Sicilian is a Romance language. Its dialects comprise the Italiano Meridionale-estremo language group, which are spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands; in southern and central Calabria ; in the southern parts of Apulia, the Salento Sicilian ' onMouseout='HidePop("38279")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Romance_languages">Romance language
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all the languages that descend from Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
, which has a sizeable vocabulary with at least 250,000 words. Some of the words are loan words with slight changes, taking influence from
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
,
CatalanCatalan is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencià , as well as in the city of Alghero on the Italian island of...
,
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
,
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
,
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
and others. The Sicilian language is also spoken to some extent in
CalabriaCalabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian peninsula. It is bounded to the north by the region of Basilicata, to the south-west by the region of Sicily, to the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea, and to the east by the...
and
ApuliaApulia is a region in southeastern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its southern portion known as Salento, a peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy...
; it had a significant influence on the
Maltese languageMaltese is the national language of Malta, and a co-official language of the country alongside English,while also serving as an official language of the European Union, the only Semitic language so distinguished. Maltese is descended from Siculo-Arabic...
. In the modern age, as Italian is taught in schools and is the language of the media, especially in some of the
urban areaAn urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
s, Sicilian is now a secondary language amongst much of the youth.
The Sicilian language was an early influence in the development of the first Italian standard, although its use remained confined to an intellectual élite. This was a literary language in Sicily created under the auspices of
Frederick IIFrederick II of Hohenstaufen was Holy Roman Emperor from his papal coronation in 1220 until his death; he was also a pretender to the title of King of the Romans from 1212 and unopposed holder of that monarchy from 1215. As such, he was King of Germany, of Italy, and of Burgundy...
and his court of notaries, or
Magna Curia, which, headed by
Giacomo da LentiniGiacomo da Lentini, also known as Giàcumu da Lintini and Jacopo Notaro, was an Italian poet of the 13th century. He was a senior poet of the Sicilian School and was a notary at the court of the Holy Roman emperor Frederick II...
, also gave birth to the
Sicilian SchoolThe Sicilian School was a small community of Sicilian, and to a lesser extent, mainland Italian poets gathered around Frederick II, most of them belonging to his court, the Magna Curia. Headed by Giacomo da Lentini, they produced more than three-hundred poems of courtly love between 1230 and 1266,...
, widely inspired by troubadour literature. Its linguistic and poetic heritage was later assimilated into the Florentine by
Dante AlighieriDurante degli Alighieri , commonly known as Dante, was an Italian poet of the Middle Ages. His central work, the Divina Commedia , is often considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature.In...
, the father of modern Italian who, in his , claims that "In effect this vernacular seems to deserve a higher praise than the others, since all the poetry written by Italians can be called Sicilian". It is in this language that appeared the first
sonnetThe sonnet is one of the poetic forms that can be found in lyric poetry from Europe.The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song". By the thirteenth century, it had come to signify a poem of fourteen lines that follows a strict rhyme...
, whose invention is attributed to Giacomo da Lentini himself.
There are also several less common, unofficial languages spoken on the island. In around five small Palermitan villages,
Arbëreshë
dialect of the
Albanian languageAlbanian is a unique Indo-European language spoken by nearly 6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, Montenegro, and southern Serbia. Albanian is also spoken by native enclaves...
has been spoken since a wave of refugees settled there in the 15th century; these people are predominantly Byzantine Catholics and chant
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
at local Byzantine
liturgyA liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions. The word may refer to an elaborate formal ritual such as the Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy and Catholic Mass, or a daily activity such as the Muslim salat and Jewish services...
. As one might expect, the language bears the marks of fifteenth century grammar and diction. In some cases, the Church itself encouraged the
AlbaniansAlbanians are a people from southeast Europe who live in Albania and neighboring countries. They speak the Albanian language. About half of them live in Albania, with other large groups residing in Kosovo, the Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, and Montenegro...
to settle on formerly monastic lands, particularly in western Sicily. In others, feudal lords welcomed the new residents. Messina and Palermo boasted the largest urban Albanian communities in Sicily. The Sicilian towns founded or repopulated by the Albanians are
Piana degli AlbanesiPiana degli Albanesi , formerly Piana dei Greci is an Italian comune in the Province of Palermo, Sicily...
,
Santa Cristina GelaSanta Cristina Gela or Sëndastinë in its local language, is an Arb%C3%ABresh%C3%AB village in the province of Palermo in Sicily. As of 2007 Santa Cristina Gela had an estimated population of 919.- Common Surnames :Common names in the village are:...
, Mezzojuso,
Contessa EntellinaContessa Entellina is an Albanian speaking town in the province of Palermo, in Sicily, southern Italy. Contessa Entellina is located about 25 km southwest of Corleone.-External links:** *
...
