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Abstract Potentialities and Criticalities of the Isole Ciclopi Marine Protected Area The paper analyses the Isole Ciclopi Marine Protected Area facing the hamlet of Aci Trezza within the municipality of Aci Castello in the Province of Catania, Italy. It aims to describe emerging potential and critical issues, posing the question of which actors are involved in the governance. Employing a qualitative methodology, the research revealed that the main problem is the non-implementation of the so-called command-and-control method. After establishing rules and prohibitions, resources for control and imposition of sanctions are lacking. A positive note is the increase in youth volunteer activities of cleaning the sea from plastics, showing a sound interest in the environmental education proposed by cultural and environmental associations.

The first expansion of Opus Dei in Italy, in 1949, is described: this consists of an overview together with the criteria given by St. Josemaría for undertaking the trips to make Opus Dei known. With the help of the notes of Luigi Tirelli, one of the people involved in the trips, we focus on the activities carried out in Sicily (Palermo and Catania) up until the opening of the first center of the Work in Palermo (1949). To conclude, an outline of the trips to Italian cities is presented.

Historiography, in recent years, has dedicated new attention to the study of the ‘continental’ representatives elected to the first Representative Assembly, which assembled in Naples on 1st October 1820. However, the reflection given to those protagonists, to the present day, has not been matched by similar research on the Sicilian deputies who animated that Parliamentary Assembly with their attendance. The aim of this study is, therefore, to identify even for the insular part of the Kingdom, those who have taken advantage of the role they had been invested with, in order to improve the island’s fortunes, elected during a complex moment of Sicilian history, passed from Regnum to dominio ultra pharum after 1816.

This paper analyzes the body of administrators responsible for governing and controlling the territories granted to Isabel of Castile pro Camera, as a matrimonial assignment for being the consort of the next king of Aragon. The study of these manors in Catalonia and Sicily demonstrates the existence of certain political programs to place the confidants of the monarchy in a strategic position. Their presence in the towns, administrated by the queen, ensured strict control over distant cities and seaports in addition to the appropriate collection of her incomes and emoluments. At the same time, Isabel used the administrative posts as a reward and promotion for the families of her inner circle. We consider different officers and families in order to understand how the interests of the monarchy were intertwined with the local ruling class and their courtiers.

Review of The Normans: Power, Conquest and Culture in 11th-Century Europe. By Judith A. Green. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2022. ISBN978-0-300-18033-6. ix + 351 pp. £25.

Iron Age and Archaic western Sicilians interacted with Greek and Phoenician colonists. The effects of this interaction accumulated over time, introducing new ideas and material culture. Here, western Sicilians transformed their feasting assemblages, reinventing their visual displays of wealth, power, and prestige. This local response created new material culture and expressions of identity.

Emanuele Macaluso (1924-2021), a prominent exponent of the PCI, is interviewed by Carmelo Albanese on the figure of Pompeo Colajanni (1906-1987), one of the most important and well-known figures of the Italian Resistance. The interview, carried out in October 2015, is enriched by a series of notes.

The Work De Rebus Siculis Decades Duae by Tommaso Fazello, scholar of the Ordo Praedicatorum, was published in 1558 and soon after it revolutionized the way Sicily’s history was reconstructed and described. This study refers to the six fundamental points of Fazello’s book and develops and clarifies each point the Dominican historian started from to write a harmonious and organic history of Sicily, dealing with a very long period between the Flood (he thinks it happened 2242 years after the creation of the world) and the abdication of Emperor Charles of Habsburg in favor of his son Philips II. Fazello’s book is based on a Thomist conception of the world and its sources are archeological excavations and very often mythological groundless traditions. But the author describes vividly with accuracy the usages and customs of the population living in Sicily as he has a direct personal experience of all the processions and events taking place in the island. Consequently De Rebus Siculis Decades Duae is one of the most fascinating evidence how the history of Sicily in the European historiography, from Late Middle Ages to the Humanism, is read, interpreted and written.

In recent years, the study of the evolution of the appearance and conformation of cities over the centuries has found new forms of representation through the use of digital modelling and related immersive techniques. These technologies, spread through the gaming industry, are now finding more and more space also in the world of archaeology and the rediscovery of cultural heritage to allow us to catapult ourselves into scenarios that belonged to the past. These investigation methods lend themselves remarkably well in the case of large urban places that no longer exist due to destructive events but of which there is a sufficient amount of documentation such as to be able to reconstruct its appearance with excellent detail and high reliability. This project aims to rebuild the city of Messina as it appeared in the eighteenth century before being razed to the ground by natural disasters.

