Sicily
SICILY
Original draft composed August 10, 2018
Sitting between the shores of Tunisia in North Africa and the toe of Italy's boot, the island of Sicily sits in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea-a body of water the name of which already means "middle of the world." Thus, Sicily rests in the middle of the middle of the world. Based on the position that it has historically occupied among the nations of the Mediterranean, one could argue that strategically, it was exactly that at one point. But many people don't know much about this curious land beyond it having outsourced the mafia and the volcano that erupted two decades ago.
To understand this unique place, we must look to the past. For millennia, any mind thinking politics in the Mediterranean Sea area knew the most important island in order to dominate all of its shores: Sicily. From the ancient Phoenicians to the Allied invasion of Sicily in World War 2, rulers have sought to secure this island in the Mediterranean's center in order to wield power in the region. Over the last 3,000 years, some of the star names of nations to have touched Sicily include: the Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Arabs, Normans, Spaniards, Italians, and Americans.
The island itself measures just barely larger than New Jersey, featuring a California-like climate, fertile soil, and hilly topography makes it highly inhabitable-when volcanic Mount Etna isn't spewing lava and ash into the air, that is. Over the years, the revolving door of imperial occupants has meant that an array of peoples have come to Sicily in waves of conquest, put in varying degrees of effort to colonize it, attempted to impose its traditions on the population, then departed, leaving behind certain customs for a porous people to absorb.
Three tribes precede the arrival of literate outsiders, called the Elymi, the Sicani, and the Sicels in the east, with whom the Greeks came into contact. They called the place Sicily because of that indigenous tribe. Phoenician traders preceded the arrival of the Greeks. Still, the Greeks were the first to colonize and populate the island. At that time in history, "Greece" didn't represent one cohesive country, but rather a quilt of independent polities which shared a common language, religion, and culture. These city-states couldn't expand beyond their borders on land, and so they took to the sea; thus Magna Graecia (Greece beyond Greece, essentially) was born.
Syracuse, founded by colonists from the prosperous city of Corinth, soon surpassed many of its mainland contemporaries and became the second largest city in Magna Graecia. Only Athens boasted a large population, which soon fell behind Syracuse as well. The city-state sported a democratic style of government, and the brilliant philosopher and mathematician Archimedes haled from this city, as did another number of lesser known philosophers and scientists of the time.
Carthaginian colonists crept in and conquered the island's west, gradually moving eastward and acquiring more and more territory through a series of wars. As Greek influence waned and the Carthaginian rulers became unpopular to many locals, the Romans too threw their weight in to take a piece of Sicily for themselves, and after a series of wars with the Carthaginians, they conquered the island and would keep it for some 600+ years--longer than any other country has ever occupied this land to date.
Because of Roman hegemony in the region, Sicily did not see any military action for several centuries. During that time, it served as an important port in trans-Mediterranean trade. However, the peace couldn't last forever, and by the 5th century AD, the Vandals--a Germanic tribe of warriors--began to raid the country. The Romans and later the Byzantine Empire (the eastern half of the Roman Empire which managed to withstand the barbarian invasions) continued clinging on to the island for some time after that, with intermittent control by Germanic tribes like the Ostrogoths. At one point, rumors circulated that the Byzantine emperor wanted to move the capital from Constantinople to Syracuse, though he was assassinated before making any moves on that plan.
As Byzantium's prestige and security crumbled allover the Mediterranean, Sicily soon saw a series of raids again, this time by Arabs. By a string of good luck, the Byzantines did manage to maintain its grip over the island until 827, when it finally fell into the hands of Arabs coming from North Africa. The new rulers, though Islamic in contrast to Christianity which had dominated the island for hundreds of years, curried favor amongst the populace, coming off as fair and tolerant for their time. Christians and Jews did not need to convert if they paid taxes. They introduced pistachios, cotton, and sugar cane from distant lands, which found receptive soil and diversified the range of agricultural production. Culturally, Sicily boasted a unique blend not unlike that of its contemporary Iberia, mixing Islamic and Christian elements. Sicily served as sort of a buffer between Islamic North Africa and the Christian kingdoms of Western Europe; as a result, the exchange of goods thrived here and brought new wealth to the people. Cities grew-at a time when some of Europe's largest cities held not even 50,000 people, Palermo may've had 300,000 come the new millennium.