,
Palazzo AdrianoPalazzo Adriano is a town in the province of Palermo, Sicilia, Italy founded by Arbëreshë people.-Culture:...
, Sant' Angelo Muxaro, Bronte,
BiancavillaBiancavilla is a town in the Province of Catania, Sicily, southern Italy. It is located between the towns of Adrano and S. Maria di Licodia, 32 kilometers northwest of Catania.The town was founded on 8 January 1488 by Albanian refugees...
and San Michele in Ganzaria.
There are also several
EnneseEnna is a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy. Its capital is the city of Enna....
towns where dialects of the Lombard language of the Gallo-Italic family are spoken. Much of these two groups of people are tri-lingual, being able to also speak Italian and Sicilian.
Cuisine
The island has a long history of producing a variety of noted cuisines and
wineWine is an alcoholic beverage typically made of fermented grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients. Wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast consumes...
s, to the extent that Sicily is sometimes nicknamed
God’s Kitchen because of this. The ingredients are typically rich in taste while remaining affordable to the general populace. The savory dishes of Sicily are viewed to be
healthyA healthy diet is one that helps maintain or improve health. It is important for the prevention of many chronic disease such as: obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer....
, using fresh vegetables and fruits, such as
tomatoThe tomato is a herbaceous, usually sprawling plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family that is typically cultivated for the purpose of harvesting its fruit for human consumption...
es,
artichokeA globe artichoke is a partially edible perennial thistle originating in southern Europe around the Mediterranean.Artichoke may also refer to:*Artichoke , a creative company specialising in arts events...
s,
oliveThe Olive is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin, from Lebanon, Syria and the maritime parts of Turkey and northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea...
s (including
olive oilOlive oil is a fruit oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. The wild olive tree originated in Asia Minor and spread from there as far as southern Africa, Australia, Japan and China. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and...
),
citrusCitrus is a common term and genus of flowering plants in the family Rutaceae, originating in tropical and subtropical southeast regions of the world. The most well known examples are the orange, the lemon, the grapefruit, and the lime. The Latin word citrus was borrowed from ancient Greek kedros...
,
apricotThe Apricot is a species of Prunus, classified with the plum in the subgenus Prunus...
s, aubergines,
onionOnion is a term used for many plants in the genus Allium. They are known by the common name "onion" but, used without qualifiers, it usually refers to Allium cepa. Allium cepa is also known as the "garden onion" or "bulb" onion...
s,
beanBean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed....
s,
raisinRaisins are dried grapes. They are produced in many regions of the world, such as Armenia, the United States, Australia, Chile, Argentina, Macedonia, Mexico, Greece, Syria, Turkey, India, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, China, Afghanistan, Togo, and Jamaica, as well as South Africa and Southern and...
s commonly coupled with sea food, freshly caught from the surrounding coastlines, including
tunaTuna are ocean-dwelling carnivorous fish in the family Scombridae, mostly in the genus Thunnus. Tuna are fast swimmers—they have been clocked at —and include several warm-blooded species...
, sea bream,
sea bassThe European seabass, Dicentrarchus labrax, also known as Morone labrax, is a primarily ocean-going fish that sometimes enters brackish and fresh water. It is also known as the sea dace...
,
cuttlefishCuttlefish are marine animals of the order Sepiida belonging to the Cephalopoda class . Despite their common name, cuttlefish are not fish but mollusks...
,
swordfishSwordfish , also known as Broadbill in some countries, are large, highly migratory, predatory fish characterized by a long, flat bill. They are a popular sport fish, though elusive. Swordfish are elongated, round-bodied, and lose all teeth and scales by adulthood. They reach a maximum size of 177 in...
,
sardineSardines, or pilchards, are a group of several types of small, oily fish related to herrings, family Clupeidae. Sardines were named after the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, where they were once in abundance....
s, and others.
Perhaps the most well-known part of Sicilian cuisine is the rich sweet dishes including
ice creamIce cream or ice-cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners. In some cases, artificial flavourings and colorings are used in...
s and
pastriesPastry is the name given to various kinds of baked goods made from ingredients such as flour, butter, shortening, baking powder or eggs. Small cakes, tarts and other sweet baked goods are called "pastries"....
.
CannoliCannoli, in Sicilian, are Sicilian pastry desserts. The singular is cannolo , meaning “little tube”, with the etymology stemming from the Latin "canna", or reed. Cannoli originated in Sicily and are an essential part of Sicilian cuisine...
, a tube-shaped shell of fried pastry dough filled with a sweet filling usually containing
ricotta cheeseRicotta is an Italian sheep milk or cow milk whey cheese. Ricotta lit. 'recooked' uses the whey, a limpid, low-fat, nutritious liquid that is a by-product of cheese production....
