Do Sicilians consider sicily a seperate country from Italy? (place, people, Greek)

[Sonrise]

I'm watching Tony Bourdain right now with my wife as I write this and he's in Sicily for this episode. He meets with a man referred to as the "President of Sicily" and this man welcomes Tony to "our country and it's food and culture". Now obviously Sicily isn't a separate country from Italy but I was very surprised at how open this man was about the issue. This was new to me. How strong is the idea of Sicilian nationalism? Thanks

[Moth]

There is certainly a unique identity although I doubt many Sicilians have seperatist leanings. Mostly because its rather poor.

Now, there are those in the North who would love it if Italy chopped off Sicily and everything south of Rome. The Liga Norda is a political party whose platform includes doing just that and renaming the North, Padania.

Having said that, most of Italy is still very region-specific and people often identify with their locale more so than the federal state. Dialects, wine, food, humor changes constantly. Makes the place that much more fascinating.

[Sonrise]

Thanks Moth. yeah, my wife and I looked at each other and said, "President of Sicily?"

[WildWestDude]

In ancient times the island was called Magna Grecia which was a Greek colony.
Syracuse was more populous than Athens.
There are still villages in Sicily that use greek words.
The genetic makeup of Sicilians and Greeks is still very similar

[imaterry78259]

Originally Posted by WildWestDude

In ancient times the island was called Magna Grecia which was a Greek colony.
Syracuse was more populous than Athens.
There are still villages in Sicily that use greek words.
The genetic makeup of Sicilians and Greeks is still very similar

New Orleans is full of Sicilian culture and pride right here in the USA. Louisiana is considered the Sicily of the USA

[Dexterguy]

Originally Posted by Sonrise

I'm watching Tony Bourdain right now with my wife as I write this and he's in Sicily for this episode. He meets with a man referred to as the "President of Sicily" and this man welcomes Tony to "our country and it's food and culture". Now obviously Sicily isn't a separate country from Italy but I was very surprised at how open this man was about the issue. This was new to me. How strong is the idea of Sicilian nationalism? Thanks

I am of Sicilian heritage myself, and watched that episode also last Sunday. What my grandpa always told me was that Sicily was more or less pushed into joining Italy when the uniting was going on in the 1800's. Sicily is very unique, and is very different from the Italian mainland. The Sicilian people even have their own language apart from Italian (even though they get taught Italian at school). They language is very sadly dieing out. I always wanted to learn Sicilian but it is not a tradional langauge taught, meaning you can not learn it out of a book. It comes from natural tongue (growing up speaking it). For many Italians of Sicilian heritage in the US or Sicilians in Siclily, they get very offended when you call them an "Italian". I myself think of myself as a person of Sicilian background, but usually call myself Italian because nobody seems to know where Sicliy is.

[NintyFresh]

I'm not Sicilian, I'm Pugliese (from here actually: Castellana Grotte - Wikipedia). My family considers ourselves Pugliese first, then Italian, as it is our heritage. The towns each have their own dialects (ours is Castellanese), so in a way, most of Italy is like Sicilians in that respect. The only thing is that in our town, we don't want to break away from Italy itself. Even though I have gained my US citizenship by now, I still consider myself an Italian citizen firstmost. All of my Sicilian friends, though, consider themselves to be Sicilian first.

[internat]

To make a long story short the "unification" (Risorgimento) of Italy is a modern, 19th century artificial act so it is understandable if regional identity is still rather important. Then there is the north/south divide which is also expressed in secession movements. Keep in mind southern Italian impoverishment is also relatively modern. The Norman Kingdom of Sicily was powerful and prosperous. Southern Italy's economy declided after the unification, which resulted in mass emigration in late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Some more thoughts on Italian Regionalism (http://www.intellectbooks.com/europa/number2/bull.htm - broken link)

[rosytrovato]

Hi, I am sicilian and I can tell you that we don't have a different language by the rest of the Italy, every town/region have different dialect and accent, that is the same of US, I think you can distinguish a person coming from TX or IL by their accent, isn't it?
About the president I have to tell you that each region has a president and the same is for provinces, that's because regions has the power to do laws on specific issues.
In particular Sicily, Sardinia, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Trentino, Valle D'Aosta has special statutes.
I am proud to be Sicilian but first of all I am proud to be Italian, I disagree with everybody would like to divide us by the rest of the Continent...I just hope the bridge between Messina and Calabria will be done very soon!!!

[Soju]

Originally Posted by imaterry78259

New Orleans is full of Sicilian culture and pride right here in the USA. Louisiana is considered the Sicily of the USA

Really? And I thought it was full of descendents of French Huguenots.