(Ital. Sicilia; anc. Trinacria), island, S Italy, largest in the Mediterranean Sea, separated from mainland Italy by the Strait of Messina. The island is roughly triangular in shape and with adjacent small islands forms a region of Italy, which is divided into nine provinces (each named for its largest city and capital): Agrigento, Caltanissetta, Catania, Enna, Messina, Palermo, Ragusa, Syracuse, and Trapani. Area of Sicily region, 25,708 sq km (9926 sq mi); pop. (2001 census) 4,968,991.

Sicily is for the most part a plateau about 150 to 580 m (about 500 to 1900 ft) above sea level. In the N lie the Nebrodi and Madonie Mts., the only well-defined ranges, although there are several isolated peaks, such as the volcano Mt. Etna (3369 m/11,053 ft), in the E, and Monte San Giuliano (anc. Eryx; 750 m/2460 ft), in the NW. The lower mountain slopes are generally covered with groves of oranges and olives, and most of the plateau is covered with fields of wheat. The island's only extensive plain is that of Catania, from which Etna rises. This region is subject to severe earthquakes. A shock in 1908 resulted in the loss of more than 50,000 lives in Messina and nearby villages.

Sicily is subject to constant drought, not much relieved by the oppressive sirocco wind that blows across the island from North Africa. The rainy season, which occurs in late autumn and winter, does little to improve upon the general dryness. A combination of primitive farming methods, little use of irrigation techniques, and the arid nature of the area have prevented Sicily from being more agriculturally productive.

In the highest mountain regions of Sicily juniper trees can be found; on the lower slopes beeches grow. Plane trees occur along the rivers in the E, and in the still lower flat lands, where wheat is grown, chestnut and oak trees also grow, along with olive trees, cork oak, and pine. Apart from several varieties of vulture, few wild animals are native to Sicily.

Economy.

Sicily was a principal source of the world supply of sulfur until the beginning of the 1990s. Major minerals mined here today include rock salt and asphalt. The petrochemical industry also figures in the economy of the island and is largely dependent on production in E Sicily, particularly in Catania and Syracuse and in Ragusa and Gela. Agriculture is still the predominant occupation of Sicilians; wheat is the most important crop. Cereal grains are grown on the larger estates in the interior and along the S coast. Smaller holdings are devoted principally to growing grapes, almonds, olives, oranges, lemons, beans, and sumac, used in tanning and dyeing. The fisheries (tunny, sardine, coral, and sponge) are extensive; one-fourth of Italy's fishing vessels sail from Sicily. Other occupations include manufacture of wine and olive oil, fruit and vegetable canning, and preparation of citric acid. Some glassware, metalware, and matches are produced in the larger cities. Sicily exports fruits and vegetables, sumac, salt, wine, oil, and fish, and imports mainly grain, coal, and iron. Almost the entire trade is seaborne through the three principal ports, Palermo (capital of Sicily region), Catania, and Messina.

History.

Sicily was inhabited at the beginning of historical times by a people called the Siculi or Sicani. It is believed that they crossed over to the island from the southern tip of Italy. The recorded history of Sicily began with the establishment of Greek and Phoenician colonies. The earliest Greek colony, Naxos, was founded in 735 bc; the latest, Agrigentum (modern Agrigento), about 580 bc. Agrigentum and Gela early became prominent; under the rule (570–554 bc) of Phalaris, Agrigentum became for a short time probably the most powerful colony in Sicily. Gela, under a succession of able tyrants, such as Gelon, forced most of the other Greek cities on the island into subjugation.

The Carthaginians first arrived on the island in 536 bc, but because of the growing wealth and power of the Greek cities, they were long confined to the northwest; the principal Carthaginian colonies were Panormus (modern Palermo), Motya, and Solois. In a battle at Himera in 480 bc the Carthaginian army was completely routed by Gelon, and the Carthaginian leader, Hamilcar, was slain. The Gelonian dynasty at Syracuse fell in 466 bc, and for 50 years Sicily had peace. In 410 bc war was renewed between Carthaginians and Greeks for possession of the island. The Carthaginians were successful, but the vigorous reign (405–367 bc) of the tyrant Dionysius the Elder at Syracuse put a check to Carthaginian conquest. In 246 bc Carthaginian Sicily became a Roman province, as did the rest of the island in 210 bc. The chief events of the Roman history of Sicily were the two insurrections of slaves, in 135–132 bc and in 102–99 bc; the infamous propraetorship of the Roman politician Gaius Verres (d. 43 bc) between 74 and 70 bc; occupation of the island in 42 bc by the Roman soldier Pompey the Younger (75?–35 bc); conquest by the Vandals under Gaiseric in ad 440; his cession of the island to the Ostrogoth leader Theodoric; and recovery by the Byzantine general Belisarius in ad 535 for the Byzantine Empire.

The year 827 marked the beginning of the occupation of Sicily by Saracens. In 1061 the Normans (see Normandy), under Robert Guiscard and his brother Roger I of Sicily, began the conquest of Sicily, completed in 1091. In 1127 Roger II, count of Sicily, was recognized as duke of Apulia and Calabria, and in 1130 he assumed the title of king of Sicily. The domain of Roger II sometimes was called the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, or the Two Sicilies, because the southern part of the Italian mainland was known as “Sicily on this side of Cape Faro.”

The Two Sicilies.

