Comenius Multicultural Intercultural Competences Benvenuti in Sicilia! Welcome to Sicily!

Italy population: about citizens capital: Rome area: km² language: Italian

Sicily population of people capital: Palermo official language: Italian dialect: Sicilian 9 provinces: -Trapani -Palermo -Messina -Agrigento -Caltanissetta -Enna -Catania -Siracusa -Ragusa

Sicily Sicily has a splendid multicultural history, thanks to the people that occupied the island during history Nowadays, Sicily is recognized for its heritage and you will find a lot of historical and cultural monuments on the island Travelling through Sicily is travelling through history

The Trinacria The regional symbol of Sicily, which you’ll find on the flag, derives from the Greek mythology

The Trinacria The symbol on the Sicilian flag is the “Trinacria”. The “Trinacria” or “Triskeles” is an ancient Greek symbol that symbolizes the sun, because Sicily is known as the “island of the sun”. Nowadays it’s been said that the “Trinacria” should symbolize the shape of the island, the three angles, but in fact the “Trinacria” has nothing to do with the shape of Sicily. The face in the center of the Trinacria symbolizes the “Medusa”, a greek mythical woman with snakes around her head instead of hair. Around the face you see three ears of wheat, because Sicily has been famous for its grain during history.

Sicilian food Cannoli Gli spaghetti con le sarde Pasta alla carrettiere Arancina

Cannoli

Gli spaghetti con le sarde

Pasta alla carrettiere

Arancina

Sicilian beverages wines limoncello coffee

Wine

Limoncello

Coffee

Sicilian music The original Sicilian folk music is called “Tarantella”. A few hundreds of years ago, the people thought they could get rid off the venom of a tarantula while dancing on this music.

Sicilian history The Greek Era The Roman Era The Muslim Era The Norman Era Garibaldi

The Greek Era Sicily was a Greek colony until it became Roman in the year 241 BC Even nowadays you can find a lot of Greek architecture in Sicily, like temples and theatres

Segesta

Agrigento

The Roman Era In 241 BC, Sicily became Roman The Romans used Sicily, thanks to its fertile fields, as a granary for Rome The Romans made the Greek theaters into arenas for fights between gladiators and animals

The Muslim Era In 827, muslims from Tunisia invaded Sicily and proclaimed Sicily in 948 an independant emirate Palermo, the capital of Sicily, became a very important cultural and scientific city Nowadays, you can find a lot of traces of the Muslim Era in Sicily

The Muslim Era

The Norman Era In 1130, Sicily became a multiethnic and multicultural kingdom where lots of peoples lived side by side like normans, greeks, muslims and jews Palermo, the capital of Sicily, became the multiethnic centre of European culture

The Arab-Norman Castle at Salemi

Garibaldi In 1815, Sicily became property of the family of the Bourbons of Naples In 1860, Garibaldi entered Sicily with his “Expedition of the Thousand” and liberated it from the Bourbons In 1861, after a referendum, the Sicilians decided to be part of the Italian state Garibaldi declared Salemi as the first capital of Italy

Garibaldi

Islands Lipari Salina Vulcano Stromboli Panarea Filicudi Alicudi Favignana Marettimo Levanzo Pantelleria Lampedusa Linosa Ustica

Islands

Inno di Mameli