, is in particular strongly associated with Sicily worldwide. Biancomangiare, biscotti ennesi (cookies native to
EnnaEnna is a city located in the center of Sicily in the province of Enna, towering above the surrounding countryside...
), braccilatte a Sicilian version of doughnuts,
buccellatoA Buccellato is a Sicilian circular cake given by godparents to the godchild and family on the christening day. The cake is supposed to be as large as possible to ensure good luck. Legend has it that the cake has even once reached the size of a Ferris wheel...
,
ciardunaCiarduna is a type of Italian pastry.Ciarduna siciliana is a traditional sweet pastry from the province of Palermo, Sicily . It consists of an almond cookie shell filled with a ricotta or mascarpone filling. Some variants are also covered with a shell of chocolate or chocolate frosting and...
,
pignoliPignoli are a Sicilian cookie. They are a very popular cookie in all of Southern Italy. These cookies are a light golden color. They are moist, soft and chewy and are made from almond paste. They are topped with pignoli nuts, more commonly known as pine nuts. They are a popular Italian holiday...
,
bruccellatiBrucellati, in Sicilian, literally "little bracelets" are uniquely Sicilian fig cookies of a sweet dough rolled out and filled with figs as well as numerouus other ingredients. The ingredients are as varied as the names the cookies are called by, apparently a function of the town or region in...
, sesame seed cookies, a sweet confection with sesame seeds and almonds (torrone in Italy) is cubbaita,
frutta martoranaFrutta martorana are traditional marzipan sweets, in the form of fruits and vegetables, from the province of Palermo, Sicily....
,
cassataCassata or Cassata siciliana is a traditional sweet from the area of Palermo, Sicily . Cassata may also refer to a Neapolitan ice cream containing candied or dried fruit and nuts....
,
pignolataPignolata is a Sicilian pastry, and is also common in Calabria. It is soft pastry, and covered in chocolate and lemon flavored syrup/icing. This pastry will have half covered or iced in one flavoring and the other half in the other flavor, which hardens when the pignolata is ready to be served...
,
granitaGranita is a semi-frozen dessert of sugar, water, and flavorings originally from Sicily, although available all over Italy . Related to sorbet and italian ice, in most of Sicily it has a coarser, more crystalline texture...
, and
cuccìaCuccìa is a traditional Sicilian dish containing boiled wheat berries, which is eaten on Saint Lucy's feast day . The dish is consumed in Sicily and among Italian-Americans to commemorate the relief from a food shortage in Sicily; the appearance of wheat on the island is attributed to Saint Lucy...
are amongst some of the most notable sweet dishes.
Like the cuisine of the rest of southern Italy,
pastaPasta is a generic term for foods made from an unleavened dough of flour and water, and sometimes a combination of egg and flour. Pastas include noodles in various lengths, widths and shapes, and varieties that are filled with other ingredients like ravioli and tortellini...
plays an important part in Sicilian cuisine, as does
riceRice is the seed of a monocot plant Oryza sativa, of the grass family . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East, South, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the West Indies...
; for example with
aranciniArancini are fried rice balls coated with breadcrumbs, said to originate in Sicily. Arancini are usually filled with ragù , tomato sauce, mozzarella, and/or peas....
. As well as using some other cheeses, Sicily has spawned some of its own, using both cow's and sheep's milk, such as
pecorinoPecorino Siciliano is an origin-protected firm sheep milk cheese from the Italian island and region of Sicily. It is produced throughout the island, but especially in the provinces of Agrigento, Caltanissetta, Enna, Trapani and Palermo...
and
caciocavalloCaciocavallo is a type of cheese made out of sheep's or cow's milk, originally produced in Sicily, but now spread all across Italy, and the Balkans.Caciocavallo has the European Union Protected designation of origin status....
. Spices used include
saffronSaffron is a spice derived from the flower of the saffron crocus , a species of crocus in the family Iridaceae. A C. sativus flower bears three stigmas, each the distal end of a carpel. Together with their styles—stalks connecting stigmas to their host plant—stigmas are dried and used in cooking...
,
nutmegNutmeg or Myristica fragrans is an evergreen tree indigenous to the Banda Islands in the Moluccas of Indonesia, or Spice Islands. Until the mid 19th century this was the world's only source...
,
cloveCloves are the aromatic dried flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae. Cloves are native to Indonesia and India and used as a spice in cuisine all over the world...
,
pepperBlack pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is a small drupe approximately five millimetres in diameter, dark red when fully mature, containing a single...
, and
cinnamonCinnamon is a small evergreen tree belonging to the family Lauraceae, native to Sri Lanka, or the spice obtained from the tree's bark...