In 1194 the Norman rule was succeeded by that of the house of Hohenstaufen. Its most illustrious member was the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. As Frederick I of Sicily, he presided over a brilliant court and, in 1231, issued the antifeudal Constitutions of Melfi, which centralized authority in Sicily. Hohenstaufen rule did not long survive his death in 1250; with papal support, Charles I, count of Anjou and the brother of Louis IX of France, seized control of the kingdom in 1266. In 1282 Sicilians revolted against his oppressive rule. The revolt, known as the Sicilian Vespers, began with a massacre of French soldiers. Soon thereafter, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was divided; Naples remained under the control of the house of Anjou, but the island of Sicily became independent and chose as king Pedro III, king of Aragón (1239–85), who was connected by marriage with the house of Hohenstaufen. In 1296 the island was separated from Aragón; for more than a century it was ruled by a branch of the Aragonese dynasty and was then reunited with that kingdom.

Ferdinand V of Castile, who had also been king of Sicily since 1468, made himself master of the kingdom of Naples in 1504, and the Spanish crown retained both countries until the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14). By the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) Sicily was separated from Naples and handed over to Victor Amadeus II, duke of Savoy (1666–1732), who ceded it to Austria seven years later, receiving in exchange the island of Sardinia.

In 1734 the Bourbon Don Carlos, later Charles III, king of Spain, invaded Naples and Sicily, and in 1735 he was crowned and was recognized by the Treaty of Vienna as Charles IV, king of the Two Sicilies. After the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), Italy enjoyed almost 50 years of peace; in Sicily progress was made along administrative, economic, and educational lines. The upheaval of the French Revolution brought new troubles. The coalition against the French republic was joined by Ferdinand I, king of the Two Sicilies.

Napoleonic Wars.

In December 1798 the Neapolitans attempted to drive the French out of the Papal States. They were thrown back, Naples was taken (January 1799), and the Parthenopean republic was created. In the same year Ferdinand was reinstated with the assistance of the British fleet. In 1799 Napoleon Bonaparte conquered the Kingdom of Naples and placed his brother Joseph on the throne. Ferdinand continued to reign in Sicily. In 1808 Napoleon, who had become emperor of France in 1804, proclaimed his general Joachim Murat, king of Naples as Joachim I; after the fall of Murat in 1815, Ferdinand was restored in Naples. At the close of 1816 Ferdinand united the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily into the single Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and promptly reneged on his promises of reform.

Royal struggle and union with Italy.

In 1820 a military uprising took place in the Neapolitan dominions, joined by the revolutionary group called the Carbonari, to secure a constitutional government. Ferdinand yielded to the demand, even though he had agreed with Austria to make no constitutional concessions. At the same time a revolutionary movement for Sicilian autonomy took place in the island. The congress of the Great Powers at Laibach (1821) charged Austria to restore Ferdinand's absolute power. Ferdinand was succeeded in 1825 by his son Francis I, who was succeeded by his son Ferdinand II in 1830. After 1843 the republican theories of the Italian patriot Giuseppe Mazzini took a strong hold in southern Italy. At the beginning of 1848 Sicily rose in insurrection and forced Ferdinand II to grant a representative constitution to his subjects. This did not satisfy the Sicilians, however, and they declared Ferdinand deposed. In his Neapolitan dominions, Ferdinand, aided by reactionary elements, fought successfully against the revolutionary movement then sweeping through Italy. In September 1848, his forces entered Sicily. In May 1849, Palermo capitulated, and the revolution on the island ended. Ferdinand inflicted his vengeance upon the rebels and was checked only by British intervention. In 1859 Ferdinand II was succeeded by his son Francis II. In 1860, after northern Italy was freed from the rule of Austria, the Italian nationalist Giuseppe Garibaldi landed in Sicily with a thousand volunteers and won control of the island. Sicily was then incorporated into the new kingdom of Italy (1861).

Dominated by Piedmontese, however, the national government possessed little understanding of the south. Efforts to centralize power, accompanied by burdensome taxes and military conscription, intensified southern resentment and led to an abortive insurrection in Palermo in 1866. Relations between north and south did not improve when the Sicilian-born Francesco Crispi headed national governments (1887–91; 1893–96). Challenged by leagues of rebellious workers and peasants, in 1894 Crispi proclaimed martial law in Sicily. Mutual suspicion characterized north-south relations until 1915, when Italy entered World War I.

After the war and the 1922 Fascist takeover of the government, Benito Mussolini launched a ruthless campaign attempting to destroy the Mafia, a loose alliance of criminal elements, governed by a strict code of silence, which had conducted campaigns of lawlessness and violence in Sicily since the 15th century. But this campaign was overtaken by other events; it was only part of the fascist program that turned Italy into a totalitarian state and led to Italy's disastrous participation in World War II in alliance with Nazi Germany. On the night of July 9–10, 1943, Sicily was invaded from North Africa by American, Canadian, and British forces; 38 days later its conquest was completed. The Sicilian campaign resulted in Mussolini's fall from power and, a few weeks later, the capitulation of the Italian government.

Developments after World War II.

Under the constitution of 1948 Sicily became a locally autonomous region of Italy, with extensive powers of self-government. A regional council, composed of counselors and directed by a president, is popularly elected.

At the same time, Sicily was to a large extent neglected by the central government, and the process of industrialization in postwar Sicily did not absorb the surplus labor force; unemployment remained high, and per capita income low. Many Sicilians migrated to northern Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and, to a lesser degree, North and South America and Australia. In the decades following World War II, Sicily also experienced a resurgence of the Mafia, which spread its influence throughout Italy. There is evidence that stricter laws and law enforcement in the late 1900s and early 2000s have led to some weakening of the Mafia's power, but it has remained a significant force.

Over the years Sicily has nourished important movements of art and culture. Distinguished Sicilians of the past include such figures as the composer Vincenzo Bellini and, in the 20th century, two Sicilian-born Nobel laureates for literature, the playwright Luigi Pirandello (a 1934 Nobelist) and the poet Salvatore Quasimodo (winner of a 1959 Nobel). There are many tourist attractions in Sicily today, including some of the world's best preserved archaeological ruins.

For further information on this topic, see the Bibliography, section 965. Sicily.