Sicily: An Illustrated History

by Joseph Privitera

Overview

Sicily was the jewel of the Mediterranean, and Sicilians were the first civilized people of the Western World-here is their rich and diverse history in crisp prose and lively illustration. This concise history relates how Sicily rose to become the first independent, civilized nation of greater Italy, as well as home to many of the world's most distinguished philosophers, mathematicians, scientists, and artists. The narrative subsequently recounts the region's millennium-long decline at the hands of foreign invaders, its hard-won battle for freedom in 1860 under the leadership of Giuseppe Garibaldi, and its current status as a center for art and tourism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780781809092
Publisher:	Hippocrene Books, Inc.
Publication date:	06/01/2002
Series:	Illustrated Histories (Hippocrene)
Pages:	172
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.37(d)

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgment	v
	Sicily	vi
	Preface	xv
	Introduction	1
	Trinacria	3
	The Greeks	3
	Athens vs. Trinacria	11
	Phoenician Invasion under Hannibal	11
	Dionysius I	12
	Dionysius II, Dion, and Timoleon	13
	Agathocles and Pyrrhus	14
	Sicilian Greece	15
	Empedocles	17
	Archimedes	17
	Plato	18
	The Myths	18
	Enter Rome	21
	The First Punic War	21
	The Sicilian Language	22
	Under Teutonic Masters, and the Byzantine Empire	24
	The Saracens	25
	Sicily--A Muslim Land	25
	The Saracen Legacy	29
	The Mattanza	30
	Poetry	31
	Arabic Influence on the Sicilian Language	32
	The Normans	35
	Crusade to the South	35
	Enter the Hautevilles	37
	Sicily	44
	Palermo	47
	Great Count Roger I	52
	Adelaide	54
	King Roger	55
	William I and William II	63
	The Hohenstaufens	67
	The Great Frederick--Half-Norman, Half-German	67
	Frederick II, Stupor Mundi	68
	The Sicilian Vespers	73
	Peter of Aragon	76
	Frederick III	78
	The Bubonic Plague	79
	Under the Spanish Heel	81
	Greed, Chaos, Famine	81
	The Spanish Inquisition	86
	The Age of Darkness--Rule of the Spanish Viceroys	89
	The Viceroys	89
	Sicily Serves the King's Interest	91
	The Brigands	92
	The Barons	92
	The Church	94
	The Inquisition	95
	The Economy	96
	Agriculture	98
	Industry and the Cities	99
	The Economy After 1600	100
	Spanish Sicily Disintegrates	103
	The Beginning of the End	103
	The Palermo Revolt of 1647	103
	The Rebellion of Messina	104
	The Last Years of Spanish Administration	107
	The Bourbons	109
	Sicily Under Three New Masters	109
	The Spanish Bourbons	111
	The Viceroyalty of Caracciolo	113
	Decline and Fall of the Bourbons	116
	Giuseppe Garibaldi	121
	The Bourbons are Routed	121
	After Garibaldi	124
	Into the 20th Century	129
	Italy at War	129
	The Dark Age of Fascism	129
	World War II	130
	Sicily and the Mafia	132
	World War II to the Present Day	132
	Sicilia--Quo Vadis?	135
	Tourism	135
	Folk Poetry	135
	The Theater	136
	Sicilian Poets	136
	Painting and Music	138
	The Novel	140
	Epilogue as Prologue	141
	Index	145