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24 unusual facts about sicily


Dago Creek

The name derives from the numerous Sicilian fishermen who would anchor in the protected waters during closed fishing periods and collectively celebrate their heritage with plenty of food and wine.

Double clarinet

In Italy, the Sicilian zampogna bagpipe, also called a ciaramedda, is additionally referred to as a "doppio clarinetto" (double clarinet), because of its two equal length single reed chanters.

Franciscan Order in modern times

They form less than a score of houses—two in Rome, five in Sicily, seven in Austria, and two in the United States.

Grevillea alpina

In 2003, it was reported that the fungal disease Phytophthora palmivora had been detected in plant nurseries in Sicily, leading to root rot and death of potted Grevillea cultivars.

Italian submarine Enrico Toti

1- patrol the mediterranean sea with special attention to the Channel of Sicily during the Cold War; for this reason their main base was the Military Arsenal of Augusta (Syracuse);

Joe Culmone

Joe Culmone was born in Delia, Sicily, where he lived in a farming area and learned to ride horses.

Kamarina

Kamarina, Sicily, an ancient city of Sicily, founded by Syracuse in 599 BC

Kempinski Hotel Giardino di Costanza

The Resort stands among rows of vineyards and olive groves in the western side of Sicily, near Mazara del Vallo, in the province of Trapani.

Lancia 3 RO

In North Africa and Sicily with the top of the cab cut away and lower sideboards the Lancia 3 Ro became well suited for desert warfare serving as a self-propelled gun porting the Cannone da 90/53 as well as the 100/17 howitzer.

Lucy Tyler-Sharman

In 1994 she won an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship as a sprinter and represented Australia in the World Championships in Sicily finishing fourth.

Ludwig Heilmann

His battalion fought near Francoforte and Centuripe near Regalbuto, Bronte and Maletto.

Muslim conquest of Sicily

The new emir sent fresh troops to Sicily, where the Muslims regained the upper hand after Mousele's departure: in 839–840, the Muslims reduced the fortresses of Corleone, Platani, Caltabellotta, and possibly also Marineo, Geraci and other forts, and in 841, they raided from Enna as far as Grotte.

Nino Bixio

At Bronte, on August 4, 1860, the recovered Bixio bloodily repressed one of these revolts with two battalions of Redshirts.

Operation White

The Skua managed to crash-land near Syracuse, Sicily, just before its fuel tanks became empty, and after being fired upon by an anti-aircraft artillery unit of the Italian army.

Otto Kerner, Jr.

He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for merit and the Soldier's Medal for rescuing a drowning soldier off the coast of Sicily.

Rock Partridge

While it generally manages to hold its own, the status of the Sicilian population may be more precarious and certainly deserves attention (Randi 2006).

Roman mole

(It was last been recorded on Sicily in 1885. There is also an unconfirmed report about an isolated subpopulation in the Var region of southern France.)

SS Empire Bairn

Empire Bairn was a member of Convoy NV 7 which sailed from Naples, Italy on 3 November 1943 and arrived at Augusta, Italy on 5 November.

SS Empire Cameron

Empire Cameron was on a voyage from Alexandria, Egypt, joining the convoy at Oran and leaving at her destination of Augusta, Italy.

SS Empire Candida

Empire Candida joined the convoy at Algiers and left it at Augusta, Italy.

Tortorici

Located in the Nebrodi regional park, Tortorici borders the following municipalities: Bronte, Castell'Umberto, Floresta, Galati Mamertino, Longi, Randazzo, San Salvatore di Fitalia, Sinagra, Ucria.

Veit Hanns Schnorr von Carolsfeld

He was a friend of the poet Johann Gottfried Seume, whom he set out to accompany in 1801 on a journey to Syracuse, Sicily, but separated from him after travelling no further than Vienna.

Via Valeria

A second Via Valeria, the Via Valeria of Sicily, connected Messina and Siracusa.

Zelkova sicula

The only known population, found in 1991, consists of 200–250 plants growing on the Monti Iblei area, in Buccheri, in southeast Sicily near Syracuse.


2005–06 Serie C2

Division C2/A was mainly composed by Northern Italy and Sardinian teams, whereas division C2/B included North-Central and Central Italy teams, with the exception of two teams from Campania (Benevento and Cavese), and division C2/C was represented by teams hailing from Central-Southern Italy and Sicily.

8th Airlift Squadron

The history of the 8th includes airborne assaults on Sicily and Southern France, support of partisans in Northern Italy and the Balkans, and transportation of personnel and supplies in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, during World War II.

A.C.R.D. Acicatena

Associazione Calcio Riunite Dilettantistica Acicatena is an Italian association football club located in Aci Catena, Sicily.

Alfa Romeo Spider

This had a 2.3 litre engine and a single-seater racing version of the Spider was driven to victory by Tazio Nuvolari at the Targa Florio race in Sicily in 1931 and 1932.