, which were introducted by the Arabs.
ParsleyParsley is a bright green biennial herb, often used as spice. It is common in Middle Eastern, European, and American cooking...
is used abundantly in many dishes. Although Sicilian cuisine is commonly associated with sea food, meat dishes, including
gooseThe word Goose is the English name for a considerable number of birds, belonging to the family Anatidae. This family also includes swans, most of which are larger than true geese, and ducks, which are smaller....
,
lambDomestic sheep are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the name "sheep" applies to many species, in everyday usage it almost always refers to Ovis aries...
,
goatThe domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep: both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
,
rabbitRabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world. There are seven different genera in the family classified as rabbits, including the European rabbit , Cottontail rabbit , and the Amami rabbit...
, and
turkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
, are also found in Sicily. It was the
NormansThe Normans were the people who gave their names to Normandy, a region in northern France. They descended from Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of mostly Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
and
HohenstaufenThe House of Hohenstaufen was a dynasty of German kings lasting from 1138 to 1254. Three of these kings were also crowned Holy Roman Emperor. In 1194 the Hohenstaufen also became Kings of Sicily...
who first introduced a fondness for meat dishes to the island. Some varieties of wine are produced from vines that are relatively unique to the island, such as the
Nero d'AvolaNero d'Avola is "the most important red wine grape in Sicily" and is one of Italy's most important indigenous varieties. It is named after Avola in the far south of Sicily and its wines are compared to New World Shirazes, with sweet tannins and plum or peppery flavours...
made near the baroque of town of
NotoNoto is a city in the Province of Syracuse, Sicily . Its located 32 km southwest of the city of Syracuse at the foot of the Iblean Mountains and gives its name to the surrounding valley, Val di Noto...
.
Arts
Sicily has long been associated with
the artsThe arts is a broad subdivision of culture, composed of many expressive disciplines. It is a broader term than "art", which as a description of a field usually means only the visual arts...
; many poets, writers,
philosophersPhilosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing these questions by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on reasoned...
,
intellectualAn intellectual is a person who uses his or her intelligence and analytical thinking, either in a professional or a personal capacity.-Terminology and endeavours:...
s,
architectAn architect is trained and licensed in planning and designing buildings, and participates in supervising the construction of a building. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, itself derived from the Greek arkhitekton , i.e. chief builder...
s and painters have roots on the island. The history of prestige in this field can be traced back to Greek philosopher
ArchimedesArchimedes of Syracuse was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity...
, a Syracuse native who has gone on to become renowned as one of the greatest
mathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and/or research is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with particular problems related to logic, space, transformations, numbers and more general ideas which encompass these concepts...
s of all time.
GorgiasGorgias "the Nihilist", Greek sophist, pre-socratic philosopher and rhetorician, was a native of Leontini in Sicily. Along with Protagoras, he forms the first generation of Sophists. Several doxographers report that he was a pupil of Empedocles, although he would only have been a few years younger...
and
EmpedoclesEmpedocles was a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a citizen of Agrigentum, a Greek city in Sicily. Empedocles' philosophy is best known for being the origin of the cosmogenic theory of the four classical elements. He also proposed powers called Love and Strife which would act as forces to bring...
are two other highly noted early Sicilian-Greek philosophers, while the Syracusan
EpicharmusEpicharmus is considered to have lived within the hundred year period between c. 540 and c. 450 BC. He was a Greek dramatist and philosopher often credited with being one of the first comic writers, having originated the Doric or Sicilian comedic form. Aristotle writes that he and Phormis...
is held to be the inventor of
comedyComedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in Ancient Greece...
. The golden age of Sicilian poetry began in the early 13th century with the
Sicilian SchoolThe Sicilian School was a small community of Sicilian, and to a lesser extent, mainland Italian poets gathered around Frederick II, most of them belonging to his court, the Magna Curia. Headed by Giacomo da Lentini, they produced more than three-hundred poems of courtly love between 1230 and 1266,...
, which was highly influential. Some of the most noted figures in the area of Sicilian poetry and writing are
Luigi PirandelloLuigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, and short story writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934,for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage." Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and c. 40 plays, some of which are written in...
,
Salvatore QuasimodoSalvatore Quasimodo was an Italian author. In 1959, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature "for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times." Along with Giuseppe Ungaretti and Eugenio Montale, he is one of the foremost Italian poets of the...
, Antonio Veneziano and
Giovanni VergaGiovanni Verga was an Italian realist writer, best known for his depictions of life in Sicily, and especially for the short story Cavalleria Rusticana and the novel I Malavoglia....
