 Sicily - "the clue to everything"
As the largest island in the Mediterranean, Sicily has, willingly or not, played host to populations that have included Greeks, Romans, Normans, Arabs, and Spaniards. The island has been a physical and cultural point of crossroads since the first Greek colonisation in 8th century BC.
But it's not just her geographical separation that makes the island so different from Italy: their history, too, is not a shared one. In fact, Sicily did not officially become part of Italy until the entire country united in the 1860's. And while the advent of national radio and television may have helped to create a shared language spoken by Italians from all its diverse regions, a feat that remained beyond the reach of scholars for thousands of years, today the Sicilian dialect remains one of the strongest and most individual in Italy.
But of course there is much that links Sicily with the rest of the country. According to one of the first and most appreciative commentators on the new country, the original Grand Tourist Goethe, "to have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is not to have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything".
Italy Inside Out features the cities and towns along the eastern coast of the island. While the northern and western coasts show the greatest signs of Arab influence, the eastern coast is marked more deeply by the island's Greek heritage. Perhaps the most striking example of this is the spectacular Greek amphitheatre in Syracuse, cut out of the rock in the third century BC and home today for many great performances of classical plays by some Italy's greatest actors. Further up the coast, the dark and (literally) smouldering presence of Mount Etna dominates the towns of Catania and Taormina. The volcano is still active (indeed, in 1971 an eruption destroyed the observatory that existed to warn of imminent eruptions) but this did not deter the Greek colonists who first settled here: the land that surrounds it is made fertile by the mineral rich lava flow, making it a prime agricultural site. The local Baroque architecture and contemporary artwork, prime examples of the beauty inspired by the stunning land and seascapes, also make fine use of 'la pietra lavica', the black lavic stone. Links
Best of Sicily
A guide to the history, culture and geography of the Mediterranean jewel. Sicilian bookstore
Familiarise yourself with the island's literary heritage. Sicilian proverbs
Get your lips round these fine Sicilian proverbs.
These links do not constitute an endorsement by the BBC of the companies, their services or products. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. |