Álvaro de Bazán, 2nd Marquis of Santa Cruz

The other male of the family, Fernando, became Chancellor, Rector, of the University of Salamanca, and later, after ecclesiastical jobs at Seville and Cordoba, Archbishop of Palermo, Sicily, Italy .

Angelo Bruno

Born in Villalba, Province of Caltanissetta, Sicily, Bruno emigrated to the United States in his teens and settled in Philadelphia.

Antonino Giuffrè

Giuffrè became part of the "directorate" that was established by Bernardo Provenzano, according to Antonio Ingroia, a leading anti-Mafia magistrate in Sicily.

Antonio del Duca

Antonio del Duca or Lo Duca (Cefalù 1491 — Rome 1564) was the Sicilian friar whose persistent campaign for an official veneration of the "Seven Angelic Princes" was partly answered in the dedication of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, constructed to the orders of Pope Pius IV within the ruins of the Baths of Diocletian.

Battle of Calatafimi

Francesco Crispi, among others, landed before the Mille on Sicily to raise support among the locals for the Mille.

Benedict T. Viviano

In a city of French foundation but mainly German population with a strong African American minority, his family belonged to the city's community of Italian people, itself divided into Lombards and Sicilians.

Besana

Initially with almonds from Puglia and Sicily region (Italy) and in the early 60’s with Brazil nuts, Pecan nuts, dried fruit, seeds, pistachios, pine kernels, Macadamia nuts and finally the snack lines.

CAID

Qaid (also caid or kaid), various forms of responsible official found in places ranging from the Kingdom of Sicily to rural North Africa

Calliostoma conulus

This marine species occurs in European waters, off Spain and Portugal and in the Mediterranean Sea off Greece and Sicily; in the Atlantic Ocean off the Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores.

Charles Anthony Schott

Mr. Schott was a member of the Government parties that observed the total eclipse of the sun in August, 1869, at Springfield, Illinois, and at Catania, Sicily, in December, 1870.

Charles II of Naples

He went to Rieti, where the new Pope Nicholas IV immediately absolved him from all the conditions he had sworn to observe, crowned him King of Sicily in 1289, and excommunicated King Alfonso III of Aragon.

Cuccìa

Cuccìa is a traditional, primarily Sicilian dish containing boiled wheatberries and sugar, which is eaten on December 13, the feast day of Saint Lucy, the patron saint of Siracusa (Syracuse).

Edward Sciandra

Edward "Eddie The Conductor" Sciandra, was born in Montedoro, Sicily on November 13, 1912 and he died on July 13, 2003 in Hallandale, Florida.

Euphemia of Sicily

Euphemia of Sicily (1330–1359) was regent of Sicily from 1355 until 1357 during the minority of her brother, King Frederick the Simple.

Ferdinando d' Aragona y Guardato, 1st Duke of Montalto

1.2.1) Maria d'Aragona y de Luna, 5th Duchesa of Montalto; she married, 1590, Sicilian Francesco de Moncada y de Luna, 3rd Prince di Paternò, deceased 1595.

Filarete of Calabria

Saint Filarete of Calabria (also the gardener) (c. 10201070) he was born in Palermo in 1020, into a family of Calabrian origin deported to Sicily by the Saracens, and subsequently released.

Francesco Brancati

Francesco Brancati (1607 in Sicily – 1671 in China) was an Italian Jesuit missionary.

Frederick II of Sicily

Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, who technically was Frederick I of Sicily but the regnal number II was used of him throughout his various realms

Giuseppe Di Cristina

Giuseppe Di Cristina (April 22, 1923 – May 30, 1978) was a powerful mafioso from Riesi in the province of Caltanissetta, Sicily, southern Italy.

Harpalus affinis

In Europe, it is only absent in the following countries or islands: the Azores, the Canary Islands, the Channel Islands, Crete, Cyclades, Dodecanese, the Faroe Islands, Franz Josef Land, Gibraltar, Iceland, Madeira, Malta, Monaco, the North Aegean islands, Novaya Zemlya, San Marino, the Savage Islands, Sicily, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, and Vatican City.

Harpalus anxius

In Europe, it is only absent in the following countries or islands: Andorra, the Azores, the Canary Islands, the Channel Islands, Crete, Cyclades, Cyprus, Dodecanese, the Faroe Islands, Franz Josef Land, Gibraltar, Iceland, Madeira, Malta, Monaco, the North Aegean islands, Norway, Novaya Zemlya, Portugal, San Marino, the Savage Islands, Sicily, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, and Vatican City.

Hauteville-la-Guichard

It is famous as the original stronghold of the Hauteville family who made their fortunes in southern Italy and Sicily as the Norman kings of Sicily, beginning with the modest Norman seigneur Tancred of Hauteville, who is commemorated by a simple exhibit housed in the former presbytère.

