equipped the Sicily with an extraordinary defensive net, with castles like Maniace (Syracuse), Ursino (Catania), Augusta and Salemi.

He loved Sicily so much that, at his death, for testamentary disposition he wanted to be buried in the Dome of Palermo, near his grandfather's tomb (Roger II). At the king's death, in Sicily there was a bad political period. The “Voluntas Siculorum” crowned king Manfredi, son of Federico II, in 1258. Pope Clemente IV assigned the Sicily's crown to the French Carlo d'Angiò.

The decisive crash between the French and the svevo happened  on 26 February 1266 in Benevento, in which Manfredi was defeated and killed. Index

The Angioins

Therefore began the angioin period in Sicily (1266-1282). The effective dominion was established alone in 1270 when Carlo d' Angiò sended in Sicily Guglielmo the Etendart. The reign in Sicily was not happy because the capital was transferred to Naples,and there was the prohibition to carry arms (the French soldiers put the hands on the sicilian women, with the pretext to find hidden arms under the garments. This irritated a lot the Sicilian people).

Therefore, there was the famous popular riot of the "Sicilian Vespro", in Palermo on the 30 March 1282. The revolt was not a orrible slaughter. The Sicilian people hunted the French from the island with their forces and in that the women contribution was determinant. In Messina, in the mechanical bell tower of the Dome, there are two female figures in memory of the women Dina and Clarenza.

They saved their city, in the night of 8 August 1282. Hunted the French from the island, the sicilian Parliament called king Peter III of Aragon. The Aragonese period was in Sicily from 1282 to 1412. Index

The Aragonese and Spanish Sicily

The Aragoneses.
There were three period of war with three peace. In the first period, at the king Peter's death, the Sicilian people elected king Giacomo II of Aragon, but when he tried in 1293 to give back the Sicily to the Angioini, the Sicilian announced that they would be come down in war against him.

Then they declared him decayed and elected his brother Federico III of Aragon, that reigned from 1296 to 1337. He signed, on 31 August 1302, the Caltabellotta peace; but the clauses were not observed, and the war continued with king Peter IV and with king Ludovico I. On 8 November 1347, was signed the Catania peace in which the Angioini renounced at the sovereignty on the island, and Sicilian people renounced at the invasion of the reign of Naples. But at these conditions the war was not stopped.

he III period of the war went from 1347 to 1372. The Sicily's conditions favored the total reconquer by theAngioini. In 26 May 1357 the Sicilians were the winner of the naval battle of Ognina near Catania, and the war concluded in Avignon on 20  August 1372, with the peace that marked the definitive separation of the Sicily from Naples.

In 1392 Martino I of Aragon came in Sicily and reigned until 1409, year in which died and had like successor his father Martino II, that he reigned until 1410.

Figures of the culture in this period were: the sicilian painters Simone from Corleone, Cecco from Naro and Dareno from Palermo that decorated the ceiling of the Steri Palace of Palermo; and the “the chiaramontano” style architects, that have left beyond the Steri and Sclafani Palace of Palermo, the Bellomo and Montalto Palaces of Syracuse, Santostefano Palace in Taormina, the castles of Bivona (Agrigento) and Mussomeli (Caltanissetta), and the bell tower of the principal church in Erice (Trapani). Index

The Spanish domination.
When king Martino II died, his grandson Ferdinand of Castiglia became the king of Sicily. With this king began the Spanish period in Sicily until 1713. It was called “Age of the Viceré” because the Sicilian did not see other king in their island that Carl V, and only for three months, in 1535.

The sicilian culture of the XV century saw the birth of the first University of the island, that one of Catania in 1434.
The sicilian art has one truly figure, that one of Antonello from Messina (1430-1479).
The architects of the 1400's are: Matteo Carnelivari from Noto who realized wonderful buildings in Palermo, which the Abatellis palace (today center of the “Regional Gallery of Sicily”) and the Aiutamicristo palace, the harmonious church of S.Maria della Catena, and the reconstruction and the widening of the castle of Misilmeri (Palermo). The sculptors are: Antonio Gambara, author of the lateral flank of the Palermo's cathedral, and Angelo Piccio, author of the octagonal christening font in red marble of the church of S. Martino in Randazzo (Catania).

The Sicily of the 1500's introduces architects like Giacomo Lo Duca from Cefalù, that was Michelangelo's friend in Rome.
The 1600's was a much churned century for the Sicily. The island suffered very much for scarcities and epidemics, and the incursions on its coasts, but also for natural catastrophes, like the etna eruption of 1669 , that destroyed 13 countries and part of the Catania; and like the earthquake of 11 January 1693, when the orient Sicily was desolated, provoking 60,000 dead.

There were figures like the astronomer Giovanni Alfonso Borelli who changed the astronomy, explaining that the trajectory of comets is not circular, but elliptic and parabolic. An appreciable musician like Erasmo Marotta, who made the Aminta of Tasso. And the painter Pietro Novelli from Monreale. Index

The Sicily of 1700's.