By the late 11th century, a new wave of skilled warriors made their way onto the scene: this time, the Normans. Descendants of Vikings who had settled in France, they quickly expelled the Arabs and after a brief period of chaos and destruction, restored order and brought Sicily to a whole new level. More crops came to the countryside. Meanwhile, Palermo continued to thrive as a marketplace. In a time when feudalism dominated the continent, Sicily represented one of the most centralized Catholic kingdoms of its time. When a new dynasty took power in 1194, Sicily stayed at the fore of European progress. Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor as well as King of Sicily, fostered a rich culture in his court at Palermo. At its pinnacle, Greek, Jewish, Arab, French, Italian, and German elements flourished in Palermo and other major cities.
Unfortunately, this window of prosperity didn't last. The expulsion of all Muslims by royal decree saw the start of a distinct period of economic decline. Plague meandered its way onto the island through its ports. Cities shrank in size. Crisis didn't take long to follow, and in the course of a century, the throne changed hands several times until a Spanish dynasty won the game of mortal musical chairs. The Black Death brought even worse economic collapse along with the devastation of the disease. In 1412, Aragon (which later became a component of Spain) established its control over the no-longer autonomous country. This order continued despite changing hands a few times in the 18th century. Regardless of where the kings came from, they weren't from Sicily.
Spanish control left many lasting marks on Sicily politically, economically, and culturally. For the first time in several centuries, a foreign power controlled the island instead of foreign-based dynasties ruling as kings of the country. In other words, the men in charge didn't even live there. Plenty of people didn't respect a government from across the sea dictating decrees to them. They never even saw the place first-hand, how can they know what will be the best for the Sicilian people. As a result, the population lost their unique national consciousness for generations. While a slow drift toward urbanization continued across the rest of Western Europe, cities once again declined in size as aristocrats sought to staff various farms. Wheat became the primary export, then silk, farmed by peasants who saw virtually no revenue from their labor.
Contempt of nobles and rulers who don't even live there survives among the commoners, a trait which can trace its origins to this period. Treating it like a colony, Madrid enlisted viceroys to run the country and-through them-set up a system of hefty taxation; this only worsened the growing grip of poverty. In order to evade the taxes, bribery and corruption prevailed. Localities competed for control in a system which never clearly defined boundaries.
The bureaucracy operated with minimal efficiency. Messina and Palermo, its two biggest cities, argued too much over which city would serve as the viceroy's capital, and so for many years each town would host the government for six months. Documents were actually shipped between the ports twice a year, ending when-of course-storms destroyed the ships carrying all the paperwork. Most landowners moved to the urban areas, enlisting somebody closer to their estates to run its day-to-day operations. For a number of reasons, Sicilians developed a mentality distrusting of any external owners or official governments. The commoners in the countryside came to take matters into their own hands, often leading to ganging up and fighting. Best of Sicily Magazine notes that "as early as 1600...foreign visitors noted the general Sicilian tendency toward...the willingness to bear false witness (even in courts of law), clannishness, suspicion of foreigners, and pre-arranged marriages between close cousins."
As a result of this inbreeding, genetic mutations proliferated. Other disasters befell the island, including the eruption of Mount Etna and subsequent earthquakes in 1634 which destroyed several towns, and the outbreak of plague in the middle of the 17th century. Famine came from time to time. Mainly though, poverty and crime perpetuated as the primary problem.
In 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi and his armies swept through Sicily on their way to unify the various states of Italy. Though the new government in Rome implemented several reforms such as compulsory education, Italian control over the island did little to alter its fate. After agricultural activity, sulfur mining served as the second largest industry. Conditions in those mines were terrible and because of the logistics of the job, children did much of the mining.
Workers' unions sought to improve conditions, and engaged in meddlesome activities which did little to effect policy. Their measures grew increasingly drastic. Uprisings often ended in clashes with police and by 1920, a full-blown rebellion broke out with farmers fighting landowners. Kidnapping became a tool in political bargaining from a class of desperate and disenfranchised peasants. The Mafia gained power during the early 20th century, and Mussolini's attempts to stamp them out failed. Sicily simply ignored many of the reforms that the new fascist government attempted to enforce.
