Land, Nature, People
The Mediterranean was not always a sea and Sicily was not always an island. But the first humans arrived here when it was already surrounded by water. The superficial landscape has changed greatly since then. Until about 800 BC, most of Sicily was still covered by extensive forests through which flowed navigable streams full of fish, and until 1850 it was still possible to fish smaller "rivers" such as the Belice and Platani, which today are little more than seasonal streams.

The forested Peloritan, Nebrodi and Madonie mountains range westward toward Tunisia as an extension of Italy's Apennines. Volcanic Etna, at about 3,323 meters Sicily's highest mountain, is not part of this chain, nor are the lower Sicanian Mountains of south-central Sicily or the Iblei of the southeast. Pizzo Carbonara (1979 meters), in the Madonie Mountains, is the highest mountain in Sicily after Etna, and like it is covered by snow during the coldest weeks of winter. Mount Soro in the Nebrodi rises to 1847 meters. The Aeolean or Lipari islands off northeast Sicily were formed volcanically.

There are still lush woods in the Etna and Nebrodi regions, where a few foxes and wild cats survive, but the native deer and boar are long extinct. The Ficuzza Woods, near Corleone, is a pleasant anomaly, and the nearby lake, like most of those in Sicily, is man-made. Today most of Sicily is agricultural, and with a few exceptions, such as the Alcantara River which flows into the Ionian south of Taormina and the Ciane River near Siracusa, the few streams run only from January until late April. We look to the past to observe destructive deforestation, but we live with its unfortunate effects. Even today, Sicily is grossly overpopulated, with over 5 million residents whose environmental awareness (and formal education) is generally limited.
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Citrus fruits, olives, almonds and grapes are the major crops, with wine and olive oil the major agricultural exports. Hard grain is grown in Sicily, but most Italian pasta is made with imported wheat.
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The largest wine making region is in the western part of the island near Marsala. Sea salt is obtained around Trapani. Sulfur mining is, for the most part, a thing of the past, and the crude oil discovered off Gela, though refined and sold, has not been exploited to its full potential. What is remarkable is that despite overpopulation (and a frighteningly high level of unemployment) and destruction of its ecosystem, Sicily is still exceptionally beautiful.
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The Sicilians themselves, on a cultural as well as genetic level, are a reflection of the peoples who have successively conquered this much contested island over the last 3,000 years. The earliest neolithic peoples were the Sicanians, followed (around 1200 BC) by the Elymians and Sicels. The Phoenicians and ancient Greeks arrived around 800 BC, followed by Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantine Greeks, Arabs, Normans, Swabians (Germans), Angevins (French), Aragonese, Spanish, and an influx of Albanian refugees who established several communities under Spanish rule around 1500.

Nebrodi in summer and winter.
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