The paper aims to improve understanding of the role played by accounting in its function of government practice, considering the interfacing function of the Real Albergo dei Poveri of Palermo charity. Michel Foucault’s governmentality framework is adopted in order to explore the labour organisation within the Real Albergo dei Poveri of Palermo, where a silk manufacturer, the Real Opificio delle Sete (Royal Silk factory), was established in 1790 to exploit the workforce hosted in the institution. The paper analyses the accounting system established to manage the commodified and forced labour of poor female inmates in relation to a central issue—the social control promoted by central government. The idea is to demonstrate that work was the means to carry on the social control of people considered alien and not integrated by the society of the time, while the accounting system was the tool. The study uses documents from Palermo’s State Archive about the foundation and internal organisation of the Real Opificio delle Sete and account books from the institution and silk manufacturer to verify the role of labour and its measurement, highlighting accounting based on the checking and reporting system. Furthermore, the paper, by means of the accounting system, examines the organisation of work and internal management, and the allocation of wealth in the form of healthcare, social security and housing.

The study of commons brings significant insights in economics, law, and sociology. It opens up space for an alternative to the mainstream economic doxa, to legal determinism, and to methodological individualism. It sheds light on the ability of stakeholders to “act together” and to join forces to assert forms of management, production, and consumption which are in line with the experience of a group of stakeholders or of territorial communities. In this sense, we have examined collectives working to preserve ancient wheat crops in Sicily to grasp the stakes linked to these initiatives and what they bring within the context of the international debate on biodiversity and food sovereignty.

The short film Làssami (“leave me”) was directed by Gianluca Sodaro in 2015, and functions as a music video to the eponymous song by Giuseppe Di Bella, who also acts in the film. In this article, I attempt to decipher Làssami’s encounter of lyrics, music, sound effects and images. In the first part of the article, I discuss the reproduction of stereotypical images of Sicilian masculinity perpetrated by the film, also drawing on recent media releases. I then work my way through the intricate web of trappings associated to the representation of the female characters in the film – as passive, innocent, celestial, and white. In the second part of the article, I attempt to reinterpret the film in light of the decolonial concept of “de-linking”. I argue that Làssami’s symbolical coding, regardless of the authors’ intentions, refers precisely to a silenced desire for sovereignty and independence.

Nzikitanza for accordion, violin, cello and tape was written in 2012 as a reflection on the deployment of Sicilian territory for NATO and US military operations. In particular, the piece was inspired by the then newly formed resistance committee against the MUOS in Niscemi. This brief commentary will illustrate a priori and a posteriori reflections on the status of the piece as a contribution to forms of antagonistic culture.

The "Pompeian bronzes" reassumed the official Roman coinage since L. Cornelius Sulla (cos. I 88 BC) on reduced uncial system. Among other questions, these coins have difficulties in their place of issue, metrology and iconography, problems that we consider in this paper.

Review

Populations of the Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) in continental Europe are usually migratory, travelling from their breeding grounds to wintering areas in the sub-Saharan Sahel region. In Sicily, there are currently six breeding pairs of this species, but there are few reports about their presence in winter. We report the sighting of one young and two adults in Sicily during the 2015-2016 winter season.

Populations of the Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) in continental Europe are usually migratory, travelling from their breeding grounds to wintering areas in the sub-Saharan Sahel region. In Sicily, there are currently six breeding pairs of this species, but there are few reports about their presence in winter. We report the sighting of one young and two adults in Sicily during the 2015-2016 winter season.

Silene kemoniana, a new species of the section Dipterosperma from NW Sicily, is described and illustrated. It is a therophyte that occurs in mountains near Palermo, where it grows on Mesozoic limestones in xerophilous garigues. Its relationships with S. colorata and allied species are also examined. A key of the species belonging to sect. Dipterosperma is provided.

After the World War, Sicilian rural areas were still under the control of big farmers. Peasant movements opposed to them through land reclamation and occupation of latifundia. ‘Gullo’ decree, granted on 19th October 1944, propelled these movements by conceding uncultivated lands to peasant cooperatives. Landowners replied to this dynamic not only through legal means: this article focuses on the coalition between landowners and local mafia in order to repress this mobilization. It analyzes in particular the killings of Placido Rizzotto and Giuseppe Maniaci to enlighten the collaboration among some representatives of national armed forces and mafia.