World War 2 left the island in bad shape; the invasion of Sicily saw around 60% of Palermo decimated. Even today, the city has yet to rebuild some parts, or even clean up the ruins. US forces coordinated with Mafiosi in western Sicily, easing their amphibious entrance; meanwhile, Commonwealth soldiers landed in the east. Here, the Mafia wielded less power and as a result (among other factors), the Brits and Canadians had to fight hard to take those beaches. Though a marginal faction, some 40,000 Sicilians endorsed the Reconstruction Party, which campaigned for the island to apply for statehood in the U.S. An independence movement also gained momentum, which remains a voice in Sicilian politics to this day.
With order restored after the war, one could say that disorder continued as the order, and continues today. For the first few decades of the postwar period, the Mafia worked in conjunction with politicians. This all changed in the 1980s when the Corleonesi family expanded its power; they had no problem killing politicians-and they did. Murder after murder of government official led to the tough sentencing of top Mafiosi, which in turn provoked an even harsher backlash by the highly organized gangsters. Most notably, they murdered Paolo Borsellino and blew up Judge Giovanni Falcone. To retaliate in a way that would weaken Mafiosi morale, the airport in Palermo is now called Falcone-Borsellino. Law enforcement retaliated in other ways; cracking down on the control of the mafia beefed up throughout the 1990s. Nonetheless, although arguably diminished, organized crime still retains a stronghold on the island, with no end in sight.
Although undoubtedly a major presence, not all Sicilians fit stereotypes such as belonging to the Mafia. While one might assume all its inhabitants have dark hair and eyes, a surprising number of blondes comprise the populace. Locals call blondes normanne after the Normans, while calling brunettes more after the Moors: yet another living example of the island's rich and diverse historical past.
With pretty dismal poverty and word of a better life abroad, starting in the late 1800s, boatloads of Sicilians began emigrating to faraway places like Argentina, the United States, and Northern Europe, banking on a better life there. Possibly more than 10% of the island's population doesn't even live on the island. Everybody didn't leave though, as today the island boasts a population of more than 5,000,000. With a GDP per capita of $16,000 or so, its people have almost half the amount of money per person than the average of Italy as a whole, set at $30,662 by Statista. It has an unemployment rate of 14% according to some sources and up to 30% according to others; even its most conservative estimates put the proportion of people out of work at more than twice the rest of Italy (6.7%). Babbismi, or men living with their parents well into their 30s, don't simply exist because of sheer laziness: there just aren't enough jobs, especially for the youth, which has the ridiculously high unemployment rate of 40%.
Though Sicily may boast the highest percentage of regular churchgoers in Italy, attendance dwindles below 50%, reflecting a less religious population than its architecture would suggest. Still, carnival and other celebrations remain wildly popular (and wild, period), and a number of breathtaking churches stand. The Sicilian Baroque style developed during Spanish rule and has left us a great number of churches and palaces, or palazzi. Noto, a town about 20 miles southwest of Syracuse, makes up just one among dozens of examples in this particular style. Truly, the array of distinct countries which once ruled the island created a legacy that boasts a fusion of various cultural elements in almost every facet of Sicilian life.
The island, contrary to what you may assume, does not speak standard Italian. Rather, it has its own distinct tongue. Sicilian varies enough from Italian that most linguists including those at Ethnologue consider it a different though related language instead of just a dialect of Italian. Historically, during the days of Frederick II, poets wrote using the local language and their tradition was adopted later on and adapted by writers like Dante Alighieri at the onset of the Renaissance. Sonnets debuted as a form of poetry in the Sicilian vernacular. In recent times, centralized government, a compulsory education system, and nationalized media outlets have whittled away at the island's separate way of speaking. Still, most Sicilians know how to converse in official Italian, though choose to use their own tongue when talking to others in their own land.
