Are Sicilians very different from other Italians? (best, life, cost)

[Trimac20]

I know Sicilians probably have the strongest provincial identity of all Italians, many consider themselves Sicilians first, Italians second or don't even like being called Italian. It's probably also one of the regional cultures we are most familiar with since many Sicilians emigrated.

I'm curious as to how different Sicilians are. Their culture, cuisine, customs, temperament, how life is like there.

[robertpolyglot]

Originally Posted by Trimac20

I know Sicilians probably have the strongest provincial identity of all Italians, many consider themselves Sicilians first, Italians second or don't even like being called Italian. It's probably also one of the regional cultures we are most familiar with since many Sicilians emigrated.

I'm curious as to how different Sicilians are. Their culture, cuisine, customs, temperament, how life is like there.

First, to the part in bold, on a knee-jerk level, I dislike the Sicilians who calls themselves a Sicilian first and then an Italian, or denies being an Italian. They are usually uneducated, overly provincial, and oftentimes it's a badge of honor among those who do not understand their backgrounds. In fact, you will notice this almost exclusively among immigrants, and never Sicilians in Italy. For all Sicilians, the proper way to identify is as an Italian of Sicilian descent. For all the other idiots, it's like an American going to Hong Kong and telling someone they're a Texan.

Their culture is "southern Italian," with the invisible hand of the Mafia thrown in. "Southern Italian" means a more relaxed, informal, and less efficient form of operating, and living life.

The cuisine is different from northern Italy, but no less better. Because you don't see as many cows, you can bet that they use a lot of fish in their cooking. Swordfish and tuna are favorite staples. Sauces for the pastas are different and, like the stereotype, there is more of a tomato base in them, while cream based sauces (bechamel type) prevail in the north. One snack food item born in Sicily is the "arancino," they are stuffed rice croquettes you can hold in your hand, with a napkin, and eat at any time during the day. They are filled with shredded beef, sauce, peas, and melted cheese ... and they cost about 1.50 Euros. Sicily is also where cannoli were born.

Tradition is a big deal in Sicily. They love their baptisms, First Communions, and weddings. Going to a Sicilian wedding is an eye-opener. It is a vulgar display of money, for a couple who will get fat and where the husband may get a mistress. (I'm joking). I don't know where a lot of these people get the money for "un matrimonio Siciliano." Each Sicilian city and town also has its patron saint. For about a week around the feast date, the city parties hard, with the statue of the saint carried around the town, on rails placed on the men's shoulders, preceded by marching bands and school groups, etc., not to mention fireworks and vendor stands. Northern Italians do not do this. They would consider it tacky and keep their patron saint statue in the church.

The temperament is more mercurial, on the average, and more varied than found in northern Italy. This means that a Sicilian in Sicily is often forward or makes a scene without caring what people think, and they are either much nicer than the average Italian, or much ruder. They will either give you detailed directions, walk you part of the way, and inquire about you, or they will shrug you off. The best way I can describe this would be the difference seen in New York between an elderly Jewish grandmother type who wants to talk and a public employee in Manhattan who picks up the trash and thinks you're invisible. Customer service is either the best, or it is nonexistent. Many people say northern Italians straddle "la mezza strada," (the middle of the road) and it's true. There, their interactions are neither as nosy, nor as rude. I would have to admit I like being around northern Italians better. They are also more attuned to the rest of the world, largely from being right next door to almost a handful of foreign countries. Sicilians are definitely a kick in the pants, if you know where they're coming from. Last July, I was on the bus from the airport to the train station, and I walked on with my roll-a-board suitcase. I was standing next to a Florentine businessman and we started talking. He said that "he loves to come down there because it's interesting, but after a week of it, he's ready to go home."

As for living life, Sicilians DO NOT want to leave Sicily. Most of the population is on the coasts, so they all have a beach nearby. The climate is classic Mediterranean at its best. They say it's humid sometimes. They don't know what they're talking about. If the interior of the island is brown/yellow during the summer, that means it's DRY. During the summer, everything is shuttered and they are "al mare" ... at the beach. The unemployment is 22% to 27%, but everyone is having a good time. I don't understand it. Either they're getting a transfer payment, the family is subsidizing, or they work under the table. It's a mystery. There are only 2 big cities with an airport, Palermo, the capital, and Catania. Along with that, most Sicilians strongly identify with which "half" of the island they come from - Sicilia Occidentale or Sicilia Orientale, with loyalties to Palermo or loyalties to the Messina-Catania-Siracusa axis. Also, there is a dialect spoken on the island, with about 40% of the words being slightly different or completely different. A lot of "o" endings in Italian are replaced with an "u" ending in Sicilian. They have a funky accent - it has a relaxed, elongated, lamenting kind of cadence. I can really pick it up now if I watch foreign TV. Along with the Neapolitan, it is one of the two accents Italians love to imitate in comedy.

It's a fascinating, historical, entertaining, scenic, and wacky place.

[virulentpeach]

My family is from Messina and from my experience, they do perceive themselves as being Sicilian first. Although I do know that Sicilian culture is nearly identical to that of Calabria, Lucania, and Apulia (three other southern regions) -- all of them have Greek influences in their music, some of their food, etc. and all speak related languages (Sicilian is considered a Romance language separate from Italian and it is similar to what is spoken on the peninsular south).

Sicilian temperment is more like that of people further east -- the loud, boisterous aspect of their behavior is similar to that of Greeks.

