about Sicily
Comenius 2009-2011
The Mediterranean Sea
Dimension & Population
• Sicily measures
• Sicily : 5 million
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25.000 square km
Estonia : 45.000
Portugal : 92.000
Italy : 301.000
Poland : 313.000
Turkey : 780.000
inhabitants
Estonia : 1.400.000
Portugal : 11 million
Italy : 60 million
Poland : 40 million
Turkey : 70 million
19 dominations, in Sicily…
• Ausoni, Sicani, Elimi, Siculi,
Enotri, Phoenicians, Greeks,
Romans, Vandals, Ostrogoths ,
Byzanthins, Arabs, Normans,
Swabian, Angevin, Aragonese,
Spanish, Bourbons, Piemontesi …
The question is :
•Why did all these people
come here?
Sicily : 37/38 North parallel
A friendly nature…
• 3.000 years ago Sicily was covered with
creeks and forests full of animals and the
climate was pretty good for agriculture:
in a Neolithic village on the Lago di
Pergusa (Pergusa Lake) near the city of
Enna (in the middle of Sicily) the
cultivation of olive tree was introduced
8.000 years B.C.
The Mediterranean natural landscape
at Homer time (VIII B.C.)
Then, what did they eat…?
So, what did they actually eat
?
Let’s see…
Indeed, our ancestors’ diet
basically included:
Mediterranean diet, 2.500 years ago…
• Basically: bread, cheese, olives;
• Then lamb, pork, eggs, fish, legumes, fruit
and vegetables;
• As a dessert sometimes they could have a
cake with honey, not with sugar because
sugar cane was introduced in Europe only
by Arabs, in the 9th century A.C. (and
sugar beet in XVIII century in Germany).
And what did they drink?
• Coke ?
• Orange-juice ?
• Tea ?
• Beer ?
Not really.. They could drink…
• Water
• Milk
• Wine : A red, sweet, dense (thick) liquid,
which was very different from today’s
production… In fact they generally mixed
it with 2 or 3 parts of water and added
honey and spice (to make wine nice…)
... Wine …
Now, do you begin to
understand..
..why so many people have
tried to conquer Sicily
through the centuries ?
Moreover, let’s consider
another question:
We generally accept the
idea that men have been
made in the image and
likeness of God …
but…
… in some ways we can also
say that Gods (and
Goddesses) have been made
in the image and likeness of
men (and women) :
Male-Gods : aggressiveness…
Goddesses: a welcome attitude…
Needless to say, there have been
many female figures in the religion
of Sicilians, through the centuries…
Dear Friends, before
concluding…
…there is one last issue
that we want to face :
We know that for everybody Sicily
is also a synonim of Mafia…
Which is absolutely …true!
but…
…We every day remind
ourselves…
…that Sicily is also the motherland
of men who have fought the Mafia
System…
…like Falcone and Borsellino
…and many others, who are
still fighting …
…policemen, justices, journalists,
traders, simple citizens:
We believe in fact that…
• everybody can
do something
against illegality,
against
arrogance,
against mafia.
How ?
Behaving in order to be a
good example to others :
every teacher knows well that what
matters in education is what you are,
not what you say or pretend to be…
We like to believe…
..that Here and Now, Dear friends, by
working and studying all together with you,
we are fighting our daily fight for culture,
democracy and freedom.
And against the mafia system.
Let’s start, then…