Literacy probably lingered around the 40% mark in Frederick II's kingdom, dwindling down to 15% by the 1800s. Despite its rich linguistic tradition, Sicilians today read less books than the majority of Europeans. Barely more than 1/3 of its population has picked up a book within the last year. In addition, Sicily lags behind the rest of Italy and most of Europe in educational pursuits. One-quarter of its people don't have more than an elementary school education. In spite of laws requiring youths to remain in school until 16, nobody really enforces truancy laws. Less than one-half of people obtain a high school diploma, contributing to the un- and under-employment problem.
-Man of Jackistan
Please excuse my informal works cited:
-Ancient History Encyclopedia, ancient Sicily, including founding of Syracuse. https://www.ancient.eu/sicily/
-Encyclopedia Britannica, ancient Sicily. https://www.britannica.com/place/Sicily
-Stanford.edu, info on Sicilian history. https://web.stanford.edu/group/mountpolizzo/handbookPDF/MPHandbook5.pdf
-Best of Sicily Magazine, Sicily 1500 through recent history. http://www.bestofsicily.com/mag/art186.htm
-Best of Sicily Magazine, the people. http://www.bestofsicily.com/sicilians.htm
-Best of Sicily Magazine, education stats. http://www.bestofsicily.com/mag/art200.htm
-Times of Sicily, about the 51st state thing. http://www.timesofsicily.com/takin-sicilian-streets/
-Quotidiano di Sicilia, emigrants from Sicily. http://www.qds.it/26323-disastro-sicilia-in-fuga-i-suoi-figli.htm
-Worldatlas, facts such as population. https://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/europe/sicily/sicilyfacts.htm
-Statista, Italy facts e.g. GDP per capita. https://www.statista.com/topics/2504/italy/
-Zainoo.com, Sicilian economic facts. https://www.zainoo.com/en/italy/sicily/economy
-Ethnologue, Sicilian language. https://www.ethnologue.com/language/scn
Original draft composed August 10, 2018
Sitting between the shores of Tunisia in North Africa and the toe of Italy's boot, the island of Sicily sits in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea-a body of water the name of which already means "middle of the world." Thus, Sicily rests in the middle of the middle of the world. Based on the position that it has historically occupied among the nations of the Mediterranean, one could argue that strategically, it was exactly that at one point. But many people don't know much about this curious land beyond it having outsourced the mafia and the volcano that erupted two decades ago.
To understand this unique place, we must look to the past. For millennia, any mind thinking politics in the Mediterranean Sea area knew the most important island in order to dominate all of its shores: Sicily. From the ancient Phoenicians to the Allied invasion of Sicily in World War 2, rulers have sought to secure this island in the Mediterranean's center in order to wield power in the region. Over the last 3,000 years, some of the star names of nations to have touched Sicily include: the Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Arabs, Normans, Spaniards, Italians, and Americans.
The island itself measures just barely larger than New Jersey, featuring a California-like climate, fertile soil, and hilly topography makes it highly inhabitable-when volcanic Mount Etna isn't spewing lava and ash into the air, that is. Over the years, the revolving door of imperial occupants has meant that an array of peoples have come to Sicily in waves of conquest, put in varying degrees of effort to colonize it, attempted to impose its traditions on the population, then departed, leaving behind certain customs for a porous people to absorb.
Three tribes precede the arrival of literate outsiders, called the Elymi, the Sicani, and the Sicels in the east, with whom the Greeks came into contact. They called the place Sicily because of that indigenous tribe. Phoenician traders preceded the arrival of the Greeks. Still, the Greeks were the first to colonize and populate the island. At that time in history, "Greece" didn't represent one cohesive country, but rather a quilt of independent polities which shared a common language, religion, and culture. These city-states couldn't expand beyond their borders on land, and so they took to the sea; thus Magna Graecia (Greece beyond Greece, essentially) was born.
Syracuse, founded by colonists from the prosperous city of Corinth, soon surpassed many of its mainland contemporaries and became the second largest city in Magna Graecia. Only Athens boasted a large population, which soon fell behind Syracuse as well. The city-state sported a democratic style of government, and the brilliant philosopher and mathematician Archimedes haled from this city, as did another number of lesser known philosophers and scientists of the time.