. On the political side notable Sicilian philosophers include:
Giovanni GentileGiovanni Gentile was an Italian neo-Hegelian Idealist philosopher, a peer of Benedetto Croce. He described himself as 'the philosopher of Fascism', and ghostwrote A Doctrine of Fascism for Benito Mussolini. He also devised his own system of philosophy, Actual Idealism.- Life and thought :Gentile...
who wrote
The Doctrine of Fascism and
Julius EvolaBarone Giulio Cesare Andrea Evola also known as Julius Evola, was an Italian philosopher, esotericist, author, artist, poet, political activist, soldier and Perennial Traditionalist...
.
Terracotta
ceramicsIn art history, ceramics and ceramic art mean art objects such as figures, tiles, and tableware made from clay and other raw materials by the process of pottery, so excluding glass and also mosaic, normally made from glass tesserae...
from the island are well known, the art of ceramics on Sicily goes back to the original ancient peoples named the
SicaniThe Sicani or Sicanians were one of three ancient people of Sicily present at the time of Phoenician and Greek colonization.-History:...
ans, it was then perfected during the period of Greek colonisation and is still prominent and distinct to this day. There are two prominent
folk artFolk art encompasses art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople. In contrast to fine art, folk art is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic...
traditions on Sicily, both draw heavily from Norman influence;
Sicilian cartThe Sicilian cart is an ornate, colorful style of horse or donkey-drawn cart native to the island of Sicily, in Italy.-History:...
is the painting of wooden carts with intricate decorations of scenes from the Norman romantic poems, such as
The Song of RolandThe Song of Roland is the oldest surviving major work of French literature. It exists in various different manuscript versions, which testify to its enormous and enduring popularity in the 12th to 14th centuries...
. The same tales are told in traditional
puppetA puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by a puppeteer. It is usually a depiction of a human character, and is used in puppetry, a play or a presentation that is a very ancient form of theatre...
theatres or
teatro dei pupi, which feature hand-made wooden marionettes, depicting Normans and Saracens, who engage in mock battles. this is especially popular in
Acireale[[ Acireale is a coastal city in the north-east of the [[province of Catania]], [[Sicily]], [[Italy]], at the foot of [[Mount Etna]], with [[mineral waters]]....
. Famous Sicilian painters include
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe...
artist
Antonello da MessinaAntonello da Messina, properly Antonello di Giovanni di Antonio was a Sicilian painter active during the Italian Renaissance...
,
Renato GuttusoRenato Guttuso was one of the major Italian painters of the twentieth century.His best-known paintings include Flight from Etna , Crucifixion and La Vucciria . Guttuso also designed for the theatre and did illustrations for books...
and Greek born
Giorgio de ChiricoGiorgio de Chirico was a pre-Surrealist and then Surrealist Greek-Italian painter born in Volos, Greece, to a Genovese mother and a Sicilian father. He founded the scuola metafisica art movement...
who is commonly dubbed the "father of Surrealist art" and founder of the
metaphysical artMetaphysical art is the name of an Italian art movement, created by Giorgio de Chirico and Carlo Carrà. Their dream-like paintings of squares typical of idealized Italian cities, as well as apparently casual juxtapositions of objects, represented a visionary world which engaged most immediately...
movement.
PalermoPalermo is a historic city in Southern Italy, the capital of the autonomous region Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its rich history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
hosts the
Teatro MassimoThe Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele is an opera house and opera company located on the Piazza Verdi in Palermo, Sicily. It was dedicated to King Victor Emanuel II....
, which is the largest
opera houseAn opera house is a theater building used for opera performances that consists of a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and set building...
in Italy and the third largest in all of
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
. Sicilian composers vary from
Vincenzo BelliniVincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His most famous works are La Sonnambula and Norma...
,
Sigismondo d'IndiaSigismondo d'India was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He was one of the most accomplished contemporaries of Monteverdi, and wrote music in many of the same forms as the more famous composer.-Life:D'India was probably born in Palermo, Sicily in 1582, though...
,
Giovanni PaciniGiovanni Pacini was an Italian composer, best known for his operas.-Biography:Pacini was born in Catania, Sicily, the son of the buffo Luigi Pacini, who was to appear in the premieres of many of Giovanni's operas...
and
Alessandro ScarlattiAlessandro Scarlatti was an Italian Baroque composer especially famous for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the founder of the Neapolitan school of opera. He was the father of two other composers, Domenico Scarlatti and Pietro Filippo Scarlatti.-Life:Scarlatti was born in...
, to contemporary composers such as
Salvatore SciarrinoSalvatore Sciarrino is an Italian composer of contemporary classical music.-Biography:In his youth, Sciarrino was attracted to the visual arts, but began experimenting with music when he was twelve. Though he had some lessons from Antonino Titone and Turi Belfiore, he is primarily self-taught as a...
