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Sicily

Learn about Sicily

Introduction

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Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean and, in practice, a country in miniature: about 25,700 km², five million people, and a coastline of some 1,500 km enclosing mountains, wheat plains, citrus terraces and an active volcano.

Its position is the explanation for almost everything else. The island sits in the narrows between Europe and Africa, on the sea route between the eastern and western Mediterranean, and every power that wanted control of that route took it — Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Swabians, Aragonese, Spanish and Bourbons. Each left buildings, words and dishes still in use.

The result is a place where a Greek theatre, a Norman church with Arabic inscriptions and Byzantine mosaics, and an 18th-century Baroque town rebuilt after an earthquake can sit within an hour of each other. Sicily is not a simplified version of mainland Italy; it works differently, and the differences are the point.

Geography

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Sicily is a triangle of about 25,700 km² between the Tyrrhenian, Ionian and Mediterranean seas, separated from the mainland by a strait barely 3 km wide. Mountainous along the north, volcanic in the east, and dry across a wheat-growing interior.

Read the full Geography guide →

History

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Sicily was ruled from somewhere else for most of 2,500 years — Greek, Carthaginian, Roman, Arab, Norman, Swabian, Aragonese, Spanish, Bourbon. Each layer stayed rather than replacing the last, which is why a single street can hold several of them.

Read the full History guide →

Culture

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Sicilian culture treats its own history as material rather than heritage: puppet theatre still performs Norman epics, Baroque towns hold working religious festivals, and Sicilian remains a language in daily use rather than a curiosity.

Read the full Culture guide →

Climate Patterns

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Hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters — a textbook Mediterranean climate, with the heat intensified inland and softened on the coast. Rain falls almost entirely between October and March, and drought is a recurring problem.

Read the full Climate Patterns guide →

Food & Traditional Cuisine

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Sicilian cooking is the most distinct in Italy, and the reason is Arab: saffron, raisins, pine nuts, almonds, citrus, aubergine and sugar entered the island's kitchen in the 9th century and never left. Sweet-and-sour survives here as a normal way to season food.

Read the full Food & Traditional Cuisine guide →

← Back to Sicily overview