Carthaginian colonists crept in and conquered the island's west, gradually moving eastward and acquiring more and more territory through a series of wars. As Greek influence waned and the Carthaginian rulers became unpopular to many locals, the Romans too threw their weight in to take a piece of Sicily for themselves, and after a series of wars with the Carthaginians, they conquered the island and would keep it for some 600+ years--longer than any other country has ever occupied this land to date.
Because of Roman hegemony in the region, Sicily did not see any military action for several centuries. During that time, it served as an important port in trans-Mediterranean trade. However, the peace couldn't last forever, and by the 5th century AD, the Vandals--a Germanic tribe of warriors--began to raid the country. The Romans and later the Byzantine Empire (the eastern half of the Roman Empire which managed to withstand the barbarian invasions) continued clinging on to the island for some time after that, with intermittent control by Germanic tribes like the Ostrogoths. At one point, rumors circulated that the Byzantine emperor wanted to move the capital from Constantinople to Syracuse, though he was assassinated before making any moves on that plan.
As Byzantium's prestige and security crumbled allover the Mediterranean, Sicily soon saw a series of raids again, this time by Arabs. By a string of good luck, the Byzantines did manage to maintain its grip over the island until 827, when it finally fell into the hands of Arabs coming from North Africa. The new rulers, though Islamic in contrast to Christianity which had dominated the island for hundreds of years, curried favor amongst the populace, coming off as fair and tolerant for their time. Christians and Jews did not need to convert if they paid taxes. They introduced pistachios, cotton, and sugar cane from distant lands, which found receptive soil and diversified the range of agricultural production. Culturally, Sicily boasted a unique blend not unlike that of its contemporary Iberia, mixing Islamic and Christian elements. Sicily served as sort of a buffer between Islamic North Africa and the Christian kingdoms of Western Europe; as a result, the exchange of goods thrived here and brought new wealth to the people. Cities grew-at a time when some of Europe's largest cities held not even 50,000 people, Palermo may've had 300,000 come the new millennium.
By the late 11th century, a new wave of skilled warriors made their way onto the scene: this time, the Normans. Descendants of Vikings who had settled in France, they quickly expelled the Arabs and after a brief period of chaos and destruction, restored order and brought Sicily to a whole new level. More crops came to the countryside. Meanwhile, Palermo continued to thrive as a marketplace. In a time when feudalism dominated the continent, Sicily represented one of the most centralized Catholic kingdoms of its time. When a new dynasty took power in 1194, Sicily stayed at the fore of European progress. Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor as well as King of Sicily, fostered a rich culture in his court at Palermo. At its pinnacle, Greek, Jewish, Arab, French, Italian, and German elements flourished in Palermo and other major cities.
Unfortunately, this window of prosperity didn't last. The expulsion of all Muslims by royal decree saw the start of a distinct period of economic decline. Plague meandered its way onto the island through its ports. Cities shrank in size. Crisis didn't take long to follow, and in the course of a century, the throne changed hands several times until a Spanish dynasty won the game of mortal musical chairs. The Black Death brought even worse economic collapse along with the devastation of the disease. In 1412, Aragon (which later became a component of Spain) established its control over the no-longer autonomous country. This order continued despite changing hands a few times in the 18th century. Regardless of where the kings came from, they weren't from Sicily.
Spanish control left many lasting marks on Sicily politically, economically, and culturally. For the first time in several centuries, a foreign power controlled the island instead of foreign-based dynasties ruling as kings of the country. In other words, the men in charge didn't even live there. Plenty of people didn't respect a government from across the sea dictating decrees to them. They never even saw the place first-hand, how can they know what will be the best for the Sicilian people. As a result, the population lost their unique national consciousness for generations. While a slow drift toward urbanization continued across the rest of Western Europe, cities once again declined in size as aristocrats sought to staff various farms. Wheat became the primary export, then silk, farmed by peasants who saw virtually no revenue from their labor.
Contempt of nobles and rulers who don't even live there survives among the commoners, a trait which can trace its origins to this period. Treating it like a colony, Madrid enlisted viceroys to run the country and-through them-set up a system of hefty taxation; this only worsened the growing grip of poverty. In order to evade the taxes, bribery and corruption prevailed. Localities competed for control in a system which never clearly defined boundaries.