. Many award winning and acclaimed films of Italian cinema have been filmed in Sicily, amongst the most noted of which are;
ViscontiLuchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo was an Italian theatre, opera and cinema director and writer, best known for films such as The Leopard and Death in Venice . He died in Rome of a stroke at the age of 69...
's
"La Terra TremaLa terra trema is a 1948 Italian dramatic film directed by Luchino Visconti...
" and
"Il GattopardoIl gattopardo may refer to:*The Leopard, a novel*The Leopard , a film based on the novel...
",
RosiFrancesco Rosi is an Italian film director. He is the father of the actress Carolina Rosi.-Biography:After studying Law, but hoping to study film, Rosi entered the industry as an assistant to Luchino Visconti on La Terra trema...
's
"Salvatore GiulianoSalvatore Giuliano is a 1962 Italian film directed by Francesco Rosi. Shot in a documentary, non-linear style, it follows the lives of those involved with the famous Sicilian bandit, Salvatore Giuliano...
", Marco Risi's
"Mery per sempreMery per sempre , is an Italian language dramatic film directed by Marco Risi and released in 1989. It stars Michele Placido, Claudio Amendola, Alessandro Di Sanzo, Francesco Benigno, Salvatore Termini and Tony Sperandeo.- Synopsis :...
" and
"Ragazzi fuoriRagazzi fuori is an Italian language dramatic film directed by Marco Risi in the neo-neorealistic style and written by Aurelio Grimaldi. Released in 1990, it is the sequel to the 1989 film Mery per sempre...
", and Antonioni's
"L'avventuraL'avventura is a 1960 Italian film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and developed from his initial story. Monica Vitti and Gabriele Ferzetti star...
".
Sports
The best known and most popular sport on the island of Sicily is
footballAssociation football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players using a spherical ball...
, which was introduced in the late 1800s under the influence of the
EnglishThe English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity as a people is of early medieval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn....
. Some of the oldest football clubs in all of Italy are Sicilian: the three most successful are
PalermoUnione Sportiva Città di Palermo is an Italian football club from Palermo, Sicily which currently plays in Serie A, the top level of Italian football. Formed in 1900 as Anglo Panormitan Athletic and Football Club, the club existed under various names before finally assuming the current denomination...
,
MessinaAssociazione Calcio Rinascita Messina are an Italian football club based in Messina, Sicily originally founded in 1900. The club has spent most of its history in the lower Italian football leagues. They last competed in Serie B in 2007–08, this following three consecutive seasons in Serie A...
, and
CataniaCalcio Catania is an Italian football club founded in 1908 and are based in Catania, Sicily. The club has spent much of its history in Serie B, gaining promotion to Italy's top league Serie A five times...
, who have all, at some point, played in the prestigious
Serie ASerie A, called for sponsorship reasons as Serie A TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top echelon of the Italian football league system operating for eighty years from 1929. It is organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new league like the English Premier...
. To date, no Sicilian side has ever won Serie A; however, football is deeply embeded in local culture, all over Sicily each town has its own representative team.
Palermo and Catania have a heated rivalry and compete in the
Sicilian derbyThe Derby di Sicilia is a local derby between Italian football clubs Calcio Catania and U.S. Città di Palermo. Catania and Palermo are the two main cities on the island of Sicily, and the teams are fierce rivals...
together: to date, Palermo is the only Sicilian team to have played on the European stage, in the
UEFA CupThe UEFA Europa League is a competition for eligible European football clubs; the second most prestigious European football contest after the UEFA Champions League. It is an annual football cup competition for European club teams organised by the Union of European Football Associations...
. The most noted Sicilian footballer is
Salvatore SchillaciSalvatore Schillaci , commonly referred to by his nickname Totò is an former Italian football player. During his career, he played for Messina , Juventus , Internazionale and Júbilo Iwata...
, who won the
Golden BootAt the end of each FIFA World Cup final tournament, several awards are attributed to the players and teams which have distinguished from the rest, in different aspects of the game.There are currently six awards:...
at the
1990 FIFA World CupThe 1990 FIFA World Cup, the 14th staging of the World Cup, was held in Italy from 8 June to 8 July. Italy was chosen as hosts by FIFA on 19 May 1984, making it the second country to host the event twice. USSR was the rival of Italy's candidacy to host the event...
with
ItalyThe Italy national football team represents Italy in international football competition and is controlled by the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio...
. Other noted Sicilian players include
Giuseppe FurinoGiuseppe Furino is a retired football player. His role was defensive midfielder.- Career :After some years in minor leagues, he signed for Juventus in 1969....
