Sicilians: They’re Different

Our friends in Tuscany warned us, “Sicilians are different.”

Back in the States, we tend to think of Sicilians when we think of Italian-Americans.  That’s probably because so many of the Italians who emigrated to the US came from Sicily.  Names familiar to Americans, like Pinella and Paterno, are towns we drove through while visiting Sicily.

Sicilians are different.  In an opinion poll taken a few years back, when asked their nationality, a majority of Sicilians answered, “Sicilian,” not Italian.  

Carol, whose Italian has gotten pretty good with practice, could barely understand those who spoke to her in dialect.  She finds books written in the Sicilian dialect incomprehensible.

Sicily is a land of contrasts, both the scenery and the people.

You can see neat and prosperous farms tucked into lush hillsides…

…while just a few miles away, the hard-scrabble rock makes you wonder how anybody could scratch out a living there.

Sicily sits at the crossroads of the Mediterranean.  Consequently, it’s been invaded and conquered time and again.

The Carthaginians were first, founding what became Palermo and establishing several colonies on the west coast.

In the 8th century BC, the Greeks colonized the south and east coasts of the island.

A few centuries later, the Romans conquered Sicily, and it became the breadbasket of the Empire.

As the Roman Empire crumbled, the Moors came from North Africa.

On their way to the First Crusade, the Normans under King Ruggero took a detour and conquered Sicily... 

...leaving a scattering of Norman castles around the island, which otherwise would look out of place.

Next came the Spaniards, who established the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and drove the thriving Jewish community of Siracusa into exile.

Napoleon’s troops came next.  After conquering Sicily, the Emperor kidnapped a group of skilled artisans and sent them to Paris…but that’s the subject of an upcoming blog post.

In World War II, General George Patton came from North Africa and raced Montgomery’s British Army across the island on the way to Rome.

And today, the invasions continue.  This time it’s Africans, who over-crowd rickety beat-up boats to cross the Mediterranean and enter Europe illegally in search of a better life (a story Floridians would find familiar).  Just last October a boat-load of African illegals overturned off the coast of Sicily.  Two-hundred ninety-four bodies washed up on the beach at Lampedusa.  Others may never have been found.

Mt. Etna, the volcano, venting

Disasters are nothing new to Sicily.  In 1693, an earthquake struck eastern Sicily, killing perhaps as many as 200,000 people (estimates vary widely).  The destruction was widespread and thorough…

…which is why most of the “old” buildings on the island  were built after the earthquake in the Baroque style.

With all the different cultures that have ruled Sicily, it’s no surprise the system of  land ownership and tenant farming that evolved from the middle ages was complex and regressive. 

A small number of families controlled most of the land and lived lives of extravagant wealth…

…while the vast majority of people remained simple peasants.  There was little incentive to work to create more wealth, since most of the profit went to the landowners.  No wonder so many people emigrated to the US and Canada!

In the same way, the Sicilian legal system was corrupt…rigged in favor of the landowners.  Common people did everything they could to avoid getting entangled in a process in which they were almost guaranteed to lose.  So there evolved an extra-legal system to settle disputes between commoners.  Certain families became arbiters of disputes, taking a little payment from all concerned to make sure nobody violated the terms of the settlement.  These arbiters became known as mia famiglia, or “Mafia” for short.

Sicilians do not talk openly about the Mafia.  Most profess ignorance when asked about it by outsiders.  In some places, like the town of Corleone, tourists are strongly discouraged from taking photos, especially of residents.

In a seeming contradiction, T-shirts with this image are sold everywhere in Sicily.  Don Vito Corleone is not seen as an anti-hero…as he is in the United States.  Here, he’s seen as a full-fledged folk hero, somebody who emigrated to the US and made it to the big-time.

All of this brings us full-circle.  Carol and Roger went with Morris and Gail Rosenberg to the Palermo Opera House, Teatro Maximo, to pay homage to one of the greatest film sequences ever produced (Roger’s opinion)…the climax of Martin Scorcese’s Godfather III.