The bureaucracy operated with minimal efficiency. Messina and Palermo, its two biggest cities, argued too much over which city would serve as the viceroy's capital, and so for many years each town would host the government for six months. Documents were actually shipped between the ports twice a year, ending when-of course-storms destroyed the ships carrying all the paperwork. Most landowners moved to the urban areas, enlisting somebody closer to their estates to run its day-to-day operations. For a number of reasons, Sicilians developed a mentality distrusting of any external owners or official governments. The commoners in the countryside came to take matters into their own hands, often leading to ganging up and fighting. Best of Sicily Magazine notes that "as early as 1600...foreign visitors noted the general Sicilian tendency toward...the willingness to bear false witness (even in courts of law), clannishness, suspicion of foreigners, and pre-arranged marriages between close cousins."
As a result of this inbreeding, genetic mutations proliferated. Other disasters befell the island, including the eruption of Mount Etna and subsequent earthquakes in 1634 which destroyed several towns, and the outbreak of plague in the middle of the 17th century. Famine came from time to time. Mainly though, poverty and crime perpetuated as the primary problem.
In 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi and his armies swept through Sicily on their way to unify the various states of Italy. Though the new government in Rome implemented several reforms such as compulsory education, Italian control over the island did little to alter its fate. After agricultural activity, sulfur mining served as the second largest industry. Conditions in those mines were terrible and because of the logistics of the job, children did much of the mining.
Workers' unions sought to improve conditions, and engaged in meddlesome activities which did little to effect policy. Their measures grew increasingly drastic. Uprisings often ended in clashes with police and by 1920, a full-blown rebellion broke out with farmers fighting landowners. Kidnapping became a tool in political bargaining from a class of desperate and disenfranchised peasants. The Mafia gained power during the early 20th century, and Mussolini's attempts to stamp them out failed. Sicily simply ignored many of the reforms that the new fascist government attempted to enforce.
World War 2 left the island in bad shape; the invasion of Sicily saw around 60% of Palermo decimated. Even today, the city has yet to rebuild some parts, or even clean up the ruins. US forces coordinated with Mafiosi in western Sicily, easing their amphibious entrance; meanwhile, Commonwealth soldiers landed in the east. Here, the Mafia wielded less power and as a result (among other factors), the Brits and Canadians had to fight hard to take those beaches. Though a marginal faction, some 40,000 Sicilians endorsed the Reconstruction Party, which campaigned for the island to apply for statehood in the U.S. An independence movement also gained momentum, which remains a voice in Sicilian politics to this day.
With order restored after the war, one could say that disorder continued as the order, and continues today. For the first few decades of the postwar period, the Mafia worked in conjunction with politicians. This all changed in the 1980s when the Corleonesi family expanded its power; they had no problem killing politicians-and they did. Murder after murder of government official led to the tough sentencing of top Mafiosi, which in turn provoked an even harsher backlash by the highly organized gangsters. Most notably, they murdered Paolo Borsellino and blew up Judge Giovanni Falcone. To retaliate in a way that would weaken Mafiosi morale, the airport in Palermo is now called Falcone-Borsellino. Law enforcement retaliated in other ways; cracking down on the control of the mafia beefed up throughout the 1990s. Nonetheless, although arguably diminished, organized crime still retains a stronghold on the island, with no end in sight.
Although undoubtedly a major presence, not all Sicilians fit stereotypes such as belonging to the Mafia. While one might assume all its inhabitants have dark hair and eyes, a surprising number of blondes comprise the populace. Locals call blondes normanne after the Normans, while calling brunettes more after the Moors: yet another living example of the island's rich and diverse historical past.
With pretty dismal poverty and word of a better life abroad, starting in the late 1800s, boatloads of Sicilians began emigrating to faraway places like Argentina, the United States, and Northern Europe, banking on a better life there. Possibly more than 10% of the island's population doesn't even live on the island. Everybody didn't leave though, as today the island boasts a population of more than 5,000,000. With a GDP per capita of $16,000 or so, its people have almost half the amount of money per person than the average of Italy as a whole, set at $30,662 by Statista. It has an unemployment rate of 14% according to some sources and up to 30% according to others; even its most conservative estimates put the proportion of people out of work at more than twice the rest of Italy (6.7%). Babbismi, or men living with their parents well into their 30s, don't simply exist because of sheer laziness: there just aren't enough jobs, especially for the youth, which has the ridiculously high unemployment rate of 40%.