,
Pietro AnastasiPietro Anastasi , nicknamed Petruzzu 'u turcu by fans, was an Italian former footballer, playing in the striker role....
,
Francesco CocoFrancesco Coco is a retired Italian football defender.-Club:Coco spent the majority of his club career with the Milan clubs; first with A.C. Milan between 1993 and 2002 and later with F.C. Internazionale between 2002 and 2007. He also had several loan spells with Vicenza Calcio, Torino F.C. and...
,
Christian RiganòChristian Riganò is an Italian football striker who currently plays for Cremonese.-Career:...
, and Roberto Galia. There have also been some noted managers from the island, such as
Carmelo Di BellaCarmelo Di Bella was an Italian football player and manager. Di Bella spent the vast majority of his career in Sicily where he was a prominent figure in the footballing scene, especially in relation to the island's most successful clubs; Catania and Palermo.-Playing career:Di Bella, a left wing,...
and Franco Scoglio.
Although football is by far the most popular sport in Sicily, the island also has participants in other fields.
Amatori CataniaAmatori Catania is an Italian rugby union club who got relegated from the Super 10. They are based in Catania, they are the only professional rugby union team in Sicily. The club was founded in 1963, and play at the Stadio Santa Maria Goretti....
compete in the top Italian national
rugby unionRugby union is a full contact team sport, a form of football which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. It is played with an oval-shaped ball, outdoors on a level field, usually with a grass surface, 100 m...
league called
Super 10The Super 10 is the highest tier of the national rugby union competition in Italy. The first Italian championship took place in 1929 with 6 of the 16 teams that existed in Italy. In 2002 the Italian championship was restructured with the strongest ten teams taking part in the new Super 10...
. They have even participated at European level in the
European Challenge CupThe European Challenge Cup in rugby union, known as the Parker Pen Shield from 2001 to 2003 and Parker Pen Challenge Cup from 2003 to 2005, is the junior competition to the Heineken Cup. It is contested by teams from England, France, Wales, Ireland, Italy, Romania, and on some occasions, Spain and...
. Competing in the
basketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of 5 players try to score points against one another by placing a ball through a
10 foot high hoop under organized rules...
variation of
Serie AIn Italian professional basketball, the Lega Basket Serie A is the highest level club competition where play determines the national champion. The season consists of a home-and-away schedule of 30 games, followed by an eight-team playoff round. Quarterfinals and semifinals series are best-of-five,...
is
Orlandina BasketOrlandina Basket, also known for sponsorship reasons as Pierrel Capo d'Orlando, is an Italian League professional basketball club from the town of Capo d'Orlando, Sicily...
from
Capo d'OrlandoCapo d'Orlando is a comune in the province of Messina, Sicily, Italy and is considered the capital of comprensorio dei Nebrodi. Well-known as a vivacious, active, touristic and commercial center, Capo d'Orlando is also the birthplace of the poet Lucio Piccolo, cousin of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa...
in the
province of MessinaMessina is a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy. Its capital is the city of Messina.-Geography and demography :...
, where the sport has a reasonable following. Various other sports that are played to some extent include
volleyball Volleyball is an Olympic team sport in which two teams of 6 players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules...
,
handballHandball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass and bounce a ball to throw it into the goal of the opposing team...
, and
water poloWater polo is a team water sport. It is the oldest continuous Olympic team sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper with a maximum of six substitutes. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Gameplay involves swimming, players passing the ball...
. Previously, in
motorsportMotorsport is the collection of sports which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles.Motorsport includes all forms of motor racing as well as non-racing motorized sports.-Motor racing:...
, Sicily held the prominent
Targa FlorioThe Targa Florio was an open road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near Palermo. Founded in 1906, it used to be the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Championship until 1973...
sports car race that took place in the Madonie Mountains, with the start-finish line in
CerdaCerda is a comune in the Province of Palermo in the Italian region Sicily, located about 45 km southeast of Palermo. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 5,326 and an area of 43.8 km²....
. The event was started in 1906 by Sicilian industrialist and automobile enthusiast
Vincenzo FlorioVincenzo Florio, Jr. was an Italian industrialist in the wine industry of Sicily, famous for establishing the Targa Florio race....
, and ran until it was cancelled due to safety concerns in 1977.
Sicilian lifestyle and folklore
The family is at the heart of Sicilian culture as it has always been for generations. Family members often live close together, sometimes in the same housing complex, and sons and daughters usually remain at home with their parents until they marry, which tends to occur later than in previous decades. Couples today have fewer children than before, yet babies and children are much revered in Sicilian culture and almost always accompany their parents to social events.
