Sicily
Island in the Mediterranean, region of Italy / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Sicily (Italian: Sicilia [siˈtʃiːlja] ⓘ; Sicilian: Sicilia [sɪˈ(t)ʃiːlja] ⓘ) is the largest and most populous island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 20 regions of Italy. It is one of the five Italian autonomous regions and is officially referred to as Regione Siciliana. The island has 4.8 million inhabitants. Its capital city is Palermo. It is named after the Sicels, who inhabited the eastern part of the island during the Iron Age.
Sicily
| |
|---|---|
| Anthem: Madreterra | |
 | |
| Country |  Italy |
| Capital | Palermo |
| Government | |
| • President | Renato Schifani (FI) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 25,711 km2 (9,927 sq mi) |
| Population (2021)[1] (8.3% of Italy) | |
| • Total | 4,833,329 |
| • Density | 190/km2 (490/sq mi) |
| Demonym(s) | English: Sicilian Italian: Siciliano (man) Italian: Siciliana (woman) |
| Citizenship | |
| • Italian | 98% |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| ISO 3166 code | IT-82 |
| GDP (nominal) | €89.2 billion (2018)[3] |
| GDP per capita | €17,800 (2018)[3] |
| HDI (2021) | 0.847[4] very high · 21st of 21 |
| NUTS Region | ITG |
| Website | www |
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Sicily is in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe; it is separated from Calabria by the Strait of Messina. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, and is one of the most active in the world, currently 3,357 m (11,014 ft) high. The island has a typical Mediterranean climate.
The earliest archaeological record of human activity on the island is from around 14,000 BC. By around 750 BC, Sicily had three Phoenician and a dozen Greek colonies. The region thus became one of the centers of Magna Graecia, with the foundation along its coasts of many Greek city-states (póleis). The Sicilian Wars affected the island between 580 and 265 BC and the Punic Wars, between 264 and 146 BC, were fought between Rome and Carthage. The Roman province of Sicilia ended with the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. Sicily was ruled during the Early Middle Ages by the Vandals, the Ostrogoths, the Byzantine Empire, and the Emirate of Sicily. The Norman conquest of southern Italy led to the creation of the County of Sicily in 1071, that was succeeded by Kingdom of Sicily, a state that existed from 1130 until 1816.[5][6] In 1816, it was unified under the House of Bourbon with the Kingdom of Naples, also officially known as the Kingdom of Sicily, as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The island officially became part of Italy in 1860 following the Expedition of the Thousand, a revolt led by Giuseppe Garibaldi during the unification of Italy, and a plebiscite. Sicily was given special status as an autonomous administrative division on 15 May 1946, 18 days before the 1946 Italian institutional referendum.
Sicily has a rich and unique culture in arts, music, literature, cuisine, and architecture.
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