The sabaudo period.
The Spanish dominion finished in 1713. The island passed through three dominations: sabauda from 1713 to 1720; Austrian from 1720 to 1734; and borbonica from 1734 until 1860, year of the unification with the Reign of Italy.
The sabaudo government did not leave a good memory for its fiscal policy. Index

The Austrian period.
The anti-sabaudo dissatisfaction in the island was general. It was easy for Spain to reconquer it in 1718.
In the 1720 Carl VI of Asburgo, emperor of Austria, became also king of Sicily.
The Sicily was governed by the Austrians from 1720 to 1734.

There is not a good memory about this domination: the officials of Carl VI addressed with arrogance in German to the sicilian people; they even confiscated the silver that was extracted from the mines of Fiumedinisi (Messina), sending it to Vienna and loading on the sicilian state treasury the transport costs. Index

The borbonic period.

Spain had not renounced to old desire to return in the island. The war of Polish succession was burst and the king Filippo V of Spain, formed an alliance with France and with the reign of Sardinia, he sended in Italy an army at the order of his son Carlo di Borbone. With the Bitonto's battle of the 1734, he got hold of the reign of Naples, and conquered the Sicily. In 30 June, Carl III of Borbone became king in the Palermo's Dome. It was the last coronation of a king in Sicily.

Carl III began a reformer work in the island, limiting pays, favoring the commerce, assigning at the Sicilian the governmental functions of the island. His work was developed until to 1759, year in which was called to the throne of Spain. His successor was his son Ferdinand.

In 1798 Ferdinand IV of Naples and III of Sicily, that in 39 years never visited the island, sheltered with the court at Palermo. But king Ferdinand, when in 1802 with the aid of the English Admiral Orazio Nelson, could re-enter to Naples, did not show gratefulness for the Sicilian.

Therefore when he returned in Sicily in 1806, because was hunted from Naples, he received a less warm acceptance. The king had to grant to the Sicilians the Constitution of 1812. Index

The Sicily of the Renaissance and the autonomy.

The Sicily's history in the '800 introduces two periods: the borbonic Sicily until the 1860 and the unitary Sicily after 1860, characterized by the request of autonomy (obtained in 1946).

In 1815, king Ferdinand di Borbone, united the reign of Naples and Sicily, and became Ferdinand of the Two Sicilies. The sicilians hit the king with three revolutions. The third had unitary characters, in the april of 1860, preceding the come of Giuseppe Garibaldi of May 1860.

In 1837, with the reign of Ferdinand II who reigned until 1859, the sicilian people rebelled in Syracuse, in Catania and in other cities. The borbonic reaction was pitiless. A military shipment arrived in the island to shoot numerous sicilian. But the revolution was not ended.

The second federal revolution burst at Palermo on 12 January 1848. The rioter released all the Sicily, except Messina, and with the new Parliament, they gave a new democratic - liberal Constitution. The sicilian Parliament of 1848, declared decaded the king Ferdinand III and called, like king of Sicily, the prince Alberto Amedeo of Savoia. Unfortunately also this revolution did not have good outcome and was not extinguished: in 1856 the patriot Francisco Bentivegna came shot to Mezzojuso (Pa) ; in 1859 Francisco Crispi came in Sicily, announcing the next come of Garibaldi.

Francisco Crispi had convinced Garibaldi to come in Sicily for the unitary revolution and he accepted. The unitary revolution burst in Palermo on 4 April 1860 and soon was stopped by the police. But on 6 April, it burst in Trapani and on the 7 in Marsala.

Garibaldi, with his ("Mille")“Thousands”, left from Quarto near Genova on 5 May 1860. He disembarked to Marsala on 11 May and the 14 May from Salemi (Tp), he assumed the dictatorship in name of Vittorio Emanuele II. After the victory of Calatafimi on 15 May, he marched towards Palermo and arrived on the 27 May. The borbonic general left the island on 20 July.

Garibaldi passed in Calabria on 18 August 1860; with the plebiscite of 21 October 1860 the Sicily voted positively for the Unit with Italy. The Unit revealed a disappointment for the Sicilian. The bad government continued also in the fascist period. Index

The Sicily of the autonomy.
In the second World War, the Sicily increased its problems.
The Sicily of 1943, cause bad governament during 83 years of Italian unitary life, generated the Movement for Independence of Sicily (MIS), guided from the member of parliament Andrea Finocchiaro Aprile.

The general political conditions did declared that on 15 May 1946, Sicily was considered  a “regional autonomy to special statute”. The 20 April 1947 was born the sicilian Parliament, that never had integrally applied its statute and neither has brought to the island the previewed well-being.

The Sicily of  the last two centuries has given writers like Giovanni Verga, and the two Nobels Luigi Pirandello and Salvatore Quasimodo; musicians like Vincenzo Bellini; narrators like Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa; economists like Angelo Majorana; chemical like Stanislao Cannizzaro and meteorologist like Filippo Eredia.

Bibliography
Santi Correnti, Short history of the Sicily from the origins to the our days, pocket economic Newton, Rome 1994. Index