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The Sicilian people are indigenous to the island of Sicily, which was first populated beginning in the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods. According to the famous Italian historian Carlo Denina, the origin of the first inhabitants of Sicily is no less obscure than that of the first Italians; however, there is no doubt that a large part of these early individuals traveled to Sicily from Southern ...
Sicily has a rich and unique culture in arts, music, literature, cuisine, and architecture. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, and one of the most active in the world, currently 3,357 m (11,014 ft) high. The island has a typical Mediterranean climate.
The main elements of Italian culture are its art, music, cinema, style, and food. Italy was the birthplace of opera, [6] and for generations the language of opera was Italian, irrespective of the nationality of the composer.
The Spanish had a major impact on the culture of the south, having ruled it for over three centuries. Jewish communities lived in Sicily and southern Italy for over 15 centuries, but in 1492, King Ferdinan II of Aragon proclaimed the Edict of Expulsion. At their height, Jewish Sicilians probably constituted around one tenth of the island's ...
The high altar of Palermo Cathedral in an 18th-century print. Sicily is particularly prone to earthquakes, and these destroyed many works of art.Particularly vulnerable is the city and area of Messina (earthquakes of 1562, 1649, 1783, 1894 and 1908), but also other areas of the island such as the Val di Noto (earthquakes of 1542, 1693, 1757, 1848).
The geology of Sicily (a large island located at Italy's southwestern end) records the collision of the Eurasian and the African plates during westward-dipping subduction of the African slab since late Oligocene. [1] [2] Major tectonic units are the Hyblean foreland, the Gela foredeep, the Apenninic-Maghrebian orogen, and the Calabrian Arc.
From the motherland Greece, art, literature and philosophy decisively influenced the life of the colonies. In Magna Graecia much impetus was given to culture, especially in some cities such as Taras (now Taranto). [5] Noteworthy was the South Italian ancient Greek pottery, fabricated in Magna Graecia largely during the 4th century BC.
Illustration 1: Sicilian Baroque. Basilica della Collegiata in Catania, designed by Stefano Ittar, c. 1768.. Sicilian Baroque is the distinctive form of Baroque architecture which evolved on the island of Sicily, off the southern coast of Italy, in the 17th and 18th centuries, when it was part of the Spanish Empire.