Though Sicily may boast the highest percentage of regular churchgoers in Italy, attendance dwindles below 50%, reflecting a less religious population than its architecture would suggest. Still, carnival and other celebrations remain wildly popular (and wild, period), and a number of breathtaking churches stand. The Sicilian Baroque style developed during Spanish rule and has left us a great number of churches and palaces, or palazzi. Noto, a town about 20 miles southwest of Syracuse, makes up just one among dozens of examples in this particular style. Truly, the array of distinct countries which once ruled the island created a legacy that boasts a fusion of various cultural elements in almost every facet of Sicilian life.
The island, contrary to what you may assume, does not speak standard Italian. Rather, it has its own distinct tongue. Sicilian varies enough from Italian that most linguists including those at Ethnologue consider it a different though related language instead of just a dialect of Italian. Historically, during the days of Frederick II, poets wrote using the local language and their tradition was adopted later on and adapted by writers like Dante Alighieri at the onset of the Renaissance. Sonnets debuted as a form of poetry in the Sicilian vernacular. In recent times, centralized government, a compulsory education system, and nationalized media outlets have whittled away at the island's separate way of speaking. Still, most Sicilians know how to converse in official Italian, though choose to use their own tongue when talking to others in their own land.
Literacy probably lingered around the 40% mark in Frederick II's kingdom, dwindling down to 15% by the 1800s. Despite its rich linguistic tradition, Sicilians today read less books than the majority of Europeans. Barely more than 1/3 of its population has picked up a book within the last year. In addition, Sicily lags behind the rest of Italy and most of Europe in educational pursuits. One-quarter of its people don't have more than an elementary school education. In spite of laws requiring youths to remain in school until 16, nobody really enforces truancy laws. Less than one-half of people obtain a high school diploma, contributing to the un- and under-employment problem.
One more thing, before wrapping up this article which went on admittedly longer than originally intended. A note about its flag, which features a weird image of a guy surrounded by three legs which always kind of creeped me out. It represents the Sicilian Vespers. Though its exact origins remain subject to legend, sources usually say something about a French occupant or occupants in Palermo fondling or groping local women, sparking the townsmen to commence massacring the French presence there-military or otherwise-starting on Easter. Typically, the church bells at that date and time signaled worshippers to begin a silent prayer. But in 1282, the bells had a more ominous message: "kill!" Within six weeks, the entire island save for the fortress in Messina fell to the rebels. They immediately established a democratic commune. However, the Pope(s) at the time didn't want to accept the legitimacy of this system, which started to crack almost as soon as it came together.
So, my intuition was correct: it's a weird and creepy image.
-Man of Jackistan
Please excuse my informal works cited:
-Ancient History Encyclopedia, ancient Sicily, including founding of Syracuse. https://www.ancient.eu/sicily/
-Encyclopedia Britannica, ancient Sicily. https://www.britannica.com/place/Sicily
-Stanford.edu, info on Sicilian history. https://web.stanford.edu/group/mountpolizzo/handbookPDF/MPHandbook5.pdf
-Best of Sicily Magazine, Sicily 1500 through recent history. http://www.bestofsicily.com/mag/art186.htm
-Best of Sicily Magazine, the people. http://www.bestofsicily.com/sicilians.htm
-Best of Sicily Magazine, education stats. http://www.bestofsicily.com/mag/art200.htm
-Times of Sicily, about the 51st state thing. http://www.timesofsicily.com/takin-sicilian-streets/
-Quotidiano di Sicilia, emigrants from Sicily. http://www.qds.it/26323-disastro-sicilia-in-fuga-i-suoi-figli.htm
-Worldatlas, facts such as population. https://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/europe/sicily/sicilyfacts.htm
-Statista, Italy facts e.g. GDP per capita. https://www.statista.com/topics/2504/italy/
-Zainoo.com, Sicilian economic facts. https://www.zainoo.com/en/italy/sicily/economy
-Ethnologue, Sicilian language. https://www.ethnologue.com/language/scn
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