'To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is not having seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the key to everything.' So said Goethe. Diving Centres Dive Sites and Schools Solunto. Tuscany might want a look in, and Rome might beg to differ, but Sicily, with a history of foreign occupation across the centuries, is certainly fascinating, with a real pot-pourri of culture, cuisine and architecture. Plus the odd volcano. Tourist Information office centre Marsala 

A source of revenue for the Sicilian economy has been money sent home from migrants. Diving Centres Dive Sites and Schools Solunto Like many Europeans, in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, a number of Sicilians migrated to countries such as the USA in search of work. Diving Centres Dive Sites and Schools Solunto. Although far from home strong links bound Sicilian migrants to their families and communities in Sicily. Discount accommodation Lipari In fact, today, some Sicilian Americans are thinking of returning to their roots and small complexes of retirement houses are being constructed for American Sicilians. Lampedusa apartments It is hardly surprising that Sicily should exert its "pull" on its own people as it has done to many others in the past. Discount flights Sicily

As elsewhere in the Roman Empire, the Romans were replaced by the Vandals and the Ostrogoths, who demolished far more than they built (one rare example is the villa of Piazza Armerina) and were swept away by the Byzantines. Palermo Car Hire The Arabs who followed them moved the capitol from Siracusa to Palermo, renamed most of the existing towns, and planted the first carobs, date-palms, citrus trees, jasmines and melons. Diving Centres Dive Sites and Schools Solunto. The Normans took over in 1061. Diving Centres Dive Sites and Schools Solunto They tore down almost all signs of Arab culture. Licata villas They brought the island to a new level of prosperity and planted a different kind of seed, still visible today in the blonde and red tresses of many Sicilians. Diving Centres Dive Sites and Schools Solunto. It is to the Normans that we owe the most spectacular of Sicily's architectural treasures. Agritourism in Eolie Aeolian Islands From the cathedrals of Cefalù, Messina and Monreale to Palermo's Zisa and Cuba, the churches of San Giovanni degli Eremiti, San Cataldo and the Martorana. Under the realm of Frederick II, the Swabian king, Sicily became one of the centers of the Western world, and perhaps it is not surprising that the principal architectural endeavors of this era. These lasted only from 1220 to 1250, were of a military nature, such as the castles in Siracusa, Catania and Salemi. Diving Centres Dive Sites and Schools Solunto. When Frederick died in 1250, his successor Manfred was murdered by the ruthless Charles of Anjou, whose French allies streamed into the island and established a new aristocracy so despised that it led to the popular uprising called the Sicilian Vespers. Places of interest in Erice Eventually, in 1302, the French gave way to the Aragonese (part of the same dynasty which sponsored Christopher Columbus), who dominated until 1734. Diving Centres Dive Sites and Schools Solunto. The aristocracy created during this realm left their magnificent homes, such as Palermo's Palazzo Sclafani and Palazzo Chiaramonte, scattered all over the island. Pozzallo Bed and Breakfast The Aragonese clergy, while wielding the heavy arm of the Inquisition, effectively conspired to keep almost all artistic traces of the Renaissance out of the island.

Diving Centres Dive Sites and Schools Solunto