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Sicily is the largest island (25,426 sq. km.) in the Mediterranean; it is also the most important economically and has the richest heritage of history and art. Its geographical particularity lies in its compact but varied orographical structure, the uniformity of its rivers, the typically Mediterranean climate and the insularity which has helped Sicily to experience homogeneous historical development with originality of custom, art and culture.

Together with the minor Aeolian islands (the Lipari), Ustica, Egadi, Pantelleria and the distant Pelagie, Sicily is the most extensive region in Italy, though it has only the fourth highest population. The population density is slightly higher than the national average. The island is bounded by the Tyrrhenian Sea to the north, the Ionian to the east and the Sicilian Sea to the south-west; the Strait of Messina separates it from Calabria.

History. Sicily is a triangle, a fact that prompted the ancient Greeks to name it Trinacria, and is prevalently mountainous and hilly. The highest mountains lie in the north-east, and are Mount Etna (3,340 m.)-the biggest volcano in Europe, rising majestically between the Catania plain and the Alcantara and Simeto river valleys-and the Sicilian Apennines, stretching from the Strait of Messina to the Torto valley and clearly the continuation of the Calabrian Apennines across the water.

The Sicilian Apennine range of mountains is divided into three groups: the Peloritani, Nebrodi and Madonie. At the foot of the south slope of Etna lies the Catania plain, delimited to the south by the Iblei hills, a wide expanse of high ground culminating in Mount Lauro (986 m.). The middle of the island is a broken succession of rolling hills, the Erei (lying among the Catania plain, the Iblei and the Salso valley) and the so-called Altopiano Solfifero (the sulphur-bearing upland), low rounded hills of Cenozoic sulphurous chalk rock. The west of the island has a similar landscape of gentle hills and wide rolling uplands, predominantly Cenozoic clay and sandstone, alternating in some places with Mesozoic limestone formations: the nearby Egadi islands have the same geological and morphological structures, while Ustica, the Aeolians and Pantelleria are prevalently of volcanic origin. Other active volcanoes are Stromboli and Vulcano, in the Aeolians.

The rivers are fast flowing with an irregular volume of water, flash flooding in winter and long periods of drought. The principal rivers are the Simeto (which channels the waters of the Dittaino, Gornalunga and Caltagirone), the Alcantara, Anapo, Cassibile and Tellaro, on the Ionian side; the Torto and San Leonardo, flowing into the Tyrrhenian Sea, and the Belice, Platani and Salso which empty into the Sicilian Sea.

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