Do Sicilians consider sicily a seperate country from Italy? (richest, economy)

[Soju]

Originally Posted by Dexterguy

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.

I was really surprised when I visited my friends in Milan, the northern Italians really don't like the southern Italians at all,especially Sicilicans. Some even call them Greeks or Arabs and among other things i won't say here.

[jeni582200]

i'm sicilian and i always get weird when people call me italian! i met a lady one day when we were volunteering together and i asked her if she was sicilian too. she said, "NO! Calabrese!" (around the toe of the boot).

[AmbreaKaileigh]

Originally Posted by Soju

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

Sicily has been ruled by more kingdoms and governments then I care to enumerate here. It's people are as ethnically diverse as are the people of New Orleans, if not more so. From the 1100's, Sicily was it's own kingdom comprising most of the southern region of Italy, as well other islands which are now part of Italy. It was not considered part of Italy until the Italian Unification of 1860.

No doubt, as one contemporary Sicilian who posted to this thread expressed, things are different now in Sicily. I'm sure things have dramatically changed in the last century and a half, as they have here in America. The Sicilians of today have probably assimilated into the Italian culture and view themselves as Italians first, just as I'm an American before I consider myself as a Louisianian.

Although, I must say, I consider myself a New Orleanian before I consider myself American, but that's just the way people from this area feel about our mixed heritage and the uniqueness of this city.

[francosi]

I for one dont reguard myself as italian, i am sicilian 100% maybe we should look at the real facts about mr garibaldi and his campain.
We do have ourown language and many believe that it was from here that the italians got theirs, but please remember that italy as a country has only been so less than 200 years, less than the usa !!!!!

[WiseRoman]

There are problems in Italy about people identity. I mean that everything is related to the Region before the Country. Veneto (the region where Venice is) wants to be indipendent as the North Italy. The islands wants to be indipendent, and the Southern italians still talk about the Reign of the two Sicilies. Italy is unified only on paper but people is too much different to be really united. For example, traditions make it hard to be unite as a unique Country. Sometimes you have to drive 20km and you would find different dialect, different traditions and everything. An example that i know, living in Rome is that if you go to the other provinces of Lazio: Rieti, Latina, Frosinone and Viterbo, they all speak different from us. Latina and Frosinone are near Campania ( where Naples is ) so their dialect is more "southern" speech, while Rieti and Viterbo still have different dialects.

[SAI126]

My maternal grandmother was born in Marche, a region in central Italy. She was the oldest of nine, and came to the US at a very early age. She was bright, attractive and vivacious and had many suitors. One in particular was a young man who had come with his family from Sicily. My grandmother's family was horrified and they put the kibosh on that budding romance. My grandmother ended up marrying a man from Marche, near the same village where she was born. That is the way it was done back then. My grandfather was an intelligent educated man, with a good job. However he had a gambling addiction which unfortunately got him killed. The young Sicilian man she was forced to break up with became an honest and successful businessman who ran his own travel agency. Yes regional ties were very important to Italian immigrants. Sometimes too important.

[chicken.or.the.nugget]

i think every region in italy has a president.

[RenClau]

Most people in Sicily primarily are from Greek or Arab decsent. Greeks and Italians were there 1st, then Arabs tried to over rule that region but in doing so, a lot of Arabs remained. Arab people tried to overtake that region several times. Sicily also had people from Africa also. As far as the language goes, Italian is spoken with what is called a Sicilian dialect. It is kind of like the spanish language you have spoken Castilian and Tex Mex and so on....or like English, you have Cogney, true English as in London, or American dialect. It is possible to learn the Sicilian dialect, some colleges in the U.S. do teach this particular dialect of Italian.

[francosi]

hi, i read with interest, but as anyone ever considered that maybe sicilian (dialect) could have been there prior to the italian (dialect)

sometimes i get bits of info from the net and note that dante and others before him came to sicily , we as sicilians do not have many original words from italian but the do have may from us, we do have from greek, arabic and all the others that have come here, and we still put new words into our language, unfortunately for us, we are loosing all to those who believe that sicilian is linked to the mafia, it si not and we have a very precise and beautiful language full of sun and joy, very precise in describing things with simple words

[Nick79]

Originally Posted by 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.

It's called "Lega Nord" btw