History of Thessaloniki

However, after the death of the emperor Manuel I Komnenos in 1180, the fortunes of the Byzantine Empire began to decline and in 1185, Norman rulers of Sicily, under the leadership of Count Baldwin and Riccardo d'Acerra, attacked and occupied the city, resulting in considerable destruction.

Illyrius

The children of Polyphemus all migrated from Sicily and ruled over the peoples named after them, the Celts, the Illyrians, and the Galatians.

Isabella del Balzo

A combination of King Louis XII of France and King Ferdinand II of Aragon had continued the claim of Louis' predecessor, King Charles VIII of France, to Naples and Sicily.

Italian classical music

Thus, we know that there was a vibrant troubador tradition in the 12th century in the Provence in their language and we know that 1000 miles away on the island of Sicily there was also a vibrant troubador tradition at the Hohenstaufen court of Frederick II, songs sung in the dialect of the people (very much influenced, for example, by Arabic), but it is conjecture as to exactly what either one sounded like.

Luciano Leggio

There were many suspicions that corrupt figures in authority had helped Leggio avoid justice, with plenty of suspicion falling on the General Attorney of Sicily, Pietro Scaglione; he was shot dead in 1971.

Military of ancient Carthage

Beginning with the reign of King Hanno the Navigator in 480 BC, Carthage began regularly employing Iberian infantry and Balearic slingers to support Carthaginian spearmen in Sicily, a practice which would continue until the destruction of Carthage in 146 BC.

Morgantina treasure

The Morgantina treasure is a set of 16 pieces of Greek silverware with details in gold dating from the third century BC, which was illegally excavated from Morgantina, an Ancient Greek city in Sicily, near modern Aidone.

Niccolò Turrisi Colonna

Niccolò Turrisi Colonna (August 10, 1817 - May 13, 1889), baron of Buonvicino, was a Sicilian politician from Palermo.

Nicholas Scibetta

He was the only son born to first generation emigrants, a Mr. Scibetta from Cammarata in the province of Agrigento, Sicily and an Italian-American woman Mrs. Zicarelli from Bayonne, New Jersey.

Peter of Blois

Peter went with Stephen du Perche and Walter of the Mill to Sicily in 1166 and there became the tutor to King William II of Sicily in 1167.

Pierre de Brézé

He had made his name in the English wars when in 1433 he joined with Yolande, queen of Sicily, the constable Richmond and others, in chasing from power Charles VII's minister La Trémoille.

Reggiane Re.2001

MM.7210, hit during the dogfight, made an emergency landing at Comiso, in Sicily.

Riserva naturale integrale Saline di Trapani e Paceco

Riserva naturale integrale Saline di Trapani e Paceco is a nature reserve in the Province of Trapani between the municipalities Marsala, Trapani, and Paceco at the west coast of Sicily.

Salvatore Contorno

Salvatore "Totuccio" Contorno (born May 28, 1946) is a former member of the Sicilian Mafia who turned into a state witness against Cosa Nostra in October 1984, following the example of Tommaso Buscetta.

Seventh United States Army

The headquarters of the Seventh Army remained relatively inactive at Palermo, Sicily, and Algiers until January 1944, when Lieutenant General Mark Clark was assigned as commander and the Army began planning for the invasion of southern France.

Sidney Sonnino

Leopoldo Franchetti's half of the report, Political and Administrative Conditions in Sicily, was an analysis of the Mafia in the nineteenth century that is still considered authoritative today.

Stefano Morrone

After Venezia's owner Maurizio Zamparini purchased Palermo, he joined the Sicily side along with team-mate: Daniel Andersson, Bilica, Igor Budan, Francesco Ciullo, Kewullay Conteh, Di Napoli, Valentino Lai, Filippo Maniero, Antonio Marasco, Francesco Modesto, Frank Ongfiang, Generoso Rossi, Mario Santana, Evans Soligo, Ighli Vannucchi and William Viali.

The del Carreto Barons of Racalmuto

The del Carreto Barons of Racalmuto were the descendents of Constanzia di Chiaramonte (1290 - 1350) the heiress and daughter of Federico di Chiaramonte, Lord of Racalmuto a member of the prominent Sicilian Chiaramonte family.

Treaty of Benevento

One of the chief authors of the treaty as it stands was a young notary named Matthew of Ajello, later of much fame in Sicily.

Villafranca Tirrena

In fact it offers a wide artistic and architectonic wealth and the possibility to effect trekking routes on the Peloritani or trips towards other towns of Eastern Sicily: Taormina, Catania, Etna, Siracusa, Eolie Isles, Messina, Tindari and Nebrodi Park.

Walter of the Mill

He was long thought to be an Englishman who came to Sicily with Peter of Blois and Stephen du Perche at the direction of Rotrou, Archbishop of Rouen, cousin of Queen Margaret of Navarre, originally as a tutor to the royal children of William I of Sicily and Margaret.