Sicilian weddings are lavish, expensive, and traditional. They are normally held in church. The
CatholicThe word Catholic is derived from the Greek adjective , meaning "universal". In the context of Christian ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages. For some, the term "Catholic Church" refers to the church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, made up of the Latin Rite and the 22...
church is an important feature in Sicilian life. Almost all public places are adorned with crucifixes upon their walls, and most Sicilian homes contain pictures of saints, statues, and other relics. Each town and city has its own patron saint, and the
feastFeast may refer to:* A Festival or feria* Ramadan, Muslim's holy month* Nineteen Day Feast, a monthly meeting held in Bahá'í communities to worship, consult, and socialize.* Feast , a 2006 horror film from Project Greenlight....
days are marked by gaudy processions through the streets with marching bands and displays of fireworks.
Sicilian religious festivals also include the
presepe vivente (animated
cribA crib is an infant bed in American English .Crib may also refer to:*A box crib, a wooden frame used to stabilise an object during a rescue*A slang used to describe a person's home; pad...
), which takes place at Christmas time. Deftly combining religion and folklore, it is a constructed mock 19th century Sicilian village, complete with a nativity scene, and has people of all ages dressed in the costumes of the period, some impersonating the Holy Family, and others working as artisans of their particular assigned trade. It is normally concluded on Ephiphany, often highlighted by the arrival of the
magiMagi is a term, used since at least the 4th century BCE, to denote a follower of Zoroaster, or rather, a follower of what the Hellenistic world associated Zoroaster with, which was – in the main – the ability to read the stars, and manipulate...
on horseback.
Oral tradition plays a large role in Sicilian folklore. Many stories passed down from generation to generation involve a character named "
GiufàGiufà, or Giucà as he is referred to in some areas of the country, is a character of Italian folklore. His antics have been retold and memorized through centuries of oral tradition. Although the anecdotes from his life mainly revolve around the southern Italian and Sicilian lifestyle, his...
". Anecdotes from this character's life preserve Sicilian culture as well as convey moral messages.
Sicilians also enjoy outdoor festivals, held in the local square or
piazza where live music and dancing are performed on stage, and food fairs or
sagras are set up in booths lining the square. These offer various local specialties, as well as typical Sicilian food. Normally these events are concluded with fireworks. The most important laic event in Sicily is the
carnivalCarnival is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during January and February...
. Famous carnivals are in
MisterbiancoMisterbianco is a comune in the Province of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about 160 km southeast of Palermo and about 6 km west of Catania...
,
RegalbutoRegalbuto is a comune in the province of Enna, in region of Sicily in southern Italy.There is an annual Cattle Fair held in the month of August.- History:...
,
PaternòPaternò is a town in the Province of Catania, Sicily, southern Italy.-History:The site of Paternò was settled before 3500 BCE. Its inhabitants were probably the Sicani, although it was located in mainly Sicel territory; its initial name was Inessa. The modern name derives form the Greek Paeter...
,
SciaccaSciacca , also Schiacca, is a town in the province of Agrigento on the southwestern coast of Sicily...
,
Acireale[[ Acireale is a coastal city in the north-east of the [[province of Catania]], [[Sicily]], [[Italy]], at the foot of [[Mount Etna]], with [[mineral waters]]....
,
Termini ImereseTermini Imerese , Latin: Thermae Himerenses, literally Himera's hot springs), is a town in the province of Palermo on the northern coast of Sicily.-Ancient:...
.
See also
- List of Sicilians
- Magna Graecia
Magna Græcia is the name of the coastal areas of Southern Italy on the Tarentine Gulf that was extensively colonized by Greek settlers, especially the Achaean collonies of Tatentium, Crotone and Sybaris but also, more loosely, the cities of Cumae and Neopolis to the north...
- Sicilia (Roman province)
Sicilia was the name given to the first province acquired by the Roman Republic, organised in 241 BC as a proconsular governed territory, in the aftermath of the First Punic War with Carthage. It included Sicily and Malta....
- Sicilian cuisine
- Sicilian Vespers
The Sicilian Vespers is the name given to a rebellion on the island of Sicily in 1282 against the rule of the Angevin king Charles I, who, with Papal complicity, in 1266 had taken control of the entire Kingdom of Sicily, which stretched from the southern suburbs of Rome, down the entire Italian...
- Southern Italy
- Southern Italy autonomist movements
There are various regional Southern Italy autonomist movements, covering the political spectrum from socialist to Bourbon monarchist.Since the fall of the Roman Empire, Southern Italy often experienced distinct historical developments when compared to Northern Italy. As a result, it has developed...
- Thrinacia
Thrinakia , also Trinacria or Thrinacie, mentioned in book 11 of Homer's Odyssey, is the island home of Helios' cattle, guarded by his eldest daughter, Lampetia...
- Trinacria
Further reading
External links
Sicily Region — Official website