I guess you could say Sicilians are Italians with a Greek twist.

[FightForFreedom]

Here in Italy, I feel there are "three cultural groups"

You have Northern Italy, Southern Italy (starting from Rome to Sicily) and then Sicily.

And I would answer your question but it has been answered very well.
"Southern Italians w/ a Greek twist".

[robertpolyglot]

Originally Posted by FightForFreedom

Here in Italy, I feel there are "three cultural groups"

You have Northern Italy, Southern Italy (starting from Rome to Sicily) and then Sicily.

And I would answer your question but it has been answered very well.
"Southern Italians w/ a Greek twist".

There are definitely different clusters of Italians. I would push this up to five groups:

- Northern Italians - and only the part that is not peninsular is identifying as "la Padania" and wants to secede

- Central Italians/"il Mezzogiorno" - Romans may have a more southern M.O., but it's not the south

- Southern Italians - the south starts with Campania, on the "left," and Puglia, on the "right"

- Sicilians

- Sardinians - even more "exotic" than the Sicilians, but not viewed as such because they were hardly visible as immigrants - they have a large amount of Spanish culture infused, because parts are so close to Barcelona - there are lot of people with last names like Palmas or Torres in Sardinia, and they are also designated an "autonomous region," as is Sicily. I do not know which areas Sardinians aimed for when immigrating, so they don't have as much of an image as "immigrants" as do the Sicilians and the Neapolitans

[Trimac20]

Thanks for the detailed info/observations, robert. Sicily isn't on my travel plans, but if I have time I'll check it out. Not that it isn't interesting it's just that Italy has SO much to see it's hard to see it all. It's likely a country I will visit more than once though. I'm just interested in how prominent they (Sicily) are in immigrant Italian communities. I'm not surprised they exhibit the more 'extreme' stereotypical Italian traits, as they're one of the more rural and conservative parts of the country. I'm interested in 'old rural Italy', and I suspect i'd better be able to find that in the southern part of the peninsula and Sicily rather than Tuscany or Lombardy which is probably pretty upscale and tourist nowadays.

[robertpolyglot]

Originally Posted by Trimac20

Thanks for the detailed info/observations, robert. Sicily isn't on my travel plans, but if I have time I'll check it out. Not that it isn't interesting it's just that Italy has SO much to see it's hard to see it all. It's likely a country I will visit more than once though. I'm just interested in how prominent they (Sicily) are in immigrant Italian communities. I'm not surprised they exhibit the more 'extreme' stereotypical Italian traits, as they're one of the more rural and conservative parts of the country. I'm interested in 'old rural Italy', and I suspect i'd better be able to find that in the southern part of the peninsula and Sicily rather than Tuscany or Lombardy which is probably pretty upscale and tourist nowadays.

I don't recommend that anybody who goes to Italy for the first time goes to Sicily, especially with a limited time schedule.

Instead, they should go to Rome, Florence, some nearby Tuscan towns, and Venice. If they return, they can then see more.

[Trimac20]

Originally Posted by robertpolyglot

I don't recommend that anybody who goes to Italy for the first time goes to Sicily, especially with a limited time schedule.

Instead, they should go to Rome, Florence, some nearby Tuscan towns, and Venice. If they return, they can then see more.

My plan is after working for a year to go to Europe for 4-5 weeks, just to get a 'taste' I suppose. I'll just visit the UK, France and Italy. In Italy I'll visit Rome (take a couple of day-trips to surrounds), Florence and the Tuscan countryside, and maybe Naples and the Amalfi coast. I actually don't find Venice that appealing, but I may be wrong. I'll probably visit sometime during my life though.

[robertpolyglot]

Originally Posted by virulentpeach

Sicilian temperment is more like that of people further east -- the loud, boisterous aspect of their behavior is similar to that of Greeks.

I guess you could say Sicilians are Italians with a Greek twist.

I agree in personal style, but definitely not in appearance. The Greeks left their temples and ruins on Sicily. However, the Greek strain, in terms of appearance, washed out 1,000 years ago.

There was an active thread as to who Sicilians look like. Like most others, I voted "other Italians." Many people voted "Greeks." The Sicilians have been cross-pollinating with people on "the boot" since the Renaissance, and not with the Greeks.

Since that very debated poll came up, there was a story on my homepage about some guy who worked for the CIA who is most likely going to jail for releasing some information. I clicked on the article. It was about a Greek-American named John Kiriakou. There is no way that this Greek guy could easily pass for an Italian, even a "neighboring" Sicilian. In Italy, most would identify him as non-Italian. Case in point:

http://images.alarabiya.net/02/28/64...939_190156.jpg

[virulentpeach]

Originally Posted by robertpolyglot

I agree in personal style, but definitely not in appearance. The Greeks left their temples and ruins on Sicily. However, the Greek strain, in terms of appearance, washed out 1,000 years ago.

I strongly disagree. I can't tell Sicilians from Greeks that easily, whereas I can tell Sicilians from north and central Italians, as well as from French and Spaniards.

Some Sicilians are very light, and pan-Italian looking but most can much more easily be mistaken for Greek than anything Western European. Keep in mind some parts of Sicily, like Messina and Catania, have remained very isolated.

I also have a very Greek appearance myself. Sometimes people even think I am Lebanese. But once I say I am Sicilian, people say they know at least one other who looks just like me, either a cousin or a Sicilian-American friend.