"MY BELOVED SIRACUSA" Series

SICILY AND ITS HISTORY

It is the largest island on the mediterranean, the most sacred for the gods of the Olympus. An island which was invaded thoughout centuries by greeks, romans, normans, charthaginians, arabs and spaniards.

Sicily is in itself a great book on art history. In VIII B.C. it was colonized by the greeks from corinth, its principal city was Siracusa which was turned into a small empire by the tyrans.

Sicily was also a roman province until the fall of the empire. In VI A.C. it was annexed to the byzantine empire. In 1061 it went into norman hands who built castle maniacce to fortify the island. In the XIII century, Frederic II took over and it was the beginning of the mafia (a peasants organization set up to act against latifundiums) Finally in the XIX century it became part of Italy when the kingdom of the two sicilys was conquered by Giusseppe Garibaldi.