«Ricordo che non avevamo una lira, un foglio di carta con stampato Regione non l’avevamo, una sedia non l’avevamo, una macchina per girare non l’avevamo, non avevamo niente. Quando entrai nel mio studio di Presidente feci col campanello per chiamare il segretario di Palazzo d’Orleans, il palazzo del Duca di Aosta, poi diventato il palazzo della Regione. Chiesi all’uomo della carta per fare un telegramma al Capo dello Stato, intendevo comunicare al Presidente che noi eravamo sinceramente unitari ed eravamo contro il separatismo. Non c’era carta intestata, allora presi un foglio di carta che avevo con me, la penna e scrissi un telegramma, ma non sapevo come spedirlo, noi non avevamo ancora nessuna legge che dicesse che eravamo organo dello Stato, chiamai allora il segretario dell’Alto Commissario, ma mi risposero che stavano raccogliendo le loro cose per andare via. Ero Presidente ma non potevo neanche scrivere al Capo dello Stato e ai prefetti per rapportarmi con loro e per fare sapere loro che li avrei tutelati, mi aiutò allora il Prefetto di Palermo che spedì le mie comunicazioni a Roma e nelle province. Riuscì ad avere tutti i poteri dell’Alto Commissario tramite un apposita legge e allora cominciai ad operare».

Lotta per l’autonomia e lotta contro lo statalismo furono le battaglie che il Governo regionale doveva continuare a combattere contro lo Stato, aspetto questo, che Giuseppe Alessi ribadì, quando affermò che: «l’autonomia regionale è un fatto dei nostri tempi, infatti, di fronte al predominio delle nuove realtà istituzionali è necessaria la tutela dell’individuo, essa però non può più realizzarsi come nella Francia dell’89, contrapponendo allo Stato i diritti dell’individuo, oggi ciò non è più possibile, per cui tale tutela può concretarsi contrapponendo allo Stato delle realtà politiche, le autonomie regionali, che possono meglio bilanciarne il peso politico».

«Quando, nella notte tra il 9 e il 10 luglio 1943, le forze alleate iniziano lo sbarco in Sicilia, a tirare un sospiro di sollievo sono in tanti: i cittadini che vedono avvicinarsi l’ora della fine degli spaventosi bombardamenti, gli antifascisti che sentono il profumo della libertà, i mafiosi i quali, avendo appoggiato lo sbarco, sanno di poter disporre adesso di uno spazio di manovra che il fascismo aveva loro negato». Andrea Camilleri

Il separatismo di Finocchiaro Aprile si è imposto sulla scena politica siciliana subito dopo l’occupazione alleata dell’isola. Ma dove affondano le radici ideologiche del movimento separatista? Quali sono state le finalità perseguite dal MIS (Movimento Indipendentista Siciliano)? Quale influenza politica ha esercitato il movimento nella fase di transizione? Quanto ha pesato la presenza del movimento separatista nell’elaborazione – per come si è conformato – dello Statuto siciliano?

Sembra innegabile che seppur fra diverse resistenze e notevoli ritardi, fra istanze autonomistiche e la nuova direzione politica nazionale del processo formativo statuale vi fu una sostanziale convergenza. È pertanto del tutto condivisibile la tesi di Francesco Renda in base alla quale la Sicilia ha ottenuto il suo «sistema di libertà e autonomia» poiché l’Italia stessa ha sentito il bisogno di quella libertà, anche giuridico-istituzionale, e in quella libertà si è identificata.

La provincia di Ragusa è stata sempre considerata un’area immune dalla mafia. Se per un lungo periodo questo stereotipo corrisponde al vero, le rare analisi storiche mostrano che a partire dagli anni Sessanta anche negli Iblei si diffondono organizzazioni criminali, tanto legate a Cosa Nostra quanto autonome, come la stidda. Pur ricorrendo talvolta alla violenza, la mafia ragusana occupa soprattutto gli spazi della politica e dell’economia legale. La cronaca giudiziaria dimostra che la provincia di Ragusa è ormai interessata da una “mafia dei colletti bianchi”, impegnata specialmente nel riciclaggio di denaro proveniente da traffici illeciti.

