Historical latifundia
The latifundia, these large agricultural estates that appeared during ancient Rome, strongly marked the history and human occupation of Sicily, considered the granary of the Roman Empire. The slaves were then the small agricultural hands of the island. Interrupted under the Muslim occupation, and limited under the reign of the Normans to a thousand or so small rural villages (the "casals"), the latifundium became legion again after the reign of Frederick II, until the present day. The lands belonged to large aristocratic families, the Church and the King. They were heavily populated by this slave labour. The great landowners resided in Palermo, while the lands were governed by authoritarian foremen called caporati. The landless peasants were largely exploited and their situation worsened with Italian unification, leading to the emergence of mafias. A major reform in 1950 attempted to put an end to this pernicious system, but the latifundia remained numerous throughout southern Italy, which sank into poverty. Today, immigrants have taken the place of the natives in the fields and work in difficult conditions, mainly in the fruit harvest in Sicily.
A land of emigration in the 19th and 20th centuries
In the last 50 years, the population in Sicily has grown slightly, by only about 700,000 people. This is both a small and a large number, if we take into account the drop in the birth rate and the rural exodus (the birth rate used to be high). Because of the extreme poverty of the inhabitants, inherited from the tradition of the latifundia, large contingents of people left every year to make their fortune in the north of Italy (mainly in the industrial region of Milan, which was booming in the last century). About 1.5 million Sicilians went into exile to try their luck in the New World: in Argentina, Venezuela and Australia, but especially in the United States (at the end of the 19th century). Finally, many Sicilians chose Europe, including France. The Sicilian diaspora counts nearly 10 million descendants in the world! Until the 1980s, Sicily had a demographic deficit due to emigration, but its population was constantly increasing, going from 2.4 million inhabitants in 1860 to 4.8 million in the 1980s. Although emigration is still a worrying problem today because of the attraction of other cities in the Mezzogiorno (more than 10,000 people leave every year), it is less pronounced and the island's demography has stagnated at 5 million inhabitants, even though the countryside continues to be emptied to the benefit of the coastal cities and large agglomerations that offer more jobs in industry and the service sector.
Palermo, Catania and Messina
The image of Sicily is rural, rustic, populated by sleepy villages. Yet three of its cities, Palermo, Catania and Messina, are among Italy's twelve largest in terms of population. The three provincial capitals have a population of 1,250,000, 1,100,000 and 650,000 respectively (including agglomerations) and employ almost 60% of the working population. The cities of Syracuse, Marsala, Gela, Ragusa and Trapani follow in order of importance. The population is mainly concentrated on the coast, spread out in a multitude of secondary towns, but also in the few plains of the island such as the Conca d'Oro in Palermo or in the plain of Catania, where the density can reach 500 inhabitants/km2.
A low birth rate
Italy is suffering from a low birth rate. Like other regions of the Mezzogiorno, Sicily has not escaped this demographic process and the gradual disappearance of mammas and that traditional image of women escorted by a flock of children. While the birth rate was still 24 ‰ in the 1950s, today it is only 12 ‰, but still higher than the European and especially national average of 7 ‰. There are really no more typical first names in Sicily than in the rest of the Peninsula, even if it is generally the great saints who are preferred by mothers: Maria for girls obviously, and for boys Marco, Giuseppe, Giovanni, Francesco (known as Ciccio to those who are intimate with him), but above all Salvatore which means saviour. It is an assurance of protection for eternity!
An island of migratory transition
For centuries Sicily has been a melting pot of peoples of different ethnicities and bloodlines: from the Greeks to the Germans, passing through the Romans, the Arabs and the Normans. It is possible to observe a homogeneity of the population within the region itself, even if these diverse and distant origins put "Sicilianness" well outside of "Italianness". Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, with the fall of Gaddafi in Libya, the island has become a transit area for illegal immigration from sub-Saharan Africa to northern Europe, including again the island of Lampedusa, the closest to the Tunisian coast from where the boats leave, since the closure of the ports of Pozzallo, Augusta or especially Catania on the main island, decided by Salvini in 2019. If for a decade Sicily has seen between 100,000 and 150,000 migrants a year disembark from Libya, it has only been a ground of passage for many.
Low immigration
As in all of Italy, the presence of people with an immigrant background is low. In 2022, there were 200,000 immigrants in Sicily, mainly Romanians (60,000), Tunisians (20,000), Moroccans (16,000), and to a lesser extent Sri Lankans (13,500), Albanians (10,000), Bengalis (9,000), Chinese (7,500), Filipinos, Poles and Nigerians (5,000 for each community). Immigration represents only 4% of the island's population. First, because Italy distributes migrants arriving at the port of Catania or Lampedusa to "campos" located throughout the country. Secondly, because the possibilities of integration are very limited (few schools for minors, few jobs for adults). The mayor of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando, is a personality who goes against the grain of Sicilian political life and welcomes migrants. Another example is the village of Sutera, near Caltanisseta in the interior of the island, a ghost town whose population was decimated by the rural exodus. The mayor, Giuseppe Grizzanti, has been welcoming migrants in vacant houses for several years and the village is now a model of integration. The new children have helped save the school that was threatened with closure.
The Italian language
It is the undeniable proof of the constant crossbreeding to which the Italian people have been exposed for centuries. Thus, ragazzo and magazzino (boy and warehouse) are words of Arabic origin, while albergo, banca, guardia or sapone (hotel, bank, guard, soap) are of Germanic origin. Charles V joked that we speak to God in Spanish, to men in French and to women in... Italian! Italian is indeed one of the most melodious Latin languages. It was only formed very late because it only appeared as a literary idiom in the 12th century, the aristocracy and Italian writers having long preferred to speak Latin, Provençal or French. This evolution was gradual, since at the end of the 13th century Marco Polo wrote his famous Il Milione in Franco-Venetian. Little by little a language was defined, thanks to the work of authors such as Dante, Boccaccio or Petrarch. From the sixteenth century, the influence in Europe, and particularly in France, of the great Italian states, developed. In addition to their driving role in the Renaissance (many Italian artists came to work in France), these states interfered in French politics: one thinks in particular of the Medici, who provided France with two queens (Marie and Catherine), and of men like Concini and Mazarin, who almost arrived in their suitcases. Italy fascinates the great French writers of the time, and the borrowings to Italian languages are multiplying. We can cite alarme, which comes from alle arme, "to arms", the signal to rush to the armory, banque, from banca, "the bench", that is to say the board on which the merchants sat, or escarpin, from scarpino, literally a "small shoe".
The Sicilian language still spoken
Although Italian is the official language of Sicily, you will find that the islanders speak to each other in Sicilian. In fact, the Sicilian language includes Sicilian from Sicily, Salentine from Puglia, Central-Southern Calabrian and Southern Cilentine (from Campania). Although close to Italian, with which it shares a Roman and Latin base, Sicilian is nevertheless a Roman language in its own right. Proof of this is the fact that it comes in 11 regional dialects! It varies depending on whether you are in Palermo, Messina or Agrigento. The result of centuries of foreign invasions and dominations, Sicilianu has integrated elements of Greek, Arabic, Catalan, Spanish and French. It has its own grammar, conjugation and vocabulary. Literature in Sicilian appeared in Italy after the decline of Latin in the 13th century, under the aegis of Frederick II and his enlightened court, composed of scientists, philosophers and literate personalities. Surprisingly, Sicilian is not taught in schools. However, it is estimated that 90% of the population speaks it, mainly with family and friends. If you speak Italian, you will be able to detect numerous expressions, pronunciations and other very specific and open accents (sometimes reminiscent of the influence of Spain or even North Africa), which are deliciously varied and colourful. Do not hesitate to use local words in the presence of a Sicilian, this effort will be greatly appreciated even if it is only a few words.
