Today we fly to Catania, the second largest city in Sicily. Catania is located on Sicily's east coast and faces the Ionian Sea.
Floating off the toe of the Italian mainland, the island of Sicily is noticeably distinct from the rest of Italy. Here Europe takes on the flavors of Greece and North Africa. The unique history of Sicily, much invaded and an ancient centre of 'Magna Graecia' has given it a unique, hybrid culture. Sicily also has its own language, Sicilianu, a close cousin of Italian, painted with tones of Greek, Arabic and other languages. It's the first language of the island, although standard Italian (and indeed English) is spoken in shops and hotels.
The Trinacria, symbol of Sicily, is reminiscent of the island's shape.
The flag of Sicily.
Throughout much of its history, Sicily has been considered a strategic location due in large part to its importance for Mediterranean trade routes. The area was highly regarded as part of
Magna Graecia, with Cicero describing
Siracusa as the greatest and most beautiful city of all
Ancient Greece. The city of Siracusa guarded the Strait of Messina. The Greeks arrived around 750BC to displace the ancient inhabitants: the Sicani, the Elymians and the Ligures. The Greeks were in turn overthrown by the rise of Rome in the late pre-Christian era. Christianity arrived around 200 AD, and then began of a procession of invaders including Vandals, Goths, Byzantines, Lombards, Normans, Spaniards, Persians, Aragonese and others. As late as the 19th century, raiders crossed from North Africa to capture men as slaves for their galleys and women for their brothels.
Sicily is an autonomous region of Italy and currently has five million inhabitants. It is also the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, though several much smaller islands surrounding it are also considered part of Sicily.
Southern Sicily is much closer to Tunisia than to the rest of Italy and Europe.The Mafia (also known as Cosa Nostra) is a Sicilian criminal secret society which first developed in the mid-19th century in Sicily. An offshoot emerged on the East Coast of the United States and in Australia during the late 19th century. According to historian Paolo Pezzino: "The Mafia is a kind of organized crime being active not only in several illegal fields, but also tending to exercise sovereignty functions – normally belonging to public authorities – over a specific territory…" The Mafia is purported to be alive and well in Sicily today.
We are very excited to see the Spring migration from Africa. We will observe from the northern mountains on the west side of the Strait.
Strait of Messina channel: c.20 mi (32 km) long and from 2 to 10 mi (3.2-16 km) wide, separating the Italian peninsula from Sicily and connecting the Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas. Reggio di Calabria, in SW Italy, and Messina, in NE Sicily, are the main ports. A ferry crosses the dangerous waters of the strait from Messina to Villa San Giovanni. The currents, whirlpools, and winds of the strait, which still hamper navigation, gave rise in ancient times to many legends about its dangers to navigators.