Taxonomical investigation on Asperula gussonei, a rare Sicilian endemism, allowed us to verify that the Madonie population is well differentiated from the Mt. Scuderi one. These two populations are here treated as distinct species: A. gussonei Boiss. from Madonie and A. peloritana sp. nov. from Mt. Scuderi. The main morphological and ecological differences between the two species are pointed out. Their iconographies and relationships with the allied species are given too.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the ways in which social perceptions of the Mafia have shifted over time. Initially considered as a Sicilian way of being, as an attitude, the Sicilian Mafia was subsequently viewed as a universal, global, and even religious form of Evil, to be fought in a war in which texts and images were weapons and judicial institutions constituted the battlefield. I will also explore how local powers institutionalised an “anti-Mafia religion”, using as a case-study the Festival of Santa Rosalia in Palermo. In this context, I will discuss the emergence of a new, anti-Mafia iconography and the use of a specific literary genre, that of political hagiography.O objectivo deste artigo é o de explorar os processos através dos quais as percepções sociais sobre a máfia se foram alterando no decurso do tempo. Inicialmente considerada como uma “forma de ser siciliana”, uma atitude, a máfia siciliana foi subsequentemente sendo interpretada como uma expressão universal, global, religiosa do “mal”, a ser combatida numa guerra - onde as armas eram os textos e as imagens e as instituições judiciais o campo de batalha. Abordarei também, através do estudo de caso do Festival de Santa Rosália em Palermo, a forma como os poderes locais institucionalizaram uma “religião antimáfia”. Neste contexto, discutirei a emergência de uma nova iconografia antimáfia e o uso de um género literário específico: a hagiografia política.

Helianthemum sicanorum, an endemic species occurring on calcareous marls near Gela (S Sicily), is described and illustrated. Due to its habit and flower morphology, H. sicanorum shows close relationships with H. kahiricum Del., circumscribed to the semi-arid habitats of northern Africa and the Middle East. H. sicanorum is quite rare and localized on steep slopes facing the sea, where it is a member of thermophilous garigues of the Cisto-Micromerietea class.

Emanuele KANCEFF, "L’immagine della Sicilia nei resoconti di viaggio del Settecento. Tra classicità ed emozione romantica", Scicli, Edizioni di storia e studi sociali, 2015 [Book Review]

The design of the Dubrovnik Cathedral (1671-1713) – a monumental three-nave basilica with a dome over the crossing – was commissioned, thanks to Abbot Stjepan Gradić, from the Roman architect Andrea Bufalini. Among the leaders of construction, which lasted for over four decades, the Sicilian architect Tommaso Maria Napoli stands out. During his nine-year stay in Dubrovnik (1689-98) he was the only one who engaged in radical changes in the design. Through his changes to the vaulting and lighting of the main nave and sanctuary, as well as the introduction of terraces above the side chapels, he gave the building better proportions, and moreover he balanced its volume by enriching the Cathedral with the plastic expressiveness characteristic of Sicilian architecture at that time. Napoli was the only architect involved in the construction of the Dubrovnik Cathedral who had an international reputation, from his native Sicily, to Naples, Rome, and the Habsburg Monarchy. This makes his inventive corrections to Bufalini's design even more significant.

The important activity of the negotiatores during the Roman Republic is broadly well-known. The Present article analyzed an inscription dedicated by this group of people to Pompey the Great in Rome. In addition in the text, mention of the epigraphs that make allusion to the negotiatores in the West.

The aim of this study was, first, to investigate the influence of olive variety and elevation of orchards on the phenolic compound content of Sicilian virgin olive oils (VOOs) and, second, to investigate the effects of VOO phenolic extracts on osteoblast cell growth using the human MG-63 osteosarcoma cell line. Olive oil phenolic content and its effect on human osteosarcoma cell proliferation varied according to the type of cultivar and the grove altitude. This variation was also observed within the same type of cultivar. This observation demonstrates that the cultivar and the grove location can significantly affect the chemical composition and bioactivity of virgin olive oil. Although this study supports the hypothesis that virgin olive oil phenolic fractions exert a beneficial effect on bone health, further studies assessing the in vivo accessibility of virgin olive oil phenolic compounds to osteoblast cells should be carried out.

This article discusses a relatively neglected aspect of the peace negotiations which concluded the War of the Spanish Succession, the mission to Spain in 1712-1713 of Robert Sutton, lord Lexington. Lexington’s primary object was to witness Philip V’s renunciation in the presence of the Cortes of his claim to the French throne (and the registration by the Cortes of the claims to the Spanish succession of Philip’s brothers). This was a remarkable development. The Cortes, which is largely regarded by historians of the period as almost irrelevant, therefore played an important part in the peace process at the insistence of the government of queen Anne. Having resolved the issue of the renunciations, Lexington also helped to negotiate the surrender of what remained of Spanish Italy – the island of Sicily – to Victor Amadeus II of Savoy – and played a part in the reconstruction of a British presence in a Spanish state in which the nueva planta was beginning to have an impact.

