Like most of the countries in the world, Italy has a long and rich history. People groups, empires, dominant powers, and borders have all changed over and over again throughout the progression of time. The history of Sicily and the southernmost part of the Italian peninsula is dramatically different from the northern regions of Italy, so to keep things simple, we are only reporting on the history of Sicily.
Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean, located just southwest of the end of the Italian Peninsula. It currently has 5 million inhabitants. The original inhabitants of Sicily are believed to be migrants from what is today the Spain/Portugal area. Cave drawings have been found from 8000 BC. They were followed by a people group from the Aegean and another people group from what is now northern Italy. All three people groups lived in different parts of the island. Around 750 BC, the Greeks moved in to Sicily and lower Italy, taking control, naming the area Magna Graecia, and easily absorbing the native peoples into their society. The Greeks set up many important cities, with the most significant being Siracusa. Like Crete and Rhodes, Sicily was a key stop on the sea trade route. The Greeks also brought olive and grapes with them and Sicily proved to be fertile farming ground.
Some Carthaginians (Carthage is in present day Tunisia) had settled on the island in the far west. Greece and Carthage went to war over total control of the strategic island in 480 BC. The Sicilian Wars lasted about 170 years, with on and off fighting and back and forth control. In the end, the Carthaginians won. Greece probably would have picked another battle and kept the war going, except shortly after the victory, in 264 BC, the newly rising nation-state of Rome went to war with Carthage. Rome won, making Sicily its first territory outside the Italian Peninsula. The Romans used Sicily primarily as an agricultural center for grains.
The Romans did not force their language and culture on the Greek Sicilians. As we all know from the History of Greece and History of Turkey posts, the Roman Empire grew into one of the largest empires in all of history. It eventually split in half. The western half, including Italy, started to fall apart even before the split. Meanwhile, Christianity first came to Sicily around 200 AD and over the next 300 years the religion continued to grow.
A Germanic people group known as the Vandals took Sicily in 440 AD. They didn’t have it long in 488 another Germanic people group called the Goths gained control of the Italian Peninsula and Sicily. The Byzantine Empire went to war with the Goths in 376 over control of Sicily. The Byzantines won in 552 AD. Around 826, Tunisia, now an Arab territory, went to war with the Byzantines over control of the island (note: same people groups that were fighting over the island in 480 BC, both with new names). It took 109 years, but the Tunisians finally won. The Arabs introduced new foods to be harvested on the island, including citrus fruit, pistachios and sugar cane. To the Arabs, Sicily became as important agriculturally as it was as a trading stop. The Arabs also introduced spaghetti to Sicily (spaghetti originates from eastern Asia), which forever changed the face of Italian cuisine. The Arabs allowed Christianity to continue under their rule, but imposed heavy taxes on Christians, enticing the locals to become Muslim to avoid the extra taxes.
In the early 11th century, the Normans (descendants of Vikings that had settled in northern France) began to fight for control of Sicily, and had taken the entire island from the Tunisians by 1091 AD. They also conquered the nearby Maltese Islands and some of the lower Italian Peninsula. The Normans made the lands they conquered into the Kingdom of Sicily, and appointed themselves rulers. The Kingdom of Sicily was highly prosperous, one of the wealthiest states in all of England. The Vikings had adopted the Roman language and religion when they settled in France, and pushed the Sicilians to change from being Greek speaking Greek Orthodox to Latin speaking Roman Catholics. The Sicilians developed their own distinct dialect of Latin.
A century later, there was no male heir to the throne. The heiress married a Swabian (a Germanic tribe) king and the Kingdom of Sicily was absorbed by the Swabians. During their reign, King Frederick II, opened one of the first universities in Europe, wrote a book on falconry based on scientific observation rather than medieval mythology, divided church and state, applied the same justice system to all people, no matter what their socio-economic status, created the Sicilians School of Poetry, and expelled all Muslims.
In 1266, the Pope stepped in and took the Kingdom of Sicily from the Germans and gave it to the French. The French mistreated the Sicilians, and in 1282 the people revolted. The Sicilian people voluntarily gave control of their country to the son-in-law of their last German king, who was from Aragon (in modern day Spain). War raged between Aragon and France until 1302, when the Kingdom of Sicily was divided up between the two. Aragon got the island of Sicily.
The 1600’s were a rough time for the Sicilians. They had a breakout of the Black Death, a damaging earthquake, and were frequently attacked by North African pirates. During this time they developed a unique architectural style called Sicilian Baroque. From 1701 to 1714, most of Europe was fighting in The Wars of Spanish Succession. As part of the peace treaty, Aragon gave Sicily to the Savoy (now Switzerland and a small piece of France). Savoy quickly traded Sicily for the neighboring island of Sardinia, and Sicily fell under control of the King of Austria and Hungary. A different Spanish province, Bourbon, conquered Sicily shortly thereafter. The Sicilians were unhappy under the Bourbons and staged a couple revolts that failed.
Around 1815, an Italian reunification movement began, and in 1860, the Italians took control of Sicily from the Bourbons. The people were no better off under the new Italian government and over a million people fled Sicily for America between 1871 and 1914. The Sicilians and Southern Italians staged several revolts and were dealt with harshly by the new Italian monarchy. Italy collapsed economically towards the end of the 1800’s, and Sicily was hit especially hard. This opened the door to the Mafia control that Italy is famous for, with an especially strong Mafia presence in Sicily. The newly established kingdom wanted to grow to the size the Roman Empire once was and they started attempting to take territory in North Africa. They succeeded in taking Libya and the Dodacanese Islands from the Ottomans.
During World War I, Italy remained neutral at first. But they allied with England after being promised more land in Europe and North Africa if they won. The war killed 600,000 Italian soldiers, made a handful of industrial barons incredibly rich, and left the rest of the civilian population poor. Work for the ex-soldiers was scarce. In the treaty of Versailles, the Italians were not granted what they had been promised. They got very little land in Europe and none in Africa. This led to feelings of resentment and anger with the people, fertile soil for the seeds of fascism to grow.
The Fascists were elected to power in 1924, led by Mussolini. Italy was still a kingdom at that point, but like England, had a Prime Minister. By 1926, Mussolini had taken full control of the country, banning other political parties, free press, and trade unions not affiliated with the fascists. All aspects of Italian society were controlled by him. At first, Mussolini allied himself with England and France, knowing their alliance would make it easier for him to continue to expand the Italian Empire. He invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia), despite the League of Nations disapproval and condemnation. Mussolini changed his alliance to Germany.
Mussolini waited a year to join into World War II. When he did enter, the Nazis were kicking butt and it looked like it would be an easy victory. The Allies invaded Sicily on July 10, 1943. By then, the Italians already had enough of Mussolini and wanted him out of power, and the Sicilians welcomed the allies. King Emmanuel III and Pietro Bagdolio, one of Mussolini’s men, aligned themselves with the allies, creating a new government that ruled over the portions of Italy “freed” by the allies. Mussolini continued to rule over the areas of Italy not yet conquered by the allies, but it wasn’t long before Italy completely fell.
Italy became a republic in 1946, shortly after the end of WWII. Sicily became a semi-autonomous territory within Italy.