Sicily, officially the Sicilian Region, is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy. With 4.8 million inhabitants, including 1.3 million in and around the capital city of Palermo, it is both the largest and most populous island in the Mediterranean Sea. Sicily is named after the Sicels, who inhabited the eastern part of the island during the Iron Age. Sicily has a rich and unique culture in arts, music, literature, cuisine, and architecture. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, and one of the most active in the world, currently 3,357 m (11,014 ft) high. The island has a typical Mediterranean climate. It is separated from Calabria by the Strait of Messina. It is one of the five Italian autonomous regions and is generally considered part of Southern Italy.
The Tyrrhenian Sea is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian people identified with the Etruscans of Italy.
Palermo is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old. Palermo is in the northwest of the island of Sicily, by the Gulf of Palermo in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Catania is the second-largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, and among the largest in Italy. It has important road and rail transport infrastructures, and hosts the main airport in Sicily. The city is located on Sicily's east coast, facing the Ionian Sea at the base of the active volcano Mount Etna. It is the capital of the 58-municipality region known as the Metropolitan City of Catania, which is the seventh-largest metropolitan area in Italy. The population of the city proper is 311,584, while the population of the Metropolitan City of Catania is 1,107,702.
Rosalia, nicknamed la Santuzza, is the patron saint of Palermo in Italy, Camargo in Chihuahua, and three towns in Venezuela: El Hatillo, Zuata, and El Playón. She is especially important internationally as a saint invoked in times of plague. From 2020 onwards she has been invoked by some citizens of Palermo to protect the city from COVID-19.
Mazara del Vallo is a city and comune in the province of Trapani, southwestern Sicily, Italy. It lies mainly on the left bank at the mouth of the Mazaro river.
Falcone Borsellino Airport or simply Palermo Airport, formerly Punta Raisi Airport, is an international airport located at Cinisi, 19 NM west-northwest of Palermo, the capital city of the Italian island of Sicily. It is the second biggest airport in Sicily in terms of passengers after Catania-Fontanarossa Airport, with 7,118,087 passengers handled in 2022.
Caltanissetta is a comune (municipality) in the central interior of Sicily, Italy, and the capital of the province of Caltanissetta. Its inhabitants are called nisseni.
Castellammare del Golfo is a town and municipality in the Trapani Province of Sicily. The name can be translated as "Sea Fortress on the Gulf", stemming from the medieval fortress in the harbor. The nearby body of water conversely takes its name from the town, and is known as Gulf of Castellammare.
The Florio family was a prominent entrepreneurial Italian family who started many lucrative activities in Sicily involving the export of Sicilian products in the 19th century, in some ways redeeming Sicily from feudal immobility. The family extended its interests to shipping, shipbuilding, fisheries, mining, metallurgy and ceramics. The Florio economic dynasty was one of the wealthiest Italian families during the late 19th century. In the heyday of the Florio business empire reportedly some 16,000 people depended on the family, and the press sometimes referred to Palermo as 'Floriopolis'.
Tommaso Maria Napoli was an Italian architect, Dominican Order friar, engineer and mathematician.
Santa Cristina Gela is an Arbëreshë village in the Metropolitan City of Palermo in Sicily.
Santa Flavia is a town in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, Sicily, southern Italy.
Mondello is a seaside district of the city of Palermo in the autonomous region of Sicily, in Southern Italy.
Siracusa is the main railway station of the Italian city of Syracuse, in Sicily. Like Palermo Centrale, Catania Centrale and Messina Centrale it is one of the most important stations in Sicily. It is owned by the Ferrovie dello Stato, the national rail company of Italy.
Aspra is a town in the comune of Bagheria in the Province of Palermo in Sicily, Italy.
The Metropolitan City of Palermo is a metropolitan city in Sicily, Italy. Its capital is the city of Palermo. It replaced the province of Palermo and comprises the city of Palermo and 82 other comuni.
Giuseppe Montana,, was an Italian policeman assassinated by the Cosa Nostra.
Capo Zafferano Lighthouse is an active lighthouse located at the extreme tip of the homonymy promontory, under a steep ridge, that marks the eastern entrance to the port of Palermo. The lighthouse is in the municipality of Santa Flavia on the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Bayesian was a 56-metre (184 ft) sailing superyacht, built as Salute by Perini Navi at Viareggio, Italy, and delivered in 2008. It had a 72-metre (237 ft) mast, one of the tallest in the world. The yacht was last refitted in 2020. It was in the legal ownership of Angela Bacares, wife of the technology entrepreneur Mike Lynch. It was at anchor off the northern coast of Sicily near Porticello on 19 August 2024, when it was struck shortly before dawn by a powerful storm and sank.