En 1522 el virrey de Sicilia, Ettore Pignatelli, conde de Monteleone, inició una gran campaña para fortalecer las defensas de las principales ciudades de la costa de Sicilia: Palermo, Trapani, Milazzo, Siracusa y, algunos años más tarde, incluso Messina. El ingeniero real Pietro Antonio Tomasello de Padua, un técnico militar Veneto, pidió renovar el sistema de defensas de la isla, con la introducción por primera vez de bastiones circulares y poligonales en fortalezas y murallas de la ciudad. La obra, desconocida hasta ahora, de este importante ingeniero militar activo en Sicilia desde 1523 hasta 1537, año de su muerte, está siendo reconstruida con una importante documentación de archivo. La investigación destaca líneas de continuidad en la estrategia de guerra de Carlos V, lanzada en Sicilia desde la época del virrey Conde de Monteleone. En consecuencia, se hace necesario revisar este extraordinario carácter general dado por los historiadores de la política militar de Ferrante Gonzaga. También hay que revisar la actualización y la autoría de muchas de las fortificaciones más importantes de Sicilia: el fuerte de San Salvador de Messina, anteriormente atribuido a Antonio Ferramolino de Bérgamo, las fortificaciones de defensa y escarpes del castillo de Milazzo y la torre circular de Castellammare de Palermo (estos últimos fechados en la segunda mitad del siglo XV), todas las obras son de Pietro Antonio Tomasello, realizadas en el segundo cuarto del siglo XVI.In 1522 the Viceroy of Sicily Ettore Pignatelli, Count of Monteleone, started a significant campaign for the strengthening of the outworks of the main cities located along the Sicilian coast: Palermo, Trapani, Milazzo, Siracusa and, after a few years, also Messina. The Royal Engineer Pietro Antonio Tomasello from Padua, a military technician from the Veneto region, was charged with renovating the island’s defensive system and introducing for the first time modern circular and polygonal ramparts in castles and city walls. Not well known until now is the work of this important engineer, who was active in Sicily from 1523 until his death in 1537, which has been reconstructed thanks to a large archival documentation. The new research highlights an unbroken line of continuity in Charles V’s warfare strategy, which was in place in Sicily since the time of the Viceroy Count of Monteleone. As a result, it becomes necessary to rethink the extraordinary character generally attributed to Ferrante Gonzaga’s military politics by numerous historians. This would include even rectifying the dates and the attributions of some of the fundamental modifications of Sicilian fortifications: the San Salvatore Fort in Messina, till now attributed to Antonio Ferramolino from Bergamo, the ramped and sloped defences in the Milazzo Castle and the circular keep in Palermo Castellammare (the latter two dated to the second half of the 15th century) instead are all works of Pietro Antonio Tomasello, carried on during the second quarter of the 16th century.

Nel corso di un dibattito parlamentare Gaspare Ambrosini affermò: «Io nelle cose e delle cose rilevo quella parte che può unire e non quel che può dividere» ed è questa sua continua ricerca dell’unicità, concepita come costruzione delle armonie costituzionali fra centro e periferia, che lo rende estremamente moderno e ancora oggi attuale.

Le vicende relative ai Comitati di Liberazione Nazionale in Sicilia sono emblematiche della differente evoluzione della fase postfascista in cui incorsero il Nord e il Sud dell’Italia. Ad una massiccia renitenza alla leva seguì lo sbarco degli anglo-americani, che, di fatto, segnò la fine della guerra per l’Isola. L’esperienza del Pd’A in Sicilia prova che esso non fu un movimento di massa, sia per il suo indirizzo prettamente intellettuale, sia per l’ambiguità ideologica dei suoi leader, che, come Purpura, avevano avuto dei contatti piuttosto assidui nel periodo precedente allo sbarco degli Alleati con Andrea Finocchiaro Aprile e, durante il Ventennio, non avevano mostrato particolare ostilità nei confronti del regime fascista. Il Pd’A siciliano finì per rivelarsi inadeguato al contesto politico-sociale dell’Isola.

The notion of “inner boundary” is the key point in understanding the internal dynamics of independence and autonomy movements that have made ​​their appearance in Corsica and Sicily during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The comparative-historical dimension allows to dispel the stereotype of the insular particularism and the cultural specificity.