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It’s not just an accent but a language of its own. Like Sicily itself, the dialect is a palimpsest created from foreign invasions and sounds like the exotic mix it is: a romance language with influences of Italian, Arabic, Latin, Greek, Lombard, Ligurian and English. Reflecting the fatalism of the populace, it has no future tense.

This village was under Carthaginian control along with Motya and Palermo until it was taken by the Romans around 250 BC. The grid pattern of the urban plan clearly remains and the paved streets are lined with residences and shops, some well preserved with traces of wall decoration, floor mosaics, steps, columns and cisterns. The latter were of supreme importance because Solunto’s position on a promontory above the Tyrrhenian Sea did not offer any natural water sources (see Solunto).

Peter of Aragón was crowned King of Sicily in 1282, beginning 440 years of Spanish domination.

The Syracusan tyrants Heiron I, Gelon, and Dionysus I assured the ascendancy of Greek Sicily, with Syracuse at the helm. The Greek colonies continued to fight among themselves, but united when necessary, including the defeat of the Carthaginians at Himera in 480 BC, calling a halt to 50 years of Carthaginian aggression.

The Greeks founded a colony here in 733 BC and immediately began a programme of development and expansion that led Syracuse to become the most powerful city in the Mediterranean. Rich remains of defensive structures and sacred, social and residential areas are visible today within the modern city and in the surrounding area. A comprehensive archaeology museum makes sense of the varied ruins (see Syracuse).

Sited in a spectacular position on Monte Tauro, the 3rd-century BC Greek theatre at Taormina is the second largest in Sicily, but ranks first for the beauty of its backdrop. The view of Reggio di Calabria, the Ionian Sea and Mount Etna is broken only by the scena added later by the Romans – perhaps the marble-faced niches and columns were built because the view distracted spectators from any drama on the stage (see Taormina).

On Largo XXV Luglio are the remains of the Doric Temple of Apollo. Built in 575 BC, this was the first temple in Sicily with an exterior colonnade of stone columns. Two monolithic sandstone columns remain.

The Gagini family set the style for architecture and sculpture in Sicily during the 15th and 16th centuries. Inspired by elements of northern and central Italian art, the Gagini combined Renaissance and Gothic forms to create uniquely Sicilian pieces. Domenico (d.1492) was influenced by Ghiberti and Brunelleschi, and opened a workshop in Palermo. His son Antonello (1478–1536) produced delicately modelled, classic sculpture in the tradition of 15th-century Florence, in materials from marble to stucco.

Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 Mafia classic with Marlon Brando as the Don Corleone.