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Temple of Segesta. The history of Sicily has been influenced by numerous ethnic groups. It has seen Sicily controlled by powers, including Phoenician and Carthaginian, Greek, Roman, Vandal and Ostrogoth, Byzantine, Arab, Norman, Aragonese, Spanish, Austrians, British, but also experiencing important periods of independence, as under the indigenous Sicanians, Elymians, Sicels, the Greek ...
Political map of Italy in the year 1789. During the war of the Spanish succession (1700-1714), Savoy acquired Sicily, while the remaining Spanish dominions in Italy (Naples, Sardinia, and Milan) were taken over by the Austrian Habsburgs. In 1720, Savoy exchanged Sicily for Sardinia.
The resulting War of the Sicilian Vespers lasted until the Peace of Caltabellotta in 1302, dividing the old Kingdom of Sicily in two. The island of Sicily, called the "Kingdom of Sicily beyond the Lighthouse" or the Kingdom of Trinacria, went to Frederick III of the House of Barcelona, who had been ruling it.
Magna Graecia [a] is a term that was used for the Greek-speaking areas of Southern Italy, in the present-day Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania and Sicily; these regions were extensively populated by Greek settlers starting from the 8th century BC.
The kingdom had a large population: its capital Naples was the biggest city in Italy, at least three times as large as any other contemporary Italian state. At its peak, the kingdom had a military with 100,000 soldiers strong, and a large bureaucracy. [29] Naples was the largest city in the kingdom and the third largest city in Europe.
From 1072 to 1194 Palermo was the capital of the Kingdom of Sicily before Naples became the new capital under the rule of the French Angevin dynasty. [1] It has also been ruled by the Romans, Byzantines, Normans, Arabs, Spanish Empire and Americans (during part of the Second World War). [1]
Later, it was a naval base for Sextus Pompey, captured by Octavian in 36 BC. He founded a Roman colonia, Colonia Augusta Tyndaritanorum, on the site, one of five coloniae founded in Sicily. Cicero calls the city a nobilissima civitas. In the first century AD it suffered a major landslide, while in the fourth century AD it was damaged by two ...
Sicily is the third largest wine producer in Italy, after Veneto and Emilia Romagna (and Italy is the world's largest wine producer). [120] The region is known mainly for fortified Marsala wines . In recent decades the wine industry has improved, new winemakers are experimenting with less-well-known native varieties, and Sicilian wines have ...