The Florio family is a prominent entrepreneurial Italian family who started many lucrative activities in Sicily involving the export of Sicilian products (such as Marsala wine) in the nineteenth century, in some ways redeeming Sicily from feudal immobility. [1] The family extended its interests to shipping, shipbuilding, fisheries, mining, metallurgy and ceramics. [2]
The founder of the dynasty was Vincenzo Florio Sr. (1799-1868), who gave impulse to the tuna fishing and its canned preparation in Palermo. He also was involved in the sulfur industry and founded a bank. In 1832 he established a factory of Marsala wine and, in 1841, the Oretea foundry. As a ship owner he promoted the development of maritime communications with the continent, building numerous steamers. [1] His son Ignazio Florio Sr. (1838-1891) considerably developed all the other industries founded by his father. [1] In the beginning of the 1900s, the family had to face an increasingly deteriorated economic reality in Sicily and suffered failures and closures of activities. [1]
Founded in Marsala in 1832 by Vincenzo Florio Sr., the Florio winery (Cantine Florio) has been in continuous Marsala wine production since then. [4] Florio became the first Italian producer of Marsala wine. He built splendid cellars in the town's tuff rock in which to produce and conserve the wine. [5] The winery carries the emblem of a lion.
In October 1861, soon after Sicily was incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy, Vincenzo Florio Sr. founded the Societa in Accomandita Piroscafi Postali-Ignazio & Vicenzo Florio (Florio Line) with a fleet of nine steamers. [6] In 1881, Ignazio Florio Sr. merged with the Rubattino company in Genoa, giving rise to the Navigazione Generale Italiana, which operated a line on New York City. The company also ran to Mediterranean and Black Sea ports, Canada, India, the Far East and South America. [7] At the time of the merger, the Florio Line was already a major company with a monopoly of the trade in the Mediterranean. The New York Times described the Florios as the "merchant princes of Europe". The Florio Line brought 50 ships into the merger, while Rubattino contributed 40. [8]
The Cantiere navale di Palermo (Palermo Shipyard) in Palermo, Sicily, was founded in 1897 by Ignazio Florio Jr., grandson of Vincenzo Florio. Construction was protracted and Florio was forced to sell his stake in the shipyard to Attilio Odero in 1905.
The newspaper L'Ora was founded on the initiative of the Florio family in Palermo. The first issue was published on April 22, 1900. The formal owner was Carlo Di Rudinì, the son of the former prime minister of Italy Antonio Di Rudinì, but the main shareholder and financier was Ignazio Florio Jr. [2] The political direction of the newspaper was generally republican and progressive, representing the Sicilian entrepreneurial middle class. [2]
In 1906, Vincenzo Florio created the Targa Florio, one of the oldest car races in the world. The first Targa Florio covered 277 miles through multiple hairpin curves on treacherous mountain roads where severe changes in climate frequently occurred and racers even faced bandits and irate shepherds. The race passed through many small villages, and fans lined up along the roads with no protection from the race cars. It was suspended in 1978 because of safety concerns. Today, the race continues with a different circuit as a minor racing event.
In 2019, Stefania Auci wrote an historical novel about the family, The Florios of Sicily (Italian: I leoni di Sicilia), which was a surprise best seller, selling over one million copies and being released in 35 countries. [9] In 2021, she released a sequel, The Triumph of the Lions (Italian: L'inverno dei leoni). [10]
A streaming series adaption of Auci’s novel titled The Lions of Sicily was announced in 2022; produced by Disney+ and directed by Paolo Genovese, it stars Michele Riondino, Miriam Leone, Donatella Finocchiaro and Vinicio Marchioni. [11] [12]
Sicily 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.
Marsala is an Italian comune located in the Province of Trapani in the westernmost part of Sicily. Marsala is the most populated town in its province and the fifth in Sicily.
Marsala is a fortified wine, dry or sweet, produced in the region surrounding the Italian city of Marsala in Sicily. Marsala first received Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) status in 1969. The European Union grants Protected designation of origin (PDO) status to Marsala and most other countries limit the use of the term Marsala to products from the Marsala area.
Nino Vaccarella was an Italian sports car racing and Formula One driver.
The province of Agrigento is a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily, Italy, situated on its south-western coast. Following the suppression of the Sicilian provinces, it was replaced in 2015 by the free municipal consortium of Agrigento. It has an area of 3,041.90 square kilometres (1,174.48 sq mi), and a total population of 474,493. There are 43 comuni in the province.
The music of Sicily is created by peoples from the isle of Sicily. It was shaped by the island's history, from the island's great presence as part of Magna Grecia 2,500 years ago, through various historical incarnations as a part of the Roman Empire, then as an independent state as the Emirate of Sicily then as an integral part of the Kingdom of Sicily and later the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and, finally, as an autonomous region of the modern nation state of Italy.
Collesano is a small town in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, Sicily. It is situated roughly 70 kilometres from the provincial capital of Palermo. It lies in the Madonie Park between the hills and the Tyrrhenian Sea and is also on the Targa Florio racing circuit since its beginning (1906). The town owns the official Targa Florio Museum.
Trapani–Birgi Airport, is a military air base and public airport serving Trapani, in Sicily, Italy. Located between Trapani and Marsala, it is one of the five civil airports in Sicily. In 2015, 1,586,992 passengers passed through the airport, making it the third-busiest airport in Sicily. The air base of the Aeronautica Militare in named after the aviator Livio Bassi. The civil airport is named after the Sicilian industrialist Vincenzo Florio Sr.
Vincenzo Florio Jr. was an Italian entrepreneur, heir of the rich Florio entrepreneurial dynasty, one of the wealthiest Italian families during the late 19th century. An automobile enthusiast, he is best known as the founder of the Targa Florio.
Navigazione Generale Italiana (NGI) was an Italian shipping company.
Cyril Snipe (1888-1944) was a British motor racing driver who won the 1912 Targa Florio in Sicily driving an Italian SCAT motor car.
L'Ora was a Sicilian daily newspaper published in Palermo. The paper was founded in 1900 and stopped being published in 1992. In the 1950s–1980s the paper was known for its investigative reporting about the Sicilian Mafia.
Raffaele Rubattino was an Italian entrepreneur and colonialist who started a shipping company that ran merchant ships on the routes to the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. He was also a founder of the Italian navy
Franca Florio, born Francesca Paola Jacona della Motta dei baroni di San Giuliano and commonly called Donna Franca, was an Italian noblewoman, socialite and a prominent protagonist of the Belle Époque. Descendant of a Sicilian noble family, she married the entrepreneur Ignazio Florio Jr., member of the wealthy Florio family. She was nicknamed "Queen of Palermo".
Ignazio Florio Jr. was an Italian entrepreneur, heir of the rich Florio economic dynasty, one of the wealthiest Italian families during the late 19th century.
Ignazio Florio Sr. was an Italian entrepreneur and politician, member of the rich Florio economic dynasty, one of the wealthiest Italian families during the late 19th century.
Vincenzo Florio Sr. was an Italian entrepreneur and politician, member of the rich Florio economic dynasty, one of the wealthiest Sicilian families during the late 19th century.
Stefania Auci is an Italian author.
The Lions of Sicily is a 2023 Italian historical drama television series based on The Florios of Sicily by Stefania Auci. It premiered at the Rome Film Festival on 23 October 2023 and was released on Disney+ on 25 October 2023.
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