A short history of Sicily: From Greek mythology to the Sicilian Mafia
Over 2,500 years at the strategic crossroads of the Western world have left Sicily with an unparalleled historical legacy. Nowhere else have Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, the French, Germans, the Spanish, Italians and even the British left such an indelible impression.
Join us as we discover the unique history of Sicily, including a quick timeline of the most important historical events, the influence of Greek mythology, Giuseppe Garibaldi’s role in unifying Italy and Sicily and Cesare Mori’s bloody attempts to defeat the Sicilian Mafia (Cosa Nostra).
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A history of Sicily: Greek mythology
“Cyclops pursued and hurled a massive rock, torn from the hill, and though its merest tip reached Acis, yet it crushed and smothered him.”
This excerpt from Ovid’s Metamorphoses is as good a place as any to start discovering how many Greek myths have their origins in Sicily. The extract comes from the story of Acis (a mortal youth) and Galatea (a Nereid sea goddess), whose love so infuriated Polyphemus (a cyclops giant) that he slayed the unfortunate Acis on the foothills of Mount Etna.
Many other mythological characters also visited or lived in Sicily:
Persephone was abducted by Hades near Enna in the Sicilian hinterland
Arethusa, originally an Arcadian nymph, fled the amorous advances of the river God Alpheios and ended up as a spring in Siracusa
Charybdis, the water-sucking daughter of Poseidon, created the dangerous whirlpools that almost sank Odysseus while passing through the Straits of Messina
Hephaestus was believed (at least by Greeks in the Sicilian colonies of Magna Grecia) to have his forge in Mount Etna
And Aiolos, the God of Winds, lived in the Aeolian Islands
Meanwhile, Dionysus (aka Bacchus), so the story goes, came across a strange, unknown plant during his voyage to Sicily. Curious, he took a sample with him and on arrival planted it - it was, of course, a grape vine. So, when you enjoy a bottle of wine in your Sicilian villa, spare a thought for Dionysus.
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Giuseppe Garibaldi and the unification with Italy
Goethe famously wrote:
“Without seeing Sicily, it’s impossible to understand Italy - Sicily is the key to everything.”
The so-called Hero of Two Worlds, Giuseppe Garibaldi, must have had similar thoughts when he disembarked in Marsala on 11 May 1860 with just 1,000 men in tow. Arriving in Sicilian waters, he moored his two ships off the island of Favignana and waited. When the two French frigates stationed in the port at Marsala sailed out on reconnaissance, Garibaldi slipped in behind them and docked next to two British Navy ships and a British wine merchant’s cutter.
On re-entry to the port, the French were unable to fire on Garibaldi for fear of hitting the British ships and causing a serious diplomatic incident. In the meantime, Garibaldi and the red shirts, as his men were known, began their rapid march across Sicily.
On 27 May, they arrived at Palermo, where fierce fighting broke out. The city’s inhabitants rose against the Bourbon forces and much of Palermo was reduced to rubble. Within six weeks, the whole of Sicily had been liberated except for the citadel of Messina. This too, however, was soon to fall and Garibaldi and his makeshift army marched on Rome.
The Iron Prefect vs the Sicilian Mafia
One of the bloodiest and most fascinating periods of Sicilian history centres on Mussolini’s attempt to eradicate the Sicilian Mafia (Cosa Nostra) in the early part of the twentieth century CE.
The then prime minister Mussolini gave Cesare Mori, a hardline policeman known as the ‘Iron Prefect’, the task of destroying the Cosa Nostra. He had full powers to do as he pleased, and his arrival in Sicily with two brigades of black shirts was akin to an invasion.
Mori knew that he had to beat the Mafia at their own game, which meant being more ruthless, more violent and more underhanded than them. He famously said:
“If Sicilians are afraid of the Mafia, I will show them that I am the strongest Mafioso of all.”
During his time in Sicily, the Iron Prefect imprisoned over 10,000 people, with many more Mafiosi fleeing abroad to Tunisia and the USA. However, while the Cosa Nostra had undoubtedly been dealt a severe blow, they had not been eradicated. Instead, they lay low and waited for a suitable moment to reappear.
That moment arrived in 1943 with the Allied Invasion, and it wasn’t long before the Iron Prefect’s work was undone and the Mafia